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My first 2DOF seatmover project

Discussion in 'DIY Motion Simulator Projects' started by Godslayer, Apr 3, 2015.

  1. Godslayer

    Godslayer New Member

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    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, DC motor
    Hey guys,

    so I finally start my buildthread, even if the major part of the build is almost done, there's still a lot of small things to do.
    Stuff like building a nice box for the electrical parts, adding bodyshakers, fitting some seatbelts to the seat and so on, but you'll see soon how far I've come until now.

    Then let's start with some pictures:


    Here's where I started to build the seat and base frame:
    20150310_163947.jpg 20150310_163956.jpg 20150310_174605.jpg 20150310_174613.jpg 20150310_183624.jpg 20150310_183633.jpg 20150311_184100.jpg

    Here's some pictures of the shortened driveshaft I used and the firt testfit for the seat:
    20150311_184651.jpg 20150311_184727.jpg 20150311_184712.jpg 20150311_184945.jpg

    Next I wanted to finish the pivot part, but did a big mistake, maybe someone can find it ;):
    20150312_174400.jpg 20150312_174409.jpg 20150312_174417.jpg 20150312_174423.jpg

    I focused too much on having the shaft centered on the plate that I forgot to watch out for the holes to line up correctly :roll
    So here's the corrected part:
    20150313_184803.jpg 20150313_184815.jpg

    After that, I assembled this part of the rig to measure the length for the connecting rods and build them:
    20150312_192131.jpg 20150312_192148.jpg 20150313_190711.jpg 20150313_190720.jpg

    Another problem arised, the first version of the motor holders was too short, so I had to extent them:
    20150313_174558.jpg 20150313_174700.jpg 20150321_134925.jpg

    After that there was a whole lot of fitting and refitting the motion parts:
    20150313_192601.jpg 20150313_192755.jpg 20150314_195201.jpg 20150314_195221.jpg 20150314_212648.jpg 20150314_212712.jpg IMG-20150318-WA0006.jpg

    Then I needed to build something like a mast for my racing wheel to be clamped to:
    20150321_140415.jpg 20150321_140423.jpg 20150321_140434.jpg 20150321_142339.jpg 20150321_142350.jpg 20150321_142410.jpg

    Finally started to solder up the electrical parts (I know, it doesn't look perfect, but it was my first time soldering something this small ;)):
    20150327_211151.jpg 20150328_002123.jpg 20150328_002128.jpg 20150328_002135.jpg 20150328_115254.jpg 20150328_115300.jpg IMG-20150327-WA0017.jpg IMG-20150327-WA0019.jpg IMG-20150327-WA0021.jpg IMG-20150327-WA0023.jpg IMG-20150327-WA0023.jpg IMG-20150327-WA0025.jpg IMG-20150327-WA0031.jpg IMG-20150328-WA0000.jpg

    It went smoother than I expected and after all the bigger software setups, I did a small testrun in Assetto Corsa only with my keyboard, but i just found out that i can't upload the video to this thread :eek:

    Then let's go on with some pictures. For those who read my "new guys"-thread, here's the reason why my racing wheel was malfunctioning and how I fixed it:
    20150328_115758.jpg 20150328_115807.jpg 20150330_203552.jpg

    As an explanation: I was too lazy to isolate the wipermotors the way it has been mentioned somewhere in this forum and thought that it should be enough to just use a piece of rubber hose to isolate them.
    Wrong :nerd
    As you can already guess, it didn't work, not every kind of rubber is a good isolator, so I did it just like it was mentioned and this is what you see in the third picture.

    Okay, now to a very personal part. You guys know how hard it can be to have your wife/girlfriend accept something like building this kind of stuff and I#m really happy that my girlfriend was cool with it, but after the first testruns she almost hit me in the back of my head because the psu I used was way too loud :D
    So here's how I got around it:
    20150331_203210.jpg 20150331_203220.jpg 20150331_203225.jpg 20150331_204231.jpg 20150331_211246.jpg 20150331_211255.jpg

    2 small resistors with 10 ohm soldered in the supply lines for the fans makes girlfriends much more happy :thumbs

    One last picture of how it looks right now (as i said, still a work in progress):
    20150402_074730.jpg

    Okay, I guess that should be more than enough for now, took me a lot of time to write everything and I hope my translations make sense enough for you guys to understand what I'm talking about :grin
    So, feel free to share your opinions about my build :thumbs

    Attached Files:

    • Like Like x 7
  2. meo_udon

    meo_udon New Member

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    Good work! Thanks for pictures.
  3. SilentChill

    SilentChill Problem Maker

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    My Motion Simulator:
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    Nice little design well done :) Looks like a 3DOF could easily be added at a later date ;)

    I just replaced the server fans in my 3 PSU's with 2x80mm on each, makes it pretty much silent. Otherwise it was horrendous lol
    • Useful Useful x 1
  4. GIB SimRacing

    GIB SimRacing Active Member

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    My Motion Simulator:
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    Very neat setup you have there. I especially like the use or round tube.:thumbs
  5. Godslayer

    Godslayer New Member

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    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, DC motor
    Thank you, pictures are always a good thing for other people when searching for ideas how to do their stuff, at least it helped me a lot while I was doing my research on this forum :thumbs


    I'm not sure if I understand the concept of 3DOF or not, but would it be something like a third axis for traction loss? If it is, then this is already planned for the second version of the base frame (because with the ideas I have for this, the frame would end up too high and that aside, this is my first try where I had to work without any experience or real numbers on sizes and so on, so it was more or less a trial and error work ;) )
    Would a wiper motor be strong enough for the traction loss axis?

