A new born...

Perhaps a new adventure i said to myself. Needless to say, I find myself here. I’ve been lurking and flying around here for 3 to 4 days on and off. Nice place to land.
I've signed up and now for sure I can see trouble on the horizon. Trouble meaning WALLET trouble. I’m really thinking about racing motion. Looking for a budget right now and once that’s done I’ll drop a thread for guidance.

I bring nothing right now but hopefully I can bring something in the near future. I have no IDEA on what I’m about to get myself into. I’ll keep reading and looking and hopefully make some sense of this.

I’m not an engineer nor a electrician but I can design. I have model skills as well. I restore old 1/24 and 1/32 scale slot cars from the 1960’s. Basically, I can make stuff look pretty. I’ve been a graphic designer for 24 years and been modeling for 8 years. I’m in Texas, Fort Worth… bloody hot here!

Okay then, that’s me and it’s nice to meet all!

All the best

Chris

Hello Chris, welcome, most of us have no idea either so you are in the right place.
Suggestions.
Id suggest start with a 2DOF frame, either seat mover, or full frame.
Have a dig through the threads for sure
Heres some links for suggestions for 2DOF
http://www.xsimulator.net/community/threads/different-2dof-sim-builds-feel-free-to-add-designs.5624/
or dig through here for them all
http://www.xsimulator.net/community/forums/diy-motion-simulator-projects.22/
Depending on budget will put a slight spanner in the works.
Motors for power.
Some of us start with wiper motors from a medium sized passenger car, thats if they can be found cheap, like $10 each.
Or you can look at a much larger and stronger 12v motor like these http://www.ebay.com/itm/GEAR-MOTOR-...384?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item51bd392f00 , faster and stronger.
For motor control, again a cost and time setup.
These are popular http://www.pololu.com/product/1393 , one per motor, they will run 14v at 30 amps continuous all day with heatsink on the big chip and fan cooling. And 45 amp spikes no problem
Dont discount the size, they are WAY more powerful than they look.
They do not need any coding, just wire up, enter some simple PID and motor settings and off you go.
Or you can use the arduino and separate h-bridges that are slightly less cost , but they require coding either by yourself or using an existing code.
A feedback sensor needed for each motor consists of a potentiometer of about 5 kohm , and can be single turn cheapo 270 deg turn ,$4 or a single turn 360 deg turn good quality $35 each.
Wiring up the JRK

and fit the pot on the back of the motor shaft something like this using 360 deg pot

or like this using 270 deg cheap pot

A basic seat mover design

That should confuse, er, I mean start you along.
I dont have an arduino wiring diagram as there are heaps of different styles of ards and h-bridge configurations.
Cheers, David.

thanks David... nice one
The budget is around $1500
I'll be checking out the links for sure...

was that plus or including a PC?

1500 for the rig - I have the pc - I have the wheel and pedals. I may have to wait a while for the wheel and pedals... Fanatec V2 base will be here in late Jan 2015. I had to buy a silly code off ebay in order to order the base... never heard of a company not wanted to sell the hell out their product. What ever next.
Anyway, 1500 is the budget - I would like to have some left overs for some goodies but I'm willing to go the extra if need be...

any ideas David?

Thanks again mate

$1500 should do it. Thats weird about the V2 set. I run G27
You just need to think what sort of frame you might like.
Sniff around for 2nd hand steel or even a cheap sim frame. There are half decent racing seats off ebay for from the local papers. Id suggest something that weighs 10kg or under.
Pivot can be made from a 2nd hand drive shaft, cut to size. Just look for rusty and cheap from a local wrecking yard. I pay $20 for mine and thats 2 pivots made.

Things like rod ends, shop around, they cost from $4 to $20 each for the same damn thing. you will need 4. PHS10 should do it.
Brackets and bits can be found at local hardware, just might need to cut and weld a bit.
A seat mover like the desk racer I built, cost me $800 for everything, and thats new apart from tailshaft.

I found cheap power supplies off ebay, allow 12v 40 amps each motor.
Umm...cannot think of anything else so far.
Have fun researching!
Dave.

cheers David. I'll look real hard and see what I like and what I can design. Yes, the v2 can only be ordered right now. http://www.fanatec.com/us-en/wheel-bases
You need a invitation code or you can not buy it right now. I had to buy a code off ebay - $50. Moreover, I have to wait until Jan 30th 2015 to get it. Shocking really... if it's not ready then don't sell it.

Thanks again mate

sucks about the V2 I know, I had my code, Extended it once, then it went invalid the next week Prior to the expiry......lame..... I personally said F it and went with a Ekretz mod instead. MO POWA!!!!! lol

To be honest, I'm getting a little on the concerned side. I've seen a few stories of 4,5 and 6 months in wait times. Right now, I'm told it will be here on the 30th of Jan 2015. That's not good for me but I'm willing to wait as long as the base will ship on that date. I still have to decide on a rig and if it's going to be static or motion. So the wait is okay for now.

the Current longest wait time I've read about would be on the Shifter not the New base. Guys who got code's first are already receiving wheels. Guys who were on the "next batch" Also have received wheels before the actual shipment was supposed to arrive and go out. So all hope isn't lost just yet. Might be an early Xmas You never know, (Fingers crossed)