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6 DOF from scratch

Discussion in 'DIY Motion Simulator Projects' started by Pierre Lalancette, Dec 18, 2016.

  1. Pierre Lalancette

    Pierre Lalancette Sir Lalancelot Gold Contributor

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    My Motion Simulator:
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    152 mm up and 152 down.
    I'm telling you, I am not even close to use all that distance with Asseto Corsa. I am surprise how little distance you need to get good results. Of course, great range is good, but when the ballscrew travel that distance at full speed, the momentum is potentially dangerous for damaging to your rig. I already damaged 2 of my actuators. Luckily, I could fix them. For racing game, range is not your priority. Good calibration is.
    I know they are expensive, but if I would do it again, I would go for 30-28 carbon tube. The hassle of matching size was annoying. 30 mm aluminum tube is not a bad idea, but it could be noisy.
    My 2 cents.

    Just to be sure, I don't glue the carbon tube to the ballscrew. It just fits in. Only the carbon tubes are glue together, and also with the printed part. The screws are holding the tubes to the ballscrew.
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    Last edited: Mar 8, 2019
  2. hannibal

    hannibal Active Member

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    152 mm up and 152 down from the middle point? so it is like 300mm total travel??

    what would happen if you tripped your limit switch during the game?

    i think 300mm of travel is good. if i went the direct motor and put 6" arms.. that would make about the same resolution. plus @wannabeaflyer2 shared that if you go too far, you could put the platform at a unstable angle..

    @Pierre Lalancette what happened or what was the situation that damaged your actuators?

    i was planning mainly for flight games...
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    Last edited: Mar 8, 2019
  3. Pierre Lalancette

    Pierre Lalancette Sir Lalancelot Gold Contributor

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    If a limit switch is hit, all motors are stop. The relays are working if all limit switches and panic buttons are not trigger. It's a big close circuit. Trigger one and all are stopped.

    If it happen during a game, motor would loss power and my weight would bring the rig down to its lowest position, like seen at the end of this video. In the same video, you can here a cracking sound and I look to my left. The momentum of the rig projected to the front stripped the small screw holding the ballscrew shaft attached to the bottom part.

    It's the momentum of the rig. It has nothing to do with my weight, which is totally normal. Not over. Nomal. Satisfactory.



    I read that flight game use slow movements with wide amplitudes. I have not tried it yet, but Elite Dangerous is my next goal.
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  4. hannibal

    hannibal Active Member

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    wow. you look great! u must feel accomplished everytime you make a milestone.

    i look forward to see you enjoying your beast, like how @SilentChill livestreams his game play lol

    i havent gotten that far about the safety cut off circuit, i saw from sixdegreesofflight about his lesson on the safety citrcuit. i assume once panic and switch is tripped, it cuts off the power to relays that supply power to motors, my pre-research question would be, what happens during the activation safety cuircuit? it is by means of self latching circuit like sixdegreesofflight? (im wondering if anything needed to be triggered or wired to the arduino...)

    i am also planning to use the ampflow motors.. im just curious if you actually connect the (4x) 8-32 bolts on the top of the E30-150, and if you also (4x) 6-32 bolts on the bottom of the motor...
    i find it hard to believe all the forces are being held down by such small size bolts! (if share how long the 8-32 bolts that you fasten your E30-150 to your 1/2" aluminum plate.. would be helpful)

    Attached Files:

  5. Pierre Lalancette

    Pierre Lalancette Sir Lalancelot Gold Contributor

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    I was wandering at first if I had an order to turn everything on. I ended up not caring about it at all. Sometimes, the arduinos get lost and I have to reset everything.
    But mainly, a 5v is driven in the closed circuit of limit switches and panic buttons. In that circuit, there is also a relay.
    That relay provide the 12v to 6 others relays.
    Thoses relays provide the power to the motors.
    Nothing monitors the arduinos.

