UPGRADE TIME! Inspired by PT Actuator 6DoF

Images of the completed project can be seen at this post:
https://www.xsimulator.net/communit...-by-pt-actuator-6dof.16651/page-2#post-226708




The other day I was watching an old video by Sim Racing Garage where he is upgrading his PT Actuator 5DoF rig with a 6DoF mech on the base. I loved the system immediately. Two slides in the middle with a plate bearing to keep it aligned and four casters to allow rotation, movement, etc. I have Yaw and Sway on separate levels of my base but this allows more than just those two. Now I can have traction loss with either understeer or oversteer but I also get sway and center yaw. All on the same level! FREAKING WONDERFUL.

Since PT Actuator is 14,000 I built my own. Of course

Controller: Thanos AMC-AASD15A Servo Controller

4@SFX-200 actuators, 3@ DIY push-pull actuators 300(ish) mm stroke from my original build,. My current steel/wood simpit will fit right on top just as it currently does my wooden motion base.

4080 aluminum profile from 8020 corp out of Columbia City Indiana. It was just a short drive down to their factory to pick up my material the other day. My wife and I made an evening of it.

Various bits and bobs from the junk rack in the shop. Including the twin heavy duty slides. They have been sitting around for 12(ish) years.

It should be complete by Tuesday (I hope) and I can test it out. Just waiting on a 1605 ball screw assembly to arrive. The 1"x7"(or some such) massive ball screw assembly that I have been using for traction loss will not fit now so I have to to change that one over.

Although far far cheaper than PC Actuator it is not in fact cheap. The SFX-200 actuators, with drives, were around 450.00 each and the DIY Push pull actuators were around 350.00 each. The controller was 300.00, a DIY remote for that was 15.00 or so. The aluminum profile with nuts/bolts/corner connectors was 1100.00. The casters were 50.00 for the set (amazon), 3/16"x12"x12" were 24.00(eBay) while the four bolt flanged 1" bearing was also amazon for 12.00. the HDPE I already had in the shop but several sheets of 32mm and 12mm were a cheap craigslist find a while back. All prices USD. So this build will probably end up being around 4500.00. Not at all cheap but 10,000$ cheaper than the alternative. So I am pretty happy. Wife...maybe not so much...

This is what it should look like (PT Actuator):




And what mine looks like so far.



eBay 12"x3/16" steel plates for the casters to roll around on. You can see my DIY Push Pull solution for the AC Servo drives.



Super heavy duty casters. Each is rated for 600lbs. They have stationary levelers but those will never be used, lol.

Hard to see but I welded a 1" pipe (actually turned down to 1" from 1 1/16") to a 4 bolt threaded pipe flange. That is what is sticking up through the flanged bearing. I was able to conveniently bolt that down right into the 4080 slot.



1/2" HDPE spacers allowed me to place the casters exactly in the center of the steel plates. Fishing the nuts into the tube in the 4080 was fun. Buying the three side open 4080 saved me about 75.00 and this was the only issue with that. Easy to work around. I thought the closed side might make it stronger as well.



Two of the four SFX-200 actuators mounted. I did not get a good picture but there are four mounts on the outside and two inside on that lower cross 4080. Doubling the front a rear strength. I could have put two more on the outside bottom as I threaded the 4080 but that is way overkill....and I am short on brackets/bolts/T-nuts.






Unfortunately when I am done I have to disassemble it completely to haul down to the man cave
Good thing I bought my wife a massage chair as an early Christmas present....although she did make me promise not to turn it into a motion simplit, lol.

This morning I designed and CNC'd (gotta love denominalization don't yah?) them from the 32mm HDPE. These are adjustable and allow a little room for the actuator foot.


M8x40 bolts are inset to make them look pretty




The surge mech complete and ready to use.

This setup is a lot smaller than my wooden motion base. Makes sense though

After a day of playing around in the new base setup. I can honestly say that the dual traction loss motors are well worth it. Surge and 3DoF (four SFX-100 motors) are exactly the same as it was before but I can really tell the difference in the TL/Sway setup. Yaw feels right now, as does sway. Wild to feel yaw start from the front and move along the back in DCS. I can mix sway with roll now and it feels awesome.

Excellent upgrade to the man cave.

Oh man, this build looks and sounds wonderful. I am impressed that you have managed to get a functional dual traction loss setup. I know that I will surely draw inspiration from your build when I begin to plan something as grand as this. Congratulations, and I hope you enjoy it!

Thanks @HI_iam_new.

I redid the monitor arrangement, reusing the suspended swivel track to make things more open and easy to get at.

I really really need some cable management.

Wow really nice. I have some questions. isnt the front motor used also for understeer? If you place a pivot in the midle, why you need and extra motor in front? Is your rig going to be able to do this ?
Thanks

Hi @hideki ,

Yes, I get exactly what is shown in the video you posted, just much much quieter

Hello, I was wondering if you play Assetto Corsa (the original, not Competizione) and are able simulate the understeer effect in that game with your simulator?

As I understand, traditional Rear Traction Loss is implemented by SimTools through the 'Extra1' setting. However, I am unable to determine how SimTools handles Front Traction Loss, or if Assetto Corsa even outputs this data.

As far as I know there are no games that actually send understeer telemetry, but I am probably wrong about that. Of course even if they did you would need a plugin that includes it, which that one does not. I do drive AC it is my favorite driving sim but to be honest I mostly fly DCS for my sim time.

I did manage today to clean up the wires a little. At least enough not to roll over or squish any

Really nice work! I remember I saw PT Actuator 6DOF in youtube channel Sim Racing Garage, He tested the Front Traction Loss using IRacing, maybe you could try it.

Hi @vodkaghx as I said I was probably wrong. I did not watch his iracing footage from that video, very interesting. Thanks for pointing it out, I will rewatch the video. I studied the first 3/4 rather intently, lol.
I do not have iRacing, as I mentioned I am mostly a flight sim enthusiast.

EDIT: I did not build mine exactly as shown in the video, as I do not have the exact actuators.

Edit of my EDIT: I did re-watch the video again and Barry Roland does confirm that iRacing does not include front traction loss. SRS itself creates a pseudo front traction loss feeling to replicate the movement.

Another thing that the video inspired me to build is a seat belt tensioning system. It is very simple, and works incredibly well. It really reinforces the surge feel. Mine is not as pretty as the one in his video as I did not have extra extrusion laying around. I did have left over 25mm steel tube though.

One of these days I will get around to mounting the 7.1 surround speakers, the arms on the belt rack will be perfect for that.





You can see Barry's system at 10:55 here:

Arrrghh! I can no longer access Solidworks, which I did with an EEA membership and they no longer offer that benefit. So now I have to learn a new CAD program, FreeCAD (because I am cheap).

I am going to work on a 3D model of a new aluminum t-slot top rig for my NOT PT-Actuator 6DoF.

I have some ideas for sliding controller mounts, MUAHHAHHAA!

Hi @Historiker hav eyou looked at solidworks maker edition option ? i think its £85 per year full access but dont quote me on that

Maybe you would be able to get a 30 day trial to finish your work? SolidWorks or Inventor - they are similar

I did not use yet, but you have this for free:

https://www.plm.automation.siemens.com/plmapp/education/solid-edge/en_us/free-software/community

It's the Solid Edge Community Edition.