6DOF Hexapod (Stewart) on the cheap

After building a well working 2DOF motion simulator and an F/A18C cockpit for DCS, I got the itch to build a more powerful and complete 6DOF Hexapod. I will document the build process here. My goal is to keep the total cost under $2K USD, including the cockpit.

Original design is based on the prophet.id's BOSeTAMPER's Rotary Servo 6dof Build post from here. But those dimensions were not compatible with base built from 4x4 lumber so my build is going to be larger. I also intend to build a fully enclosed and more realistic F18 cockpit on top so I need a bit more real estate on the platform anyway. I will keep track of the item costs as a guide for everyone. I will not include welding machines, plasma cutter, general machining tools etc on the cost, those things are very useful but not completely necessary

I also created a kinematic motion simulator in html format (attached here as zipped file). It should work in any browser. When I get some time I will add the dynamic calculations as well for rod axial force, motor crank torque, crank bending moment etc. Those values are very useful for sizing the motors and power supplies.

Actuators are used jazzy wheel chair motors from eBay. They provide 22N.m torque after the 36x gear reduction and I pay $35 each with free shipping. Motor drivers are the inexpensive IBT-2 types about $7 a piece. I add extra fans on the chip side and a 24V 120mm fan on each power supply to keep the IBT-2s cool. Otherwise they will thermally shutdown every 15 minutes. Power supplies are 24V 1500W type from Amazon, $80 each, total of 3 of them for 6 motors.

Bottom two pics are my current setup. I built everything with 3D printing and laser etching on plexiglass, bunch or arduinos, OLED screens, 4x 64 channel Leo Bodner USB boards. Works well, but I think 6DOF will feel so much better in flight simulators

Very interested, plan on doing the same.