2DOF SIM FINISH

Hello to everyone!
I have been researching for a while to build my own 2 dof motion simulator with your help and from other sources and it seems that I have finally succeeded.
My project is still unfinished but I can say it works decently.
It is very exciting to make such a project with your own hands.
I have to thank all of you for such disinterested help. Without which I could not have made this dream come true.
It is a seat with 2 dof movement, although as I read the best for this type of seat would be to place the engines behind and I have opted for another model that places the engines under the legs of the pilot. This concept makes the system more compact and since it is a simulator that will be placed in a corner of my living room, for me it is very important that it does not occupy much space.

THE CHASSIS:

I started by cutting and welding the irons that form the base:



Then measure and place the base of the cardan in the most balanced position so that the seat is well centered with the pilot's legs:

Then the mounting of the base of the steering wheel /joystick adjustable (after much thought use a part of my folding bike to get up and down comfortably from the simulator and that the controls were right where I needed them when I'm mounted) This part I think I It has been quite good, because it is difficult to group everything and to be comfortable to drive and at the same time spacious at the time of going down or up the seat sim.

As you can also see the engines are already placed but then I had to modify the supports for safety. Since if the simulator is ever unconfigured and the cams go full circle they would break with the supports.

Then the finished chassis version 1:




And then everything fitted:

At this point I must explain that the electronic part had already mounted and tested outside the chassis but I prefer to present the assembly later to make it more orderly.

Complete the assembly of the electronics in the simulator and started to configure the software to test the system.

But in a very short time I could verify that the measures used were not good. And the moving part where the chair pivots was very weak. So it broke right away.

So I had to demote the simulator completely and redesign the leverage points of the system. And I found a more powerful cardan that supports lateral efforts very well:





Shorten the measurements between the pivot axis and the motors since there was a lot of distance and the angles that were obtained were very small, that is, the chair did not move sufficiently in either of the two axes.

Also modify the supports that transmit the axes of the engines, lower them a few centimeters so that they do not bother when going up and down the simulator with the legs of the pilot.

By shortening the distance between the pivot axis and the motors, a large angle of inclination is obtained and I was able to shorten the cranks of the motors so that they did not suffer, from 7cm to 4.5cm.

I also put springs in front and behind that help soften the inertia of the chair.

ELECTRONICS:
The controller is an arduino compatible one bought in amazon, and as controllers of movement two IBT-2.
The truth is that following the steps of the tutorials on the Internet is very easy to connect everything, in my case, everything worked the first time.


This is the electrical diagram that I used:



I installed everything in a wood as recommended and with an old power supply probe for the first time the operation of the system:



These engines are the first to buy, in a scrapping of old cars, but then I had to find other more powerful because my design requires power and these did not give me confidence.


The motion sensors are manufactured by myself, I ordered the hall to an electronics store and I soldered the resistance to avoid static and I made the potentiometer with an old bearing, an old pen, and some neodymium magnets that I bought in amazon.




The following photo is the first assembly in the definitive engines but it was not very stable:

So I had to gouge the engines to extend the rear axle with a large nut and on the other hand the support perfected it, to be able to adjust it by hand in the configurations:




Finally mounted on the chassis in the absence of connecting the connecting rods:

Finally, when I checked that everything was working properly, I put all the electronics in a well-ventilated electrical box:





It is very important to put an emergency switch on hand for when something is wrong to quickly disconnect the power of the simulator's electronics and prevent something from breaking and for the person's own safety.

Well guys, here's the result achieved to date:





I will try to describe all the problems that I have encountered so far, although my work is based to date on x-sim, I believe that all information can serve people who like me start in this world. In fact I used that software because it was the first one I found on the internet.

Now I think it would be much better to learn how to use Simtools, that's why I'm in this forum. To learn how to build electronics for Simtools and how to configure the program. For that reason, as I hope to find help, I lend all I can to new users who start sharing my knowledge so far.

With all assembly and after getting the seat to work with one of my simulators (reading and reading to follow the few clues that users of x-sim leave for 4 or 5 years to update the pluggins for the software to recognize the game current), the behavior of 2 DOF was very abrupt, so that doing the tests to try to master the settings and fine-tune the forces, the engines began to have gaps in the cams, and the simulator was uncontrollable.

At first I thought the problem was in the hall effect position sensors of the engines (as I had made them myself I thought the problem was there) but later I could see that the problem was not there, they worked perfectly.
Now that I can say that I know more about the subject because I have been able to deepen more in this world, I know that the movement of the sensors is excellent, indeed, since they have an angle of action of 180 degrees, it is not necessary to demultiplate the movement.


--------- Below I will detail how to manufacture them, it is not difficult if you have adequate tools and basic knowledge of welding electronic components. They can look great and do not wear out with use. In addition to that they do not have stops and they do not break if the motor loses the configuration and gives a complete return .---------

The way I have found that my motion simulator moves much more smoothly and without damage has been changing the power supply, going down from 24v to a 12v computer source. As simple as that!

