12V DC Motor 6DOF Motion Sim Project

Hi, I'm Mike from Chile, last week I saw @SilentChill 's Project Cars with Rift video in youtube, the 6DOF motion sim is amazing, I love it, from the video I know Xsimulator forum.
The whole last weekend I was studying in forum, I read all the FAQs, but I still have some doubts. Here I put my understand and doubts, any explanation and comments are appreciated.

• 6DOF motion sim principle understand:

Sim tools collect gaming data from game and according to the axis setting in GAME ENGINE, SIM TOOLS transfer the axis signal to Control board ARDUINO which has motor rotate setting with different axis signal(Question ), according to the received axis signal Control board send signal to motor driver like MMs, Motor driver will assign the current to motor. The meantime control board and MMs will based on the received feedback signal from POT to revise the current for motor. IF ANY MISUNDERSTAND, PLEASE HELP TO POINT IT, THANKS VERY MUCH.

• Questions and Doubts:

1. I planned to use DC motor, but I saw there are different DC motor type, like wiper motor, worm drive motor, servo motor, which type is recommended? And 12V or 24V?
2. In the FAQ #89, the Linear Velocity is recommended between 150-700mm/s, usually I play racing game like Project Cars, AC, how fast should I choose? The speed is determined by motor RPM and CTC length, what value(CTC, RPM) is recommended?Because in Chile is nearly impossible to found the motor, the only way is buy from EBAY, but because the magnetic the motor only can be shipped by sea, so need long time. The CTC could be changed later, but the RPM is fixed, if I buy the wrong motor, no chance and time to change.
3. Motor power and torque.

Let’s supposed Linear Velocity is 500mm/s, platform and player weigh 120KG, according to FAQ #89, need 60N force, and need 120kg*9.8N per KG to counteract gravity, totally need 1236N. I calculated in below website, totally required 98Nm.


If doesn’t consider efficiency loss, each motor should provide 16Nm, consider the efficiency loss, how much motor torque should prepare? (I’M NOT SURE IF I CALCULATE RIGHT OR NOT)
As I checked online, 350W DC motor with RPM 60 can output about 25Nm, I don't know it's too much or not engouh.

Below is the recommended Motor seller, but I doubt is it possible 180W motor with 150 RPM output 40Nm, the same condition motor in other shop is less than 10Nm.

Is anyone using this motor, can it support my 6DOF or not?

• 12 VOLT DC
• 
  
• u 180 WATTS (.24 HP)
• 
  
• u 25:1 RATIO
• 
  
• u OUTPUT SPEED 150-160 RPM
• 
  
• LOAD BETWEEN 30-40 N.M. (22-29 FOOT POUNDS)

4. what is the function of Arduino board? which information is inside the Arduino code?
5. I see there are different Arduino code, like SMC3 and RC model, if I use 6 Arduino plus 6 MMs, which Arduino code should i choose? Do I need to modify the code according to different rig design?(I have no any machine language knowledge).
If use 2 SMC3 or 3 RC model code, how they can work together?

6. Hi @SilentChill when you changed your platform design Jan 2016, do you need to change some setting? Like SIM TOOLS, Arduino code, etc. .

7. continue.....

7. is there difference between Switching power supply and PSU?

switching refers to technology inside the Power Supply Unit

it's electronic transformer versus coiled transformer
versus

Hi @Racing Mike

I would say the motors you have chosen should be ok maybe a lower gear ratio would be better and get more lifting power. Just add some gas struts to help with the load, as I have said before HEAT was my major issue. Have you a link to the seller and information ?

#4 You flash the Arduino board with the SMC3 code and that controls the MotoMonsters
#5 I use SMC3 I like the config util to set it up and I have never had an issue with it, its an excellent code to use.
#7 I just had to change a few axis settings in simtools but that was it.

Thanks very much for your explanation. I have studied the project of SilentChill and SeatTime, I think SilentChill's design is more suitable for me. less space requirement and flexible woody meterial.

The worm drive motor spec as below,
24V Gear ratio 1:20 Load output speed：60RPM Torque：26Nm Load rated current：15A

12V Gear ratio 1:20 Load output speed：60RPM Torque：19Nm Load rated current：30A

the same brand 24V can output more force than 12V, that's why I prefer 24V motor. As @Pit suggestted there are some 24V motor driver.
http://www.xsimulator.net/community/threads/24v-motor-driver-where-to-buy.6987/

As I understand CTC 60mm & RPM 120 has the same Linear Velocity compared with CTC 120mm & RPM 60, but the real accelerated speed is different, RPM 120 can give more accelerated feel. RPM 60 can afford more weight with lower accelerated feel. I think RPM (accelerated feel) is more inportant for me, CTC I can adjust locally according to weight. In the forum I found someone use RPM 60, someone use RPM 150, @noorbeast @Pit @SilentChill @SeatTime could you give me some recommendation? thanks in advance.