    As you can see in the pictures, there isn't much room for other fans in the PSU, so this should do for now (the PSU throws out 1300w on 230v and on the forum where I found the needed information for the changes on the PSU to make it work for this purpose, someone tested it with 1000w on 110v and the low-rev fans without any issues)
    Maybe I pull the stock fans out and switch to a double-120mm-fan-setup (one frontside and one backside with reducers) for noise reasons, but first I need to find a box where everything fits into.

    Thank you, I like those round tubes more than the square ones, especially because they are much cheaper, around 15 euro for 12m while the square ones would've been around 120 euro for 12m, quite a difference :)
  6. GIB SimRacing

    GIB SimRacing Active Member

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    My Motion Simulator:
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    That is quite a difference in cost. So it's a win-win.;)
  7. Nick Moxley

    Nick Moxley Well-Known Member

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    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, 3DOF, DC motor, JRK
    A wiper for traction loss might work fine, but its not really the issue of power with traction loss, The frame being supported by bearings(ideally) takes little effort to move. I can slide my traction loss from side to side with 2 fingers and a driver installed, lol.

    Problem comes in when u factor in the inertia and once you get said driver and rig moving side to side, will the gears in the wiper be strong enough. Who knows. Most of us use the standard 200w worm gear motors and i can assure you those work Fantastic for traction loss. 25:1 motor's all around for me (though im not a big guy @ 150lbs)
    • Agree Agree x 1
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  8. Godslayer

    Godslayer New Member

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    Yes it definitely is :D but this is not where the advantages end, another thing is about the tools I have for building (tube bender with some dies for tube, but none for squares and a nice tube notcher) and how much easier it is to get the round tube into the shape of a frame in comparison to square tube (more bending, less cutting)

    Okay, supporting the frame this way is not a problem, that's what I wanted to do anyway with the same ball bearing rod ends I used for the connecting rods between motor lever and the seat frame.
    I wonder how great the difference is between the force through inertia while rolling and pitching in comparison to traction lossing, but it can't hurt to just try it with the third wiper motor I have lying around and if it breaks it's not a big problem, they cost only around 20 euros :thumbs
    After that I can decide if I want to go with stronger gears (haven't opened the gear box, so I don't know if there are plastic or metal gears in it) or if I just buy bigger motors, but sooner or later this would happen nonetheless and once the traction loss is build in, there's not much to change for bigger motors. So right now I'm really happy with how strong those small wiper motors are and I wonder how long they will last :)
  9. Godslayer

    Godslayer New Member

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    My Motion Simulator:
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    So here we go with the video of the first run, it has a bad quality because youtube somehow converted it, I'm sorry

    • Like Like x 2
  10. noorbeast

    noorbeast VR Tassie Devil Staff Member Moderator Race Director

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    My Motion Simulator:
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    Thanks for sharing the video @Godslayer.

    When you can could you please also do a video with someone using it.
  11. Godslayer

    Godslayer New Member

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    My Motion Simulator:
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    Yes, no problem, as soon as I made one, it will be uploaded :thumbs
    Wanted to do one yesterday while a friend was using it, but I'm still fiddling around with the settings in the SMC3 and the SimTools software, so it was frequently running into the emergency-shutdown for the motors through too much movement :roll
    • Like Like x 1
  12. SilentChill

    SilentChill Problem Maker

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    If it was limited movement for the traction loss a wiper motor may be enough. You would have to just trial and see what happens. Once you have it all built you can add a bigger motor if it doesn't work well enough.
  13. Godslayer

    Godslayer New Member

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    My Motion Simulator:
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    That's what I thought is the way to go :thumbs
    Placement-wise I would put it somewhere between the back of the seat and the backend of the frame with something like a 7cm lever and a pushrod for movement.
    But before that happens, there's still some work and some settings to do, until sunday, as an example, I was wondering why I didn't get any feel for braking/accelerating, until I found out that there's more to set up in axis profiles than just pitch and roll :oops:
    So yeah, now it's a much greater pleasure with this added movement :)
    Another thing I added was a 5-point-harness, but after a couple of testminutes, the left wiper motor "gave out", more specifically it turned while the lever wasn't moving until it fell apart... so loctite 270 wasn't enough to hold it together. Bought some cotter pins today, that should fix it... :thumbs
    • Agree Agree x 1
  14. Nick Moxley

    Nick Moxley Well-Known Member

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    My Motion Simulator:
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    What exactly were you holding together with Loctite ?
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  15. Godslayer

    Godslayer New Member

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    My Motion Simulator:
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    This is what I was talking about:

    20150408_195853.jpg

    The connection between the lever and the motor got loose, so the motor was turning nonstop until the connector fell off
  16. Nick Moxley

    Nick Moxley Well-Known Member

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    My Motion Simulator:
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    Why not have it welded ? then you'll never have to worry about it.
    • Agree Agree x 1
  17. Godslayer

    Godslayer New Member

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    A nice weld would be the best, but I worry about the heat in this area, especially around the gear rings/grease/sealing inside that wiper gearbox
  18. Nick Moxley

    Nick Moxley Well-Known Member

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    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, 3DOF, DC motor, JRK

    Shouldn't be a problem at all actually. seals are Far more durable than you think they are.
  19. Steve spenceley

    Steve spenceley New Member

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    As a qualified welder my suggestion, if your concerned about heat transfer.
    Take some thick very wet cloth towel wrap it around gearbox and up to about 1" from the welding point. The cloth will not set alight because it's wet.
    This will dramatically reduce any chance of seals being damaged.
    • Winner Winner x 1
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  20. Steve spenceley

    Steve spenceley New Member

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    Very nice build thread, lots of detail and pictures.