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My project 2DOF plus Traction loss

Discussion in 'DIY Motion Simulator Projects' started by chrisgeo, Jul 1, 2020.

  1. chrisgeo

    chrisgeo Member

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    I was in the workshop again, this one was a short one, due to other commitments. Manufactured the mount for the seat belt tensioning motor and the small brackets for the sides belts of the harness. As always the welding joints are not finished yet, they will be made nice once the welding is finished.

    44E02EF9-B00B-49CD-954D-C223DE8C59CB.jpeg
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  2. RacingMat

    RacingMat Well-Known Member Gold Contributor

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    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, DC motor, Arduino
    There are indeed pros and cons
    RC servo is more straightforward (arduino code simplier, less wiring)

    Gear DC motor will be quieter
    but you will have to add a potentiometer on your DC motor (bracket, and 3 more wires) and Arduino code is a bit more complicated (but codes are already available).

    is your harness 2" or a 3" wide ?
    think about a roller behind your shoulders : 2DOF RC servos harness tensioner with PT Mover
  3. chrisgeo

    chrisgeo Member

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    @RacingMat, thank you for the hint with the roller, I will do this to remove friction.

    Regarding the DC motor, I planned for it and will use hall effect potis.
    potis.jpg
  4. chrisgeo

    chrisgeo Member

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    Today I had a bit of time left to spend in the workshop and I planned to work on the some parts for the mechanics. First I made the rods out of full aluminium bar and some kart heim joints. To make my life easier I used only the right version than right and left. The type of the heim joints is POS8R, it should be good enough for my purposes, if not I can go bigger.

    The next item I built today was the mounting point for the rod to the rig, however I forgot to take a picture. First I thought to drill the rig to attach the rod, but I changed my mind for a couple of reasons.
    #1 If there is a hole somewhere it is hard to remove it.
    #2 It might weaken the structure of the rig
    #3 Intensive use might damage the drilled hole
    #4 I might need to change some dimensions in the future.

    Lastly I built the mounting brackets for the potentiometers for two of the motors (longitudinal and lateral movement). The brackets are made out of 3mm aluminium cut, drilled and bent. The bracket will be attached to the rig with some bolts, so I can remove it if necessary.

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  5. absyfadhel1

    absyfadhel1 Member

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    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, Arduino
    you complete it?...i have question
    ...(the motor how weight can lift ?)
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  6. chrisgeo

    chrisgeo Member

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    Hi, sorry for the late reply, but I was quite busy in the last couple of weeks. To answer your question, the motors are rated 20NM, however I expect the load to be lower, because the rig is supported very close to the centre of gravity.
  7. chrisgeo

    chrisgeo Member

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    I was able today work on my project again after I was away for a couple of weeks.
    To start it slowly I decided to do a bit of machining, working with stainless steel (12mm rod) was a bit of a different experience, because normally I prefer aluminium. But the thread looks not to bad and a decent amount of cutting fluid was very helpful.

    IMG_1021.JPG

    I also used two pieces of flat bar to create the part of the lever arm which is attached to the stainless steel rod. At the moment the lever will be fastened to the rod with nuts, I will see if this is provides enough grip to hold the lever in place.

    IMG_1020.JPG

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    The next step will be to find the correct length of the lever.

    IMG_1029.JPG

    The other thing I finished today was, to attach the bracket holding the potentiometer. I uses a few oversized nuts and bolts, I was to lazy to look for some in smaller size.

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  8. absyfadhel1

    absyfadhel1 Member

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    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, Arduino
    its look its will be great build , waiting for the test video , keep going
  9. chrisgeo

    chrisgeo Member

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    An other day in the workshop, or I should better say playground. ;)
    I finished the levers for the the up/down and sideway movements. At the moment I made it the levers out of 6mm aluminium, in case it will not be suitable I will replace it with steel.

    IMG_1109.JPG

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    I had a bit of an issue with the hole through the stainless steel bar, because I was not sure how to drill it totally centre. With a bit of research I was able to built a bit of a jig and it worked perfectly. I forgot to take a picture of the jig, but I will provide it at a later stage. At the moment I secured it just with a hitch pin. One of the next steps will involve the creating/machining of a perfectly fitting locking pin.

    IMG_1111.JPG
  10. chrisgeo

    chrisgeo Member

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    I started to build the case for all the electronics (power supplies, Arduino, Motorcontrollers, ...) . The first idea was to use a PC case, but I stepped away from this idea for various reasons and decided to build my own case. For the case I am using 3mm aluminium, but one side will be made out of perspex, just to play a bit with some light effects.

    As you can see, I did it not finished today, but this will be done in my next workshop day.

