Question Advice on actuator choice and setup

I am building a somewhat unique setup and hoping for some advice.

I haven't done any calculations yet so am working with rough numbers and assumptions (sorry). Hopefully some opinionated folks will still be able to get a general idea of my thoughts and provide some advice

I'm planning to build a VR rig with an old Formula SAE (or Formula Student) chassis:



From what I can tell this will make the rig heavier than most... I'm hoping to keep it around the 200lb mark. Since multiple team members, sponsors, public etc. could be driving it I'm assuming drivers up to 200/250lbs.

My initial thought was that a 6DOF Stewart Platform would be cool but I think it will be easier to start with a simple 2DOF rig this year (in terms of design and sponsorship of parts).

My team makes a new chassis every year so I can hack up the old chassis as much as I want - probably remove the rear portion used for the powertrain etc. - which should give some more flexibility for actuator and pivot mounting points.

From browsing the forum it sounds like the SCN5 and SCN6 are really good options. What are people's thoughts on those actuators for this application? Would a motor with a cam be a cheaper option? I'm just getting started so really open to anything at this point in terms of feedback and suggestions.

P.S. I'll make sure to post a build log

What do you want to use it for ? Serious driver training, or just building it for fun - Ie big/small Budget? Also don't forget about Gravity pressure systems.

I'm no expert, but SCN actuators drop speed significantly when they are under heavy load, so if you were expecting the SCNs to move 400 pounds, you would need to use something like a universal joint supporting 90% of the simulator's weight.

If you wanted actuators/motors to move the whole suspended rig at speed, you're going to need something more powerful.

It's mostly for taking out to community events to give the public a crack at playing around with a "racecar".

If we could get to to the level where it's a useful driver training tool for our team, that would be ideal!

Since we are a student team, funding is quite limited but that could change if I'm able to find the right sponsors - haven't quite figured out my plan of attack on that yet!

What are gravity pressure systems? Any chance you could shoot me a link to learn more?

Thanks @AussieSim ! That makes sense - I was looking at the torque curves last night and especially for the longer travel SCNs the curve drops pretty suddenly. And with any sort of substantial motion that 90% figure will be out of the picture... Maybe a CTC lever (and some big motors) would be the way to go if I stick with using the heavy chassis.

Has anybody tried using springs to help offset weight? I'm totally shooting in the dark here - wasn't able to find anything searching the forums but might have been using the wrong words haha.

I should get moving on roping in a mechanical engineering student from the team. I'm in computer engineering and not very fast at figuring out how to get some of the numbers I need for calculations out of Solidworks...

Simulators are used by many racing teams for training, but you need some funds to purchase motors/power supplies/controllers/drivers etc, with sufficient power and speed to move a rig like that. For G-pressure systems have a look at the FAQ under 'gSeat' - these can really add 'realism' to a simulator.

That's awesome, thanks for the idea @SeatTime ! I could probably start with that since it doesn't have to move 400lbs and use the proof of concept to prompt better/more sponsorship (to add big motion sim motors)

Time to start looking at how much space I have to work with in the cockpit...

There are also harness pressure systems that you can use. See a bit of the way through my build thread. https://www.xsimulator.net/community/threads/seattimes-sims.11757/

Wow, seriously awesome build!! It's cool to see that so many systems can successfully be used in conjunction.

The harness pressure system might work well as I was hoping to have a harness on the rig regardless.

I just realized... For seat paddles/gSeat, is some adjustability needed for drivers of different sizes or does it depend on the design? I'm thinking mostly of the designs I've seen (like yours) where the paddles "hug" the driver rather than just sitting behind them.

Thank you so much for all of your suggestions. It's hard to navigate such a vast forum without knowing exactly what I'm looking for haha