Beginner 2DOF

All right, what started as a curiosity and an interesting topic for pandemic times last year is becoming a real deal now. It started with a fixed seat and a basic cockpit for driving games. @noorbeast was inspirational with his compact design and I based the construction on his excellent achieved project. Here are pictures on how it looks right now. As you can see the base is really small but well balanced so far. The project is WIP as I want to eliminate the wooden base for the pedals.




I am using two JRK latest generation installed for now in the back of the base as seen below. I am waiting for Amazon to deliver some thermal tape and small heatsinks I plan yo install to each JRK and on top of it a small fan with a temperature sensor.



Here is detail of the two Canadian 12 Vdc Motors. I built the hall sensors but no too happy with them so I decided to order a couple with heatsinks. As you can see there is a small cap on one of them but the closer one just fell when wiring everything up this afternoon.



Under Pandemic isolation was not easy to "shop" around a Universal Joint so I made it up with a universal joint of barely 40 mm wide to fix the width of the 4040 profiles and by email sent the supports design to hold it in place. Below the detail. I still have the joint reference and sketch for the parts if interested.



Each JRK has its own 13.5 PS that so far with the initial tests are holding the load 0k.

As mentioned before, the mechanical is WIP. The functional electronics are ready but the control electronics are now the main focus.
Thank you all for your ideas and all the amount of knowledge included on the site... any feedback is welcome.
Software post follows.

I followed the comprehensive setup guide by @eaorobbie included in the FAQ to initially setup each JRK. Of course there are some minor changes because there is not the learning feature he mentioned to configure the feedback option. With the new software version there is a wizard to configure the feedback and with a very low power setting (5% - 10%), the limits can be programmable by controlling the motors directly within the application's wizard and measuring simultaneously the limits the way he instructs. Of course a helping hand is very welcome for this and the levers shall not be bolted to the seat yet.

I had a bit of difficulty understanding exactly the SimTools configuration and is still WIP. Need to adjust the PID settings so I will be following @Avenga76 's video now.

Once again thank you all and cheers.

After some hiccups with the motors axles lock screws, decided to disassemble the seat. A new bigger screw is now in place to fix the axle as seen below.



To improve weight, I got rid off the wooden base for the pedals and attached them directly to the 4040 profiles as seen below.



The JRKs are being moved from the initial board and I am re arranging all the under the seat space. Although the initial test was very promising, still is WIP. Thank you all.

Update: I assembled the seat again. Thanks to @Avenga76 video tutorial, I have defined the PID coefficients. These are for the left motor:



And this is the response:



These are the PID coefficients for the right motor:



And this is the response:



I am going to work on the balance of the rig to get a more balanced response from both motors. I have found out that while sitting I have to keep the driving position instead of putting my feet down on the floor. With the feet down the seat oscillates with the lightest feet movement. Any feedback is appreciate it!
Thank you

After a comparison, I decided to adjust PID on the right motor as follows:



The only difference is the integral coefficient and some noise in the feedback line that I expect to eliminate with the new hall effect pots that are in transit.
Thanks

I have been playing with LFS and so far my settings are:





I appreciate the feedback. Thanks

@noorbeast thank you for the feedback. I am finding difficult to set up the PID coefficients for the right motor. When moving downwards is when the overshoot occurs. Based on your feedback I got these PID settings
With the following response


Maybe I need a mechanical damper?
I will work with 100% on the profile.
Thank you very much for your advise.

Update: Decided to remove the keyboard from the rig so I am disassembling the seat to balance it again and install more precisely the universal joint contraption. Will post later with updates.
Question: Is it not possible now to have the input signal from the simulator and the position response like in @Avenga76's video?
Thanks

@noorbeast your assumption was correct, so there is no way now to plot input vs. feedback anymore? Thx a lot

Update: Removed the seat and is evident how unbalanced the universal joint was as seen below



Also, recalibrated the Center of Gravity. It moved 1.5 cm forward to what I had before so the universal joint was moved and re balanced as below



Just finished assembly again and feels more sturdy and stable.