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  11. chrisgeo

    chrisgeo Member

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    Another week another day in the workshop to work a bit on the sim rig and related items.
    So today I worked to finish the main electronics box. I think I said it in one of the earlier post, the material
    for the box is 3mm aluminium, so the box will be quite sturdy and a bit heavy. On the other side it is rock solid. ;)

    After TIG welding the pieces for the box together I started with the actual fabrication work.
    To give the 12V power supplies something they can get hold on, I fabricated 3 angled brackets for them.

    The most fun part was the drilling of the biiig holes for the four 120mm fans, I live in the tropics and it can get hot here, so I thought I better give them some air to breathe. To mount the fans I used some Noctua rubber mounts instead of normal screws. I hope the rubber will help to avoid unwanted noise and vibrations.

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  12. chrisgeo

    chrisgeo Member

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    After a bit of silence in the workshop and on my workbench I decided to add a wind simulation to the whole sim rig. Following research I ordered a couple a PC fans and printed some nice colourfull shrouds to direct the winds. What should I say, the experiment failed, the fans even with overvoltage did not provide the desired wind speed effect. So back to the thinking board and start from scratch....

    .... Finally I found the solution, two a bit oversized 12V ducted bilge fans, they have only one downside, they are a bit noisy. So I will put the fans in boxes insulated with some leftover foam.
    Another small hick-up was the motor controller I planned to use for the fans, because it did not provide enough power. Thanks to the internet, I found some leftover Monster Moto Shields, I hope they will arrive soon.

    IMG_1181.JPG

    windbox.jpg

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  13. chrisgeo

    chrisgeo Member

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    I had to start the tedious work of of putting all the electronics and cables into the controller box. Which left only one more decision to make, how to connect the controller box to the sim rig itself.
    To make sure I am not mixing the cables and destroying anything I choose the following cables.
    Colour coded Banana plugs for the movement motors, a 4 pin connector for the fans and 6 pin DIN connector for the potentiometer connections.

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  14. chrisgeo

    chrisgeo Member

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    To make it a bit nice to look at I used RGB fans to push cooling air through, just to make sure that I do not fry the motor controllers, as I live in the tropics and it can get hot here from time to time.

    IMG_1359.JPG IMG_1362.JPG

    Once everything is tested and confirmed working, I might change the cabling, so please do not judge me on the cabling at the moment.

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  15. chrisgeo

    chrisgeo Member

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    Finally I had a bit of time to work on the sim rig in the workshop again. I installed the plates with the mounting points for the steering wheel and the pedals. I think the sim rig looks not to bad and I am very keen to power it up soon and have the first test drive.

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  16. Bontekop

    Bontekop New Member

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    Nice build. Slowly but surely you're getting there.
  17. chrisgeo

    chrisgeo Member

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    Thanks!
    Yes, I am not in a rush, however, the more complete it looks, the more I am tempted to work more on it and get it done quicker. We will how it goes, but I think it should not take much, much longer.
  18. chrisgeo

    chrisgeo Member

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    Workshop day, today I worked on the base, which also is the part of the traction loss "system". I used boxed 100x50 aluminium, which also will work as protection for all the cables once the rig is finished. To do this I cut out a section in the front, this will be replaced by a cover with all the electric connectors.

    The traction loss movement is far greater that I need at the moment, however it leaves me with options for the future and also it spreads quite wide and gives a good base for the rig.

    At the moment I attached only two rollers to the rig for testing, but on the finished rig I will have 4 rollers for load distribution.

    Btw, I tacked in two small square aluminium pieces as stabilisation, to work free on the rig, they will be removed once the rig is finished.


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    Last edited: Jun 19, 2021
  19. chrisgeo

    chrisgeo Member

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    Hi everyone,

    I have my sim now home out of the workshop (I will update my post soon) and it is basically running with no problems in the SMC3 utility and running with simtools. However, when I go to try it with output testing in simtools game engine, one motor (always the same) is "snapping" and moving beyond its lower boundary. if this happens I have to reset the Arduino and manually move the motor back into the boundary. I changed the IBT2, checked the poti (the recommended hall type) reduced the movement, ...

    I have no idea what the issue can be, maybe one of you has.

    Thanks in advance from lovely and warm Darwin.

    Cheers
    Chris
  20. noorbeast

    noorbeast VR Tassie Devil Staff Member Moderator Race Director

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    My Motion Simulator:
    3DOF, DC motor, JRK
    Can you please post pictures of all of your settings.

    Does the 'snapping' happen as soon as Output Testing is activated, or in some other circumstance, such as moving the slider?

    Moving beyond a boundary would tend to suggest a SMC3 configuration issue.