Hi SilentChill, I read the whole post in your thread, I know you used 6 Ard and 12 MMs, because I have no any machine language knowledge and now I have no enviroment to test. so the Arduino configuration part is the most I worried.
Before I think SMC3 is used to control 3 MMs togegher, looks I understood wrongly. Did you flash the complete same Ard code for your 6 Ard board? or made some customization for each Ard board (each motor)?
If I design different 6 motors layout, can I copy your SIM TOOLS and Ard setting?

I only used 3 Ard's for the sim and 1 for wind control. I have some spare for other projects. 4 MM's per Ard which is 2 MM's per motor.

Flashing the code is simple all you have to do is use the Arduino software connect each Ard to your computer and give each a different COM port. Remember which comport is which Ard. Flash/Upload all the Ards with SMC3 code, it is that simple.

A good tip is to always use the same USB port because then each Ard will always connect on the same COM. I use COM 20/21/22 to keep them away from everything else and I always know that COM 20 controls Motors 1 and 2, COM 21 controls 2 and 3 and COM 22 controls motors 5 and 6.

I then create 3 folders with 3 of the SMC3 config Utility all setup with the different ports so I can the check each Ard and motors seperatly without having to go changing the config file every time.

It may be all very anal but it saves a hell of a lot of time when going through and checking and setting everything up.

edit: For 24v I have no idea what you would use possibly Sabertooth or something its not something I can help you with sorry.

A new project to follow !

I wrote an Ard code for 6 motors using 3 Sabertooth 2x32 (for @zigzag49) using only one Ard Mega.
I am working on a solution which can embed a lcd screen to configure all you need without the need to reupload the modified sketch (starting from the code written by @vthinsel). You can also choose the power of your motion simulator using a potentiometer .

@Racing Mike I also prefer the smc3 code. Nothing against any other but the scmc3 offers me ease of setup and it also offers pot scaling. which means you can have a "volume" control for your motion where each arduino's intensity can be controlled individually.

Thanks. so my understand about SMC3 is wrong, it can control 2 motor also.

maybe it's better to use 12V motor driver with Ard which is already verified by your project.

Do you means to control the voltage through POT, and then control the rotate speed of motor(output RPM)?
Sound really look forward to!

Hi, is the POT control motor output RPM?

no it turns the output down. like a volume control. think of the motion as music.......the pot just turns down the volume but the music still plays. it just isnt as "loud" so to speak. You can connect 1, 2 or 3 motors to each ard using SMC3 not sure about other code.

Can I understand it's adjust the rotate degree? Like from 60 degree to 30.

the rotation degrees is achieved by pot choice and configuration. i use 360 pot with 2.2:1 gearing others use 180 or 90 degree pots and flexible couplers with a 1:1 ratio.
the pot scaling just knocks off the peaks like i said its just a volume knob for the motion. there is also a choice between linear and non linear scaling they are similar but achieve a different effect when scaled down.

You can connect 2 motors on 1 Sabertooth. I wrote a sketch where you can connect 3 Sabertooth on one Arduino Mega. You need 6 potentiometers (one on each motor) which allow you to know the position of the shaft of each motor.
The potentiometer I added is not controlling the voltage nor the rpm. It's acting like @bruce stephen said, a "volume" where movements will be larger or smaller. It's very useful when you drive a F1 and an Abarth 500 in the same game for example

@Wanegain @bruce stephen understand now, like this:http://www.xsimulator.net/community/threads/how-to-choose-potentiometer.8251/

While I think you are starting to understand, no one directly answered your questions above. So to explain, SMC3, for example, can control up to 3 motors but you can also use only 1 or 2 motors too. Other sketches will control up to the maximum number of motors they support but you don't have to use them all. What makes this work with a 6dof is that Simtools 1.3 has 6 output interfaces. So if you only control 1 motor per arduino and use 6 arduinos, you will use all 6 output interfaces. But if your sketch can control 3 motors per arduino, then you will only need to use 2 output interfaces, one for each arduino you use. You can also use 2 motors per arduino and then use 3 output interfaces. I hope this helps.

@BlazinH Thanks for your patient explanation. Let me understand it, please help to check if it's right or not.
Assume use 3 Ards and 6 motor for 6DOF. I see in the interface setting page we can set Axis for each port(each port connect to Ard and 2 motors). In the Axis assignment setting page of Sim tools Game engine how many DOF and Axis should config? I guess should config 2 Axis for each port, totally 6 Axis. How many DOFs configured for each axis is depend on what motion/force the motor will involved.

For example Sim tools received a simple Roll signal, the left side and right side of similutor should be lifted up and down, so need configured Roll for left 2 motor and right 2 motors, Sim tools will transfer the roll signal to related 2 Ards and Ards will control the rotated degree of each motor.
If each motor need rotate different degree(due to the location of motor or the CTC of motor, etc. ) can set different percentage of force for each axis(motor).

If I misunderstand please help to point it, thanks very much.