EntonoX 2DOF Seat mover

As promised i'll start my own project topic. I read the forums for a week now, and i am planning a sim rig build. As you can see in the picture above, i designed my rig in Sketchup just to overcome some initial design idea problems, and second to show off some pictures to you guys (i know you like pictures )

Setup
My setup will consist of the following parts:
- DIY steel frame
- Dell 670W server PSU (12V 54A)
- Arduino with Monstermoto shield
- 2x 17V DC motors running 12V
- 2x 10K Hall potentiometers
- Simtools with SMC3 Arduino interface

You can find the motors at ebay at only € 23,- they are ultra cheap! and have all steel gears. Valeo partnr is 405.197

Pictures


Progress
At the moment i have collected most of the electrical parts as you can see. I need to order some construction parts such as rubber feet, joints, etc. At the moment i have a 'Raceland' bucket seat which needed some new Alcantera so that is my first thing to finish.

I really would like to hear the opinion of you guys, maybe some design faults or tips to help me along.

Downloads
Anyone who is interested in the Sketchup design; download it below: all measurements are accurate!

The design looks great, put some photos while building process.

Thanks! I did see some design flaw already, my hall pot mount should be rotated otherwise the reaction arm is not able to rotate completely upwards.

Ah I see it, well a little mistake easy to fix.

Yes, thats the beauty of virtual designing ! The goal is to finish the re-upholstery of the seat this week and start preparing for the build early next week. My only (little) concern is if the motors are strong enough, but then again we'll see what happens.

I looked closely at the design of @RacingMat and he uses the 'Smolka' 24V 16Nm motors on 12V. I got some other new Valeo motors with roughly the same specs but are designed for running on 17V natively. Eager to see how they perform...

Alright, new week and a new update!

1) Hall pot mount design changed
2) I revised the design of the U-joint base. The way that it is designed now is that i can now alter the placement of the u joint on both the seat frame and the base frame. (moving to front or back) This way i can optimize the seat balance point and reduce the force on the motors.
3) Placement of the control box (arduino & motomonster) and the 670W powersupply.
4) Centre bolt in back of frame for seatbelt mount

I like how it looks now, i want to achieve a real OEM feel of the frame. The last two pictures also show how i made the front frame slide in the backframe and adjust the position of pedals / steeringwheel towards the driver position. The adjustable screws with knobs are replaced by a sliding pen with security clip. This works faster, easier to handle and cheaper As you can also see, i made the plate for the pedals adjustable in angle.

Any comments or tips for the current design? The plan is to order the steel for the frame this week and start tagging it together for a first real world view.

Nice Design, but there is a fault at the height adjustment of the steering wheel.



The square tubes (red points) are not parallel, so you can't move them up and down, or you should mount two joints at the yellow points.

I think so, and be aware about the need of some springs under the seat to bring more stability and
smoothness (also to not let moving excesively the seat when not working motors)

You could use two square tubes only, the stering doesn´t weigth too much, and if so, use 2 bigger tubes

Remember that if you finally only put 2 tubes instead four, is more stable if they are perpendicular to the base(also valid for a 4 tubes design, but need to let space for entering so)

@Bernd Manger , That is true at the moment the steering platform / frame is designed to be not height adjustable only the foot plate is adjustable in height and angle. As i am going to build the seat frame first, it is possible to change the design of the steering frame (also need a support for the shifter)

@chu, This steering frame design is a copy of the CXC simulator design. For the seat; why would i need to mount springs? most of the 2dof designs don't have spring installed. The motors have a 1:69 reduction, so my assumption is that they 'll hold their position. But we 'll see, material has been ordered and 'll arrive next week. Then the build can begin

while waiting for the metal to arrive , i began with the control box today. As you can see on the Sketchup design and on the pictures i'm integrating all control parts in a electrical box. I integrated a 80mm fan in the lid of the housing to cool the electronics and especially the Monstermoto shield. Also mounted some alu cooling profiles on the Monstermoto to dispose heat easier. Air exhaust on both sides of the housing, the airflow is massive so cooling would be good .

Both the Arduino and the Monstermoto are placed on brass pc mainboard spacers (with nylon washers underneath to protect against PCB shorts). I left some space for another Monstermoto if there is any need for it in the future. The switch on the outside is not wired yet but 'll power on the external 670W PSU (just a ground connection). The blue LED on the front is directly fed from the Arduino 3V3 to indicate 'power on'.

Only thing that i can do right now is wiring the Monstermoto shield to arduino according SMC3 specifications. For all other wiring i have to wait until metal arrives and base frame is built to determine cable length.

yes, it's always better to allow a mechanical full turn (in case of electronic failure...)

@EntonoX I notice your electronic case doesnt have intake or exhaust hole for fan to breathe

@RacingMat DO you recomment 180 hall or 360?

As You can see on the pictures, on te left and right side the rear grommets are Missing . These are exhausts for the airflow. Air is blown from the top onto the arduino and Moto monster and out through the sides.

I also use the 180 degree hall pots.

Update time!
Just finished the control box. As you can see i did my best on the wiring job. Everything is wired now and ready for mounting on the frame. I choose to add connectors externally for easy mounting and maintenance. The round grey connectors you see on each side are for the hall potentiometers and the white connