Junkyard 6DOfG

So it begins……

Like many others here i have been fascinated by flight, racing and things that go fast and far. By extension the machines that simulate these things are also highly intoxicating and luckily in this day and age much more accessible.

Then last year i knocked together my first rig to house a G29 racing wheel bundle for my son. For your consideration i present the MKI-



Granted this was a rushed and rudimentary project. The main goal was to make an additional chair for the XBOX room and test my sons interest level.

In this the MKI succeeded brilliantly and now it is time to kick things up a great big notch….

The idea is to build a 6DOF Hexapod Rig. The broad constraints are-
1. Used or recycled materials where ever possible.
2. Reliability and safety (fire, mechanical and electrical in particular)
3. Lowest cost possible. Not to be cheap (and yeah to be cheap) but to build on the works of @silentchill (how you built your rig for 2K is staggering) and @peacemaker (use of easy to source off the shelf components).
4. Locally sourced where ever possible.
5. be somewhat moveable - my son IS winning every science fair between now and graduation or so help me.
6. The project has to look fast standing still

Note- I reserve the right to abandon the above constraints and throw money at the project when ever i think my wife wont find out.

On the plus side-
As far as fabrication is concerned i have access multiple 3d printers, a TIG welder, more power tools than you can shake a stick at, vacuum bagging equipment and a decent amount of experience in fabrication.

Holding me back-
Whilst I have built a couple of 3d printers, rewired multiple cars, boats and motorcycles electronics are a mystery. coding is witchcraft.

And that is it.

Thank you for your future inputs and help.

Now I am off to the local electric motor repair shop to get schooled on why what i propose can’t be done while at the same time costing a fortune.

So those last 3 years just flew by and I am only now getting back to the build…

parts are arriving already

And here is base - yes it is wood- the units on the arms are movable to allow me to experiment with the position of the lower attachment points before to fine tune before the final build.

Today fedex saw fit to deliver 6DOF/2

So DO NOT BUY the motors and controllers pictured above. They are not the right ones and are going back.

Correct. Best is to get the servo kits with white AASD-15A drives...

I'll have to tally up the final cost on my 6 DOF. I went the DC route as I still think it's cheaper, at least in the US. I've seen several people list the AC servos for cheap, but most of those people seem to be in Europe or something. My DC setup is based on motor pairs as my controllers are all dual channel (Sabertooths). So each pair is something like $30 per motor, $150 per controller (Sabertooth + Kangaroo), and ~$80 for a power supply. So 1x two motor "unit" is ~$300, or $150 per motor (though you can't really build a "single" for half the cost). I think I remember seeing some of the AC servo combos on places like AliExpress or something, but shipping was the killer on cost. All of that directly interfaces with the computer as well, so no need for a separate motion controller inbetween (like a Thanos).

Granted, the AC setup is going to be a fair deal more powerful and probably cleaner to wire up with built in encoders and stuff like that, but I also wanted to build a single partial unit first to see how everything was going to work before I jumped in and committed to everything else. I started off just buying a single lead screw assembly, some limit switches, an encoder and 3d printed some plates to screw it all to a piece of wood to test with to make sure the control system was going to work. When that worked out I took the leap and started putting together the list of metal stuff to make it all more permanent.

I did reuse some parts from my original 2 DOF rig, and a lot of the stuff I got as birthday/Christmas presents over a few years, but I should have a near full BOM with prices somewhere. I want to say the all-in cost for me was probably somewhere in the $2-2.5k range, but I know at the end I was also just kind of buying whatever I needed to finish things. I kind of broke it down into three main categories: metal/structure, actuator parts, and power/control system.

some progress.

started trying to figure out the seating/ cockpit size. built an ergonomic 2x4 test bed. surprisingly comfortable.

also have the correct motors ordered - should arrive around the 6th of jan 2026 (soon)

and i am finally able to produce some great quality resin prints.
i realize the base bearing is upside down here.

one measurement error-




Seems my SS rods are too long. had to redesign the top cap-



the good news is that i have nearly 650 mm of travel.
bad news is it takes me to withing 60mm of my basement ceiling. maybe closer.

I looked at DC - there are a lot of pros not least of which is the cost savings. of course I decided to blow my brains out on this one instead. I am not known for making sensible fiscal decisions regarding hobby projects it must be said.

all steps forward have now been cancelled out by a major material shortcoming.


the ABS Like resin is tough but it doesn't like shock loads so i cant risk it. Its a shame because on balance the prints were very precise.

Now i was hoping to order the Virpil Apache Collective and base but the above materials headache must be addressed.
Luckily i have some 1/4 and 1/8 inch 6061 in the garage and more routers than you can shake a stick at but as i prepared to smash the offending parts




which brings us to this weeks "blow my brains out on costs moment".......

and success has been almost immediate!




they say CNC is hard but i really had no idea.

This is more an design issue. These kind of actuators are easy to build, but they are lagging strongability when used with high strokes. With aluminum parts they will just bend.

Are you using 5mm pitch ballscrews? They will reach the speedlimit really fast, i would recommend at least 10mm.

From the 1st picture in post #11 it looks like 10mm pitch ball screw.

If you have a CNC router you could make the flange plates out of aluminium. Those cheap routers with unsupported linear bearings are not very stiff so you have to be careful when machining anything other than soft wood. I'd suggest using a 2-flute TC cutter with 3 to 6mm diameter at ~20,000RPM, feed rate 1000mm/min. Try a cutting depth of 1mm per pass and increase as long as it sounds and looks good.

they are 1610s.

as to the design issue - your points are all good but the experience on the ground has really forced me to change direction.

So far i have made 5 batches of the 6 actuator components. during each batch has had 1 part fail during assembly/ early accidents (eg- dropping, forcing the part by hand/ additional machining etc). i have also lost 1/3 parts to print quality issues. Not the sort of QC levels that inspire confidence.

the component above is the "top hat" (per peacemaker's naming) which is the base of the actuator tube. I was moving it and grabbed a single rod at the far end lifted it and there was a loud crack.

Very little weigh or force involved (but i suppose applied in just the right way) and it sheared.

The top hat is 12mm thick where it broke - I agree that while there will always be a design with this material that can address this issue at the end of the day there is only so much room in the tube (if not the design) to accommodate it.

there is also only so much i am prepared to waste on resin before i change course. its a lot but there is a limit.

i will still use some printed elements for spacers and guides etc. and i will certainly be using it for other components - they look very very good - but for me the lesson is to listen to what the machine spirit is telling you early and change course.

"2-flute TC cutter with 3 to 6mm diameter at ~20,000RPM, feed rate 1000mm/min" that sounds like a great starting point. I will probably go with a much shallower cut depth and slower to reduce the feedback forces and hopefully improve the performance.

however the first order of business is building a soundproof cabinet. Having snuck this into the house I cant risk getting found out and then moved to the freezing cold garage. this machine sits right under my wife's office so it has to rival the dishwasher for noise output.

The key when finding the best cutting parameters is not to be too anxious. A too slow feed rate is bad because the cutter doesn't really cut proper chips but only grinds dust. This increases wear and heating. The aluminium dust melts and stics to the worpiece and the cutter which tends to break soon. If the cut is too heavy for your machine, reduce the cut depth, not the feed rate.