MRAP Seat Mover - first motion

Yes, it may come to that soon if I can't sort it out. I have a spare arduino but will have to go to the shop for a long enough cable.

I like to use a cheap hub so I only have one usb running all , ie 2x Jrk, keyboard and wireless mouse 2 joysticks, all off one hub, back to the pc with one usb cable. We have found that some hubs are bad and seem to roll their comports around when plugged in each time .This can be a bugger having to work out which com port is which again.
Is about the only con in using a hub, pro some don't do this and you only have I usb port being used for the whole sim.

Ummm...Ive been through a few designs,

2dof-with-actuators-pvc-frame-t4553.html
2dof-redesigned-big-worm-gear-motor-sim-t3640.html
2dof-seat-mover-with-frex-attachment-bsft-t3435.html
seat-mover-2-dof-t3815.html
2dof-wiper-motor-sim-continuing-t3048.html
2-dof-big-motor-foot-placement-sim-t3822.html

One of these days I will build a 2.5DOF , traction loss add on.

That is perhaps the clearest and most concise DIY instruction manual I have ever read, well done! Where were you before I went out and bought steel, a welder, and accessories?!!

Everything that I have built up until now has been MDF based (an CNC router table is a wonderful thing) and to be honest had I not seen your terrific work I would still have doubted the use of MDF in a motion build. Odd considering how much work I have done over the years as a commercial cabinet maker using MDF. Several of my tools in the shop are made of MDF.

Your pulley system is ingenious, it really does relieve the motors of a great deal of work. You could even go with a full motion platform using a block and tackle system if you had the room.

I am going to finish my steel 2DOF project but then I am going to look into building a 3DOF flight sim platform based on your brilliant work.

Thanks for sharing!

David

Cool man! I knew you had done more than one from reading other posts but had no idea it was this many and especially no idea you have done a seat mover. :clap:

Do you find different types are better for different types of games? The hardest decision for me when starting out was deciding what type without ever having sat in one before.

Are they all still in action or do you use parts to rebuild the next one?

Thanks! One of the projects I have been wanting to do for years is build a CNC router table (out of MDF). Everytime I get close I start to get too practical - where would I keep it, how often would I use it, could I be bothered creating the tool paths etc, etc, and I shelve the project again.

The MDF design is very solid but as I mention in the manual very heavy. Probably could have got away with 12mm MDF. I will eventually get out the jigsaw and cut holes in the sides and bottom I think - but then again its not a big deal that its heavy for me as I don't move it. I am going to use wheels driven by another big wormgear motor for the traction loss so I don't think the weight will be an issue for that - I will use pretty big wheels through holes in the base so the floor can have a few bumps (tiles in my case)

While I don't have anything to compare, the motors do seem to have a pretty easy job and they both run off one 360W psu and the H-Bridges don't need fans. I am hoping the third motor will also run off the same psu.

Glad you liked it!

I did a seat mover seat-mover-2-dof-t3815.html

Ive always been a car racing man, but tried several different configurations to see how things go, especially in regards to compact size sims. Hence more motors at front than rear mount.
It can be tricky deciding on a frame. I started with a joyrider style, which was good, but didnt suit race, unlike a more traditional 2DOF.
Without hijacking this thread much more, may I suggest a seat mover, and then look at adding a full frame later. Just a matter of moving the pivot. Then if you like a full frame with screen still, stay with it. If you decide you like a seat mover, then revert back to that. Or you could be really tricky and use a set of car rails to move the seat back, add a full frame and go racing, or move it forward, take full frame off and use as seat mover.
Thats how my actuator sim started with the old steel frame. Now it has PVC full frame.
I suppose I like full frame, but everyone has their own choice.
As said, best maybe, design an adaptable frame and go from there.
And final, no most no longer exist, they were recycled into different designs or sold. I would have 8-9 working simulators here if I did.
mmmm...could start my own arcade shop.
Cheers, David.

I built my CNC table from MDF and used the outfeed table on my table saw. I have since moved it to it's own table but it is unbelievable how often I use it now. The software is a bit pricey but VCarve Pro makes creating tool paths, and drawings for that matter, idiot proof....wait...er....

