Showroom My latest 6DOF design

I've had some people ask me to post this project here, so I figured I'd lay it all out in my journey of the 3rd 6DOF that I've built.

A little history:

I first built a rotary design from plans I found online (some of the OG builder's plans). It consisted of 6 Clearpath servos (running on PWM). It was an ok design, but I had three major problems. It wasn't conducive to having kids and cats (the torque was enough to chop the cats in half and my kids were a bit younger). The backlash of the wormdrive gears wasn't great. Lastly, I just didn't like the way it looked. Here are some pics from that endeavor:








So I then moved onto the idea of using linear actuators to combat the backlash and safety issue.





That design had it's drawbacks. Mainly I was just throwing things together as I needed them, so it was a lot of afterthoughts and band-aids. Plus, having literal hundreds of bolts across various joints of 8020 made for some flexing and rattling, which I didn't care for. Another thing that was bothersome was switching between flight and racing took forever. Lastly, the driving position wasn't great for long runs.

I decided to explore new options of a more reclined position and ended up purchasing another pre-built rig for inspiration and trying the feel of 42" monitors (decided against these because they are only 60Hz, so my kids ended up with these):


I thought about trying to adapt a "carrier rig" to use it on the 6DOF setup:








I also wanted to find a way to do a "rotary pedal platform" in that design:



But, when it came down to it, I realized I'd just end up with another extruded aluminum rig that doesn't solve all of my issues, so back to the drawing board. I really liked the seating position and layout, so I decided to replicate it with a custom aluminum tube frame, but welded together

Starting with re-making the actuator mounting points:



Some satisfying joints:



After a bit, I got a concept together using the same seat from the pre-built rig (which fits me REALLY well).


I incorporated the rotating pedal platform concept I thought of earlier:



Added provisions for a steering wheel mount. I originally bought a Simucube 2 Pro




Around this time, I was in the process of selling my business (one I had been involved in for 15 years) and this project went on hold around February of 2024. But, the business sold, I no longer have to work and have time to pick this all back up. In the interim, I made the switch over to the Moza ecosystem. I was drawn to the integrated connections with the wheels to eliminate the hanging cord or dealing with wireless issues. I also was very enticed by the Moza AB9 force feedback joysticks and the most recent update (at the time) that added the ability to switch between flight joystick and gated shifter for racing. Between this and the rotating pedal platform, changing between flight and racing takes under a minute. I also bought a second AB9 and their flight throttle, giving the ability to fly HOSAS and HOTAS, as well as the HOSAS being good for games like Out of Ore, Farming Simulator, etc. where running construction equipment like excavators with dual sticks would be advantageous.


I soon realized that my knees would be hitting the steering wheel mount, so I decided to weld in a bottom mount plate for the Moza R21 base to ultimately eliminate anything for my knees to bang into (sorry no pics specifically of this, but you'll see it later on down).

Being happy with this design, I decided to disassemble my old upper platform, replace the rug underneath and repaint, getting rid of those awful salmon colored walls the previous house owners decided on. I also added a solar powered mini-split AC to make the area nice and chilly for those long runs. I also placed the servo drives inside a case for a nice tidy setup:


Here you can see the mount for the wheel (yes the welds are terrible. I was still getting used to the new 2000w laser welder I bought)


Started mounting some of the peripherals:


Got the rotating pedal platform put into place:


Sourced a "split" keyboard to eliminate the hassle of a flimsy keyboard tray. Just welded together some aluminum and created the mounts for each half. Also added a Steam Deck button box for some much needed shortcuts and the button box for ATS/ETS2 on the right side.


I was on the fence about even dealing with monitors as I always play with VR if available. But alas, I caved and decided to run triple 42" LG C3 OLED 4k 120Hz TVs for monitors. My wife runs the 48" on her desktop, I have the 65" for my basement arcade build. Really liked these TVs, so I went with the 42" on my rig as an upgrade from my previous 32" 1080p monitors. Thankfully I nailed the alignment because these are welded in place. You can also see the Moza throttle in place with the replaceable second joystick on the ground


Here we are as of today, writing this post. I added a Samsung Q990F sound bar, fabricating a bracket for the surround speakers. I wasn't impressed with the little subwoofer it came with (you can see it at the bottom under the platform), so I added two 18 Dayton Ultimax subwoofers, each with 1000w amps along with a ButtKicker LFE along with a 1200w amp for that. I can literally shake the walls of the house with this setup. I also 3D printed some hangars for my Moza wheels that work with the quick-release, so they are securely mounted to the wall. (I have two truck wheels because my wife sometimes plays with me on ATS and Farming Simulator, but I added the quick grip on one of them for use with FS25, and the one without is used for ATS).



Adding some wall mounted fans as soon as they get delivered and once I decide I'm "done", then I'll be doing a textured black paint on the frame. You can see I added some arm rest pads. Should help make the awful TIG and laser welding a little less noticeable. I'll be fabbing up some covers to finish off the sides on either side of the seat.

So I'm nearing completion (for now......). Any suggestions would be helpful. I've really put thought into this design and trying to eliminate any compromises I've had to deal with before (keyboard, sound, switching between flight/racing/space, etc). I've successfully ran the sim for about 10 hours so far in iRacing, Elite Dangerous, Microsoft Flight Simulator 24, Farming Simulator 25, Forza Motorsport. I have a lot more to test out and tune, but this thing is rock solid. The haptics come through SO well now with no rattles. The sound is INCREDIBLE with that Q990F, ifykyk. The subs rattle your brains out (and the house). The triple 4k monitors are just great and run surprisingly well on the 5090. I may try adding a second 5090 and using Lossless Scaling, but we'll see.

To be continued.....?

Yeah I have thought about the active harness setup. That's a good point. I don't know about the G-Seat as that would likely make me give up that comfy seat (despite it not having padding, it's ridiculously comfortable). Oh and I do have a Moza handbrake on the way. Just waiting for them to fulfill the order. They aren't always the fastest......