Now the movement of the engines is smoother and slower. I do not think that now the engines or their gears can be broken.
The 24 volt motors with the 24V power supply had such a strong response that it was not able to control the forces of the simulator by touching the PID parameters or any other setting.

Now, almost untouched nothing the simulator moves very acceptable as you can see in the video.

Thank you very much noorbeast, I have already read many threads of f.a.q. but there are many doubts, I will continue reading.

At the moment I have decided to build it with an arduino mega and the sabertooth 2x32

It seems to me a good combination and very similar to the one I already have for the other software but improved.

Could you tell me @noorbeast, if the most appropriate configuration code for my 2 dof is this today ?:
@RufusDufus SMC3 code by @BlazinH for use with Sabertooth Packet Serial (Arduino Uno / Mega):

https://www.xsimulator.net/communit...ket-serial-pid-motor-driver-for-arduino.9277/

Thanks again for the help, I could not be happier with the forum

Another video, that´s Dirt Rally. quite good response:

Hello everyone, after a year without being able to continue with the project of my 2 dof I have decided to take advantage of the time confined at home and finally assemble the hardware (ardruino mega and saberrtooht 2x32) and the software smc3 and simtools.
A week later, and many hours of reading in the forum tips, I can say that I have understood how to make the movement system work well.
I am going to try to explain the steps that I have had to follow to achieve it, in case someone can serve as clarification.

The first thing I have had to do is say goodbye to my old hardware (Arruino one and 2 ibt) and the old software, x-sim.
The reason why I decided to switch to simtools is because this software is much more powerful and allows you to better configure your motion system.

In my case I have two 24v and 120w motors but a little weak construction. The transmission gears are small and do not support well the full weight of the simulator, which is designed so that the movement is of my whole body, including the legs.
The next thing will be to change to more powerful engines to get all the performance.

With my old software I felt that the movements were very abrupt if I tried to be realistic, and if I smoothed it out enough so that the motors did not suffer, I lost too many sensations.

I found great help changing the power supply from 24v to 12v which made the movements slower for the same configuration without losing overall sensitivity.

With this configuration I have worked my flight and car racing simulators quite well, and for that reason I have not decided to give the change until now that I have time to do it.

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Lo primero que he tenido que hacer es despedirme de mi antiguo hardware (ardruino uno y 2 ibt) y del antiguo software, x-sim.
El motivo por el que decidí cambiar a simtools es porque este software es mucho más potente y te permite configurar mejor tu sistema de movimiento.

En mi caso tengo dos motores de 24v y 120w pero de construcción un poco debil. Los engranajes de trasmision son pequeños y no soportan bien todo el peso del simulador, que esta diseñado para que el movimiento sea de todo mi cuerpo, incluido las piernas.
Lo siguiente será cambiar a motores más potentes para poder sacar todo el rendimiento.

Con mi antiguo software sentia que los movimientos eran muy bruscos si intentaba que fuera realista, y si lo suavizaba lo suficiente para que los motores no sufran perdia demasidas sensaciones.

Encontré gran ayuda cambiando la fuente de alimentacion de 24v a una de 12v que hizo que para la misma configuracion los movimientos eran mas lentos sin perder sensibilidad en general.

Con esta configuracion he trabajado mis simuladores de vuelo y carreras de coche bastante bien, y por ese motivo no me he decidido a dar el cambio hasta ahora que tengo tiempo para hacerlo.

Tomorrow I will begin to describe the changes and what I have been able to discover to configure my equipment from scratch with the tools of simtools.
It is true that all the information you need is in the forum, but if you are not familiar or do not have basic knowledge, it is difficult to find the way, so I will try to explain the correct steps to get with this team.
Once again I have to thank the entire development team and the community that is there helping everyone in need.

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Mañana empezare a describir los cambios y lo que he podido descubrir para configurar desde cero mi equipo con las herramientas de simtools.
Es verdad que toda la informacion que necesitas esta en el foro, pero si no estas familiarizado o no tienes conocimientos basicos cuesta un poco encontrar el camino, por eso voy a intentar explicar los pasos correctos para conseguiro con este equipo.
Una vez mas tengo que agradecer a todo el equipo de desarrollo y a la comunidad que esta ahi ayudando a todo el que lo necesita.

The first thing I have done is disassemble the old electronics and mount the mega Arruino and the Sartooth 2x32 in the box.

In the forum I found the files and following the steps indicated in the tutorial, install the necessary data in the two so that they understand each other and prove that they received the information and reacted properly.

https://www.xsimulator.net/communit...3dof-motor-driver-and-windows-utilities.4957/

https://www.xsimulator.net/communit...ket-serial-pid-motor-driver-w-softstart.9277/

These two are the links to the tutorials that have helped me get it working. You have to read all the pages of the thread because it helps a lot to understand how the program works although for my level of programming it is almost nil. Step by step you see the most common problems that users have in the process.
If you do everything as directed it will work the first time, as in my case.

In my case the key tool to be able to configure my simulator 2 dof well has been the SMC3 controller designed by RufusDufus and then expanded by BlazinH, thank you both.