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/diy_cnc_r ... story.html

idiot proof
me like

Not really, it is fairly precise to about .001 of an inch. That really depends on how fast you are running it though.

This is about 1.5" square or so. The drill pattern is perfect, the traces look a bit odd because they were hand drawn.

Hi I am very interested in an update on this design. How has it held up? What is the budgeted cost to build this design?
Also please note that I am having difficulty in downloading the pdf posted - says network error.

Hi @spillmar, yes very much still in action with little need for "mechanical" modification. So much so in fact I have had no need to pull it apart to finish off and paint etc. It's still raw MDF (maybe will find some time over Christmas break ) I did have to replace one of the ropes as it wore through. The rope is plenty strong enough, however the pulleys I used are pretty cheap and one jammed for a while and I didn't notice so the rope was just sliding over the jammed pulley and started to wear through.

This highlights that it is important to position the pulleys well as as the seat moves the rope is at a slightly different angle and you want to optimise this as best possible.

The areas that I have been playing with are mostly the H-Bridge and driver setup - you may have seen my post about the SMC3 software I have written. Still fine tuning it to get the most out of the sim - a new version is due soon that has a few improvements. I am also redesigning the front end (pedals and steering mount) current design seems a bit too bulky. And I have also since added traction loss.

I haven't built any other sim designs so can't give a fair comparison but what I can say is:

• it suits my needs well
• seems very robust
• as I am not into welding, it was easy for me to build
• my impression is the motion is very smooth (ie not jerky) but very responsive to both small bumps and large braking/cornering motions
• the h-bridges get warm but not excessive so seems they are not working too hard - this is good because I am using cheap H-Bridges and when testing my traction loss one did get hot and died pretty quick. If I ever make changes in this area I would get better quality H-Bridges.
• it has quite a large range of movement for a seatmover - I mainly use this range for the up down hills and banking movements (pitch and roll) and keep the braking and cornering forces (surge and sway) constrained a bit more like traditional seatmovers - because the motion across the range is linear you can still get the same amount of movement from surge and sway even when close to the extrmes of motion

It is quite possible most designs would seem the same if I tried them so don't make any assumptions from my comments.

If there are any specific parts of the design you want more info on, let me know and I can post info or update the pdf (which I had always intended to do but never got round to it )

Keep us all informed mate, love the design its out of the square and works well indeed. I do open recommend for people to take an in depth look at it and the code that's with it. Keep up the quality work we all appreciated your time and effort.

I have been spending some time fine tuning my seat mover. I am getting pretty close (never completely happy ).

Here is a snapshot of the motion tracking as captured in my SMC3Utility program... As you can see the green line (the feedback position) is tracking the blue line (the target position from simtools) very well. Each pixel in the horizontal direction is 25ms, in other words 40 updates per second on the chart.

The other line on the chart that I am very happy about is the yellow line which is the PWM duty cycle for the motor. The bottom of the chart is 0% or off and the top of the chart is 100% or fully on - I have it limitted to 200/255=78% max. Note how most of the time is is sitting below 50%. This is why I have commented in the past my H-Bridges don't tend to get very hot.



Still need to spend some time on the traction loss - it doesn't run as well yet.

been a member for a while and started projects but not finished , have to say like other builders your work is impressive , big thanks for posting the Build Details . lots of useful alternate ways to achieve Sim Motion ... have waited until the H bridge Drivers were reasonable in price so it looks like now simtools is released and Drivers are Cheaper and The Arduino is once again showing promise , ill have no excuse not to get started ...Big Clap and Once again thanks

Thanks... it's actually in bits at the moment. I finally got round to pulling it apart to paint a while back, then remembered how much I hate painting. Hopefully have it back up running again soon.

lol Im the same mate, mine normally dont see paint, until someone offers to buy the unit, even if its not for sale, and I strip it down , and paint it up and deliver it.

hi, like i said previously great concept / design / and clean setup !

After a while of using your simulator , do you experiment some slippery with your rope / pulleys ?

Eric