    The motors are only attached by the 4 screws at the top. I do not have the length right now. I had make the hole in the bottom part, but my mechanical friend did not bother to attach them. So, neither did I.
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  6. hannibal

    hannibal Active Member

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    ok. got it.. thanks. im going to try to attach the screws at the bottom of the ampflow just in case for support
  7. wannabeaflyer2

    wannabeaflyer2 Well-Known Member

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    Hi Guys , I can vouch for @Sixdegreesofflights latching circuit , it has saved my test actuator a bucket load of times while im trying to get to grios with various controller Options.

    as mentioned my setup uses the 6 relays to disable all motors but not power to Sabertooths . inertia with these actuators is the thing that i find reduces overall actuator travel, as limit switches tend to be placed far enough away to minimise hard ballscrew collisions with actuator frame but far enough apart to give maximum travel . so in my instance i may have 380mm mecanical travel but this will drop down to maybe 300mm usable to give me what i call an overrun buffer at the top and bottom of movement rage

    i keep saying this . but bears repeating , these actuator are fast and powerful and can destroy themselves and our bits LOL quickly without safety cut of features in the system .

    Software limits help, but from experience another level of safety does not hurt . especially whilst learning about the system were building
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  8. hannibal

    hannibal Active Member

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    thank you for sharing experience. i am learning alot, and it is fun to challenge the brain with electromechanical problems.
    i am lucky to have everyones experiences here!
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  9. Pierre Lalancette

    Pierre Lalancette Sir Lalancelot Gold Contributor

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    @hannibal This is the screw that holds my motors: 8x32 1/2"

    IMG_2229.JPG

    Added keyboard, saitek x52 pro, and the wheel at a proper height.

    IMG_2231.JPG

    Did a lot of run with Asseto Corsa. Calibration, calibration and calibration. I'm never quite satisfied.
    Did not succeed to start Elite Dangerous.

    IMG_2233.JPG

    The rig now is too heavy in the front and fall when stopped.
    I will have to start that carbon rig sooner than anticipated.
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  10. hannibal

    hannibal Active Member

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    you mean it tips over toward the front ? whoa!
    ok, got it 8-32" x 1/2" for the ampflow motors!
  11. Pierre Lalancette

    Pierre Lalancette Sir Lalancelot Gold Contributor

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    The front ballscrews turn under the weight until they hit the rock bottom.
    This trigger the SMC3 Safety limit and everything goes to hell.
    Reset everything.
  12. SeatTime

    SeatTime Well-Known Member

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    My Motion Simulator:
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    I have a row of momentary bypass switches in the cockpit for this exact situation.
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  13. Pierre Lalancette

    Pierre Lalancette Sir Lalancelot Gold Contributor

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    Yes, I remember when you told me that before. I told myself: "I'll never get to the point were I will need such a complexe system."
    Little did (do) I know.
    Winding those by hand when they allways want to go down is quite a challenge. I may look into something similar.
  14. hannibal

    hannibal Active Member

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    why a row of momentary bypass switches? i am curious to see what your safety wiring diagram / setup is like... link maybe? :) :) @SeatTime

    you mean you think there is more involved in the safety configuration beyond what sixdegreesofflight suggested for the safety circuit? so sixdegrees wired his setup to shutoff all motors.. do you have a different wiring configuation? @Pierre Lalancette
  15. SeatTime

    SeatTime Well-Known Member

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    Nope, but it is not that complex - I have a high power relay and upper and lower limit switch for each actuator. The momentary push button just bypass the bottom limit switch while it is being pressed to enable the actuator to drive off the limit and back to station - even with me sitting in it :). Does not happen very often and it beats doing it by hand ...
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  16. hannibal

    hannibal Active Member

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    ok, got it.. something to think about.. so the switch is like its own entity to provide power to the actuator motors, unrelated from power provide by the drivers (sabertooth, MM, etc) so you can bring the platform to height.... yea, i would not have thought of this until after building..

    thank you! @SeatTime <3
  17. SeatTime

    SeatTime Well-Known Member

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    No, it is totally related to the power provided to the actuators motors from the drivers. It is just a switch that momentarily bypasses the bottom limit switch. Everything else remains the same.
  18. Pierre Lalancette

    Pierre Lalancette Sir Lalancelot Gold Contributor

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    That's an interresting approche to the problem.
  19. hannibal

    hannibal Active Member

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    anyway to show us your wiring? @SeatTime will help us do DIY'ers from having strong forearms? :p please share! i think myself and @Pierre Lalancette would be grateful! :p
  20. Pierre Lalancette

    Pierre Lalancette Sir Lalancelot Gold Contributor

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    @hannibal

    Here's the print files before I forget them again. You have the original SolidEdge par files and the stl file that can be read by Cura to convert them to gcode.
    I wanted to add the gcode, but those file are voluminous.

    Attached Files:

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