This controller achieves that, by means of many variable settings, you can perfectly control the data that the mega ardruino receives from the motors. This is essential and most important as it prepares your team to perfectly control the movements of the motors and thus ensure that the data translated by game simtools is perfectly transmitted to the motors.
Since each one builds its simulator with different designs, components and according to the characteristics of your motors and potentiometers, they react differently to the same parameters that simtools send to the Arruino.

In short, in my case it has been the tool that has allowed me to perfectly modulate how the motors react so that I make the precise movements to my liking.

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Lo primero que he hecho es desmontar la electronica vieja y montar la ardruino mega y la sabertooth 2x32 en la caja.

En el foro encontre los archivos y siguendo los pasos que indican en el tutorial instale los datos necesarios en las las dos para que se entiendan mutuamente y probar que recibian la informacion y reaccionaban como es debido.

https://www.xsimulator.net/communit...3dof-motor-driver-and-windows-utilities.4957/
https://www.xsimulator.net/communit...ket-serial-pid-motor-driver-w-softstart.9277/

Estos dos son los enlaces a los tutoriales que me han ayudado a conseguir que funcione. Hay que leerse todas las paginas del hilo porque ayuda mucho a entender como funciona el programa aunque por mi nivel en programacion es casi nulo. Paso a paso vas viendo los problemas mas comunes que tienen los usuarios en el proceso.
Si haces todo como indican funcionara a la primera, como en mi caso.

En mi caso la herramienta clave para poder configurar bien mi simulador 2 dof ha sido el controlador SMC3 diseñado por RufusDufus y luego ampliado por BlazinH, mil gracias a los dos.

Este controlador consigue que, mediante muchos ajustes variables puedas controlar perfectamente los datos que recibe la ardruino mega de los motores. Esto es esencial y lo más importante ya que prepara de base a tu equipo para controlar perfectamente los movimientos de los motores y asi conseguir luego que los datos que traduce simtools del juego los transmita perfectamente a los motores.
Ya que cada uno se construye su simulador con diferentes diseños, componentes y segun las caracteristicas de tus motores y potenciomentros reaccionan diferente a los mismos parametros que envia simtools a la ardruino.

Resumiendo, en mi caso ha sido la herramienta que ha hecho que pueda modular perfectamente como reaccionan los motores para que haga los movimientos precisos a mi gusto.

Later, while testing with the SMC 3 DOF, I realized that my engine position sensors that I built for myself (hall sensor) are too sensitive and with only 45 degrees of rotation they reached the end of the working range.
If I fix the sensor directly to the motor shaft then it means that the simulator movement will be too nervous and too short in cam travel.

This can be solved by changing the sensors for other less sensitive ones or by multiplying the rotation of the sensor to the motor with two different sized gears. The same effect that is obtained with the change of the bicycles. Large chainring and small sprocket makes the wheel spin faster and pedal slower.

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Despues mientras hacia las pruebas con el SMC 3 DOF me di cuenta que mis sensores de posicion de los motores que yo mismo me construí (sensor hall) son demasiado sensibles y con solo 45 grados de giro llegaban al final del recorrido del rango de trabajo.
Si fijo directamente el sensor al eje del motor entonces quiere decir que el movimiento del simulador sera muy nervioso y demasiado corto en recorrido de las levas.

Esto se puede solucionar cambiando los sensores por otros menos sensibles o desmultiplicar el giro del sensor al motor con dos engranajes de diferente tamaño. El mismo efecto que se consigue con el cambio de las bicicletas. Plato grande y piñon pequeño hace que la rueda gire mas rapido y el pedaleo mas lento.

Thank you very much for describing your project in detail!

Did you get more power using 24v motors with 12v source than with 12v motors?

The same 24v motor can run on 12v but the torque power and rpm speed is reduced but it works perfectly.

On the contrary I do not advise it. A motor designed to run at 12v can suffer if you run it at 24v. It will surely overheat and even break in continued use.

In my case reducing to 12v has been a solution when I could not regulate the power with the old software.
I am waiting to use the 24v power supply with the SMC 3dof tool.

My theory is that now that I can regulate the output power to the motor with this tool, the 24v power supply can work well too.
When I do the test I will comment it here.

Thank you very much, I hope to help in any way I can.

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El mismo motor de 24v puede funcionar con 12v pero la potencia de torque y la velocidad de rpm se reduce pero funciona perfectamente.

Al contrario no lo aconsejo. Un motor diseñado para funcionar a 12v puede sufrir si lo sometes a 24v. Seguramente se sobrecalentará en exceso e incluso romperse en uso continuado.

En mi caso reducir a 12v ha sido una solución cuando no podia regular la potencia con el antiguo software.
Estoy pendiente de utilizar con la herramienta SMC 3dof la fuente de alimentación de 24v.

Mi teoría es que ahora que con esta herramienta puedo regular la potencia de salida al motor la fuente de alimentación de 24 v puede funcionar bien tambien.
Cuando haga la prueba lo comentaré aqui.

Muchas gracias, espero umildemente ayudar en lo que pueda.