Time to re do the PID coefficients. Will report back later.
Thx

I was not happy with the dynamic range of the DIY hall effect pots. Just ahead of the real deal, I installed normal B10K pots (found out the B means linear, A are logarithmic). To allow free 360 rotation just in case, I uninstalled the back covers.
I was connecting the A1302 Hall effect:
- Vcc to +5Vdc regulated in the JRK
- Gnd to JRK' gnd
- Output to FBA

Using the pots:
- Resistive leads to AUX and POT- min the JRK
- Wiper to FBA

Re calibrated the movement limits and center with the new pots, with the lever arms detached from the seat as follows (unloaded motors):
1. In the feedback tab press the "Reset to full range" button.
2. Start the "Feedback setup wizard..."
3. Press Next
4. Confirm the motor direction. To test I changed the speed limit to 5% - 7% depending on the motor response.
5. Regarding the motor direction, you can define what forward direction means to you. In my case fwd is to move the lever downwards.
6. Using a leveler find the center of the motor run.
7. Adjust the pot center and tighten the coupler at this position.
8. With a digital caliper measure the height of the arm attachment to the floor support of the motor (in my case 60.8 mm)
9. Depending on the angle of movement desired, find the vertical equivalent distance by multiplying the arm length times Sin(Angle) where angle is the angular movement on each direction from the center. In my case is 45 deg and the arm length is 40 mm. So the vertical displacement is 40mm*Sin(45)=28.3mm. Press Next on the Feedback setup wizard window.
10. To define the feedback direction, move the motor using the Drive reverse / Drive forward buttons with the Speed limit of 5% - 7%. Note if the feedback value increases or decreases according to the button's direction. Accordingly select Standard feedback or Inverted feedback. It is worth mentioning that if the feedback direction is wrong in the next step there will be an error and going back to this screen is just a matter of selecting the other option. Press Next.
11. For my case the vertical displacement limits are 89.1 mm and 32.5 mm. Calibrate the caliper with any of the two limits.
12. With a friend's help (is easier) press the button towards the desired direction until the caliper measurement is reached.
Press the sample button of the minimum or maximum value accordingly.
13. Repeat step 12 in the other direction, calibrating the caliper with the other measurement.
14. Having the two samples acquired, Press the button to accept the changes and finish the wizard.
15. Press the center button. If the pot is lineal the lever arm should be leveled again.
16. Repeat same steps to the other motor.
17. Re attach the seat the lever arms.
Everything shall be leveled now. Ready for PID coefficients.

These are the pots installed with no covers.
Right:

Left:

Removed covers:

After all this work, found the left arm lever has a some free movement in spite it is locked with an M4 bolt and nut (seen in the left motor picture above) and M12 nuts in the main axis. The easier way would be to solder the main axis of the lever arm to the motor but do not want to go this route in case I need to change something in the motor later. Consequently:
1. Change the locking M4 bolt for a M4 single clevis pin and lock.
2. Add M12 locking washers to the main axis
Still, suggestions are welcome.
Thx

Update 4/29. Got the locking washers

and the clevis pin

Here all tighten

Working on the electronics to oversee all equipment and Emergency stop button.

Update:
Working on the programming of the control/supervision unit. It is Arduino based and I am monitoring:
- JRKs Temperature and controlling JRKs fans.
- Powering up of 12V Power Supplies and monitoring outputs
- Monitoring a Master Stop switch to friendly turn off the system
- Monitoring the emergency Stop button.
The main information is displayed on an LCD I had around.
Pictures will follow soon.
Thanks,
Nestor G.

Update:
It has been a while since the last note. Today I can say the system is finished. Some changes since last update are:
1. The supervisory module with Arduino is complete and controls the Turning On and Off of the system, indicating various statuses in the display.
2. Changed analog pots for electronic pots.
3. Changed M8 levers for M10 levers and recalibration of the PID constants.
4. Added 4 points safety belts for realism and more safety using the system.
Video coming soon.
Thank you,
NGR