DIY H-Shifter by Willynovi - Working

hi,
I finished the mechanical of my h-shifter, it´s very simple.
some pics and videos.
I´m thinking to use LED and Phototransistors instead of switchs, what do you think?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srX6vBRQtwkhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jg8t5V4DH7Q

Re: DIY H-Shifter by Willynovi

Great work! Switches are your best choice for the price and simplicity. You won't really gain anything by using optogates,
if you go that way, use something like this: http://www.electronicsinschools.org/ima ... pto008.jpg

Do you have access to a milling machine/cnc? In your next model you could use a ball bearing to reduce friction under the spring mechanism. Other than that, I want one!

Re: DIY H-Shifter by Willynovi

Wow! That was good craftmanship! :clap:
I have made a a h-shifter myself, but now I lost motivation to post pictures of it at X-sim : It works but now I would like to make something like yours. Could you post some detaljed plan of it, or did you make it without a plan?

Re: DIY H-Shifter by Willynovi

Thank you for yours words guys.
Frakk, all pieces are hand made. I don´t understand where to put the ball bearing.

Fredspeed, soon I`ll make a 3D model so you can see the details. I have some plans but they are in paper and pencil.

regards, Willy

Re: DIY H-Shifter by Willynovi

I mean two bearings rolling under the spring between the 3 positions, in place of the greased sliding part. You can put the bearings on the shaft through, drill the center for the shifter stick, put a large washer under the spring and it's done. I wish I had a CNC mill to do it and show you :

Re: DIY H-Shifter by Willynovi

Frakk, I see your point, I think I have two small ball bearings to do that.
Maybe the next weekend I´ll work on that.

Re: DIY H-Shifter by Willynovi

Good work!

Re: DIY H-Shifter by Willynovi

If you do not want to use switches, you could place a magnet on one corner of the H-plate underneath. Then have a hall effect sensor on the shaft. It will output a number that in software you can have that number be a button.

Re: DIY H-Shifter by Willynovi - WIP

yesterday I try to install some switchs, but I think they won´t work fine so I decide to use optocouplers.

Re: DIY H-Shifter by Willynovi - WIP

Willy, Your design is great. I made my own shifter based on your design but with some changes.



All the electrics are done with just microswitches with an actuator arm. They are the same as the ones found in a mouse etc but with an arm over the button to give actuation over a larger range of movement. I really think you are overcomplicating things there with the opto switches. Stick with normal micro-switches with levers on them. That is what i did and it works fine....

I have now also made my shifter mech shorter. The vertical parts are only about 60mm long now and the shaft is much shorter with a smaller spring. I have replaced the black bit on the bottom (annodised aluminium) with teflon now as it was grindng a bit on the rod end. My design means you only need one spring too and takes into account Frakk's suggestion of using bearings on the moving surface.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6nWJQlbVqI

Re: DIY H-Shifter by Willynovi - WIP

Beautiful work! How much did it cost you to build it fully?

Re: DIY H-Shifter by Willynovi - WIP

elnino, very nice work.
Could you give the dimensions, it seems to be bigger than mine?

I see the bearing, they would work fine, don´t?

Re: DIY H-Shifter by Willynovi - WIP

Elnino,
Great Shifter. I have a suggestion for the two lower pivots on the shifter. You could drill out the holes on the side brackets to 16mm and fit 16x5x8mm ball race bearings. this would remove the freeplay from the bolts. The bearings can be pickup from ebay or your local bearing dealer, this size is mainly used for R/C Model Cars, or you could use 22x7x8mm bearings which are used on skate boards or roller skate wheels.
If your holes end up being bigger than the bearings, you can use a little bit of 5min Aradite or something similar to hold the outside of the bearing in place.



Senetor.

Re: DIY H-Shifter by Willynovi - WIP

Thanks for the comments people.

@ Senetor - I did consider various methods for putting bearings in those locations but the play is very small and not enough to really warrant it at the moment. You definately don't notice it when using it, not only that, even a real box is still somewhat loose. Perhaps after lots of use they might wear in a it and loosen up though. The bolts are 8mm but the vertical part is tapped so the nut on the other side is only holding the bolt still, not clamping the whole lot together. The hole in the angle clears the bolt. Another idea was to simply use brass bushes.

This is the latest version all cut down and briefly polished with some dimensions (in mm)...


The main shaft is 1/2 and so is the rod end. From the dimensions in the pic, you should be able to nut it out. There is no need for the special flexlink stuff (what the base is made from), you could do it on a piece of wood or whatever you fancy working with. The important bit is underneath where you need a gap to create enough throw to make a useable H pattern. Either that or you could put it above like Willy's design.

@ Frakk - Nil, i had all the bits laying around at home. If i didn't have all the bits, hmm, about $75 or so. The biggest cost there would be the rod end but you could substitute to keep it cheap. The chunky aluninium bits are made from 100 X 10mm Flat bar cut on a wood mitre saw with some lube. Kero, Lanolin, CRC etc works fine. Drill and tap the bits and then the ramps were done tediously on my linisher with an 80 grit belt while they were bolted together.

The flat bar is only about $10/m and the angle is cheaper again at about $6-7/m

Re: DIY H-Shifter by Willynovi - WIP

Senetor, I see your point about the bearing in that position, but the stress in this join is in the oposit direction, so the bearing is not necesary. I made this join with aluminiun bushes.

Yesterday I try to align the opto sensors but it realy hard, so I decide to use switches. Tomorrow morning I´ll buy 8 of thems to finish the job and get it working. So I´ll make some videos.

regards

Re: DIY H-Shifter by Willynovi - WIP

Awesome work. All posted shifters are very inspiring.

Willy, I've a couple of industry standard pnp and npn 5V light switches like this one:



Drop my a mail or pm and I'll send you some.

A few month ago I've spend some hours in designing my own DIY H-Shifter in CAD. Some parts are already here but I really don't have the time to work on multiple projects. When my wheel and the controller are done, I'll lay my eyes on that shifter.

Some pics:

Re: DIY H-Shifter by Willynovi - WIP

Interesting design there Jacob, More interesting to me though is the wheel design in your profile pic. Would you mind sending me some more pics of it?

Re: DIY H-Shifter by Willynovi - WIP

thank you jakob, I have some of those light switches, but they need more precise aligment of movements.
I have seen those pic of your design of h shifter, they looks great. I wish you can built it.

regards

Re: DIY H-Shifter by Willynovi - WIP

Finally I installed switches.
In thess days I´ll make a video for testing.

Re: DIY H-Shifter by Willynovi - WIP

Amazing.

But why 8 pattern? Are there cars with an 7 or 8 gear h-pattern transmission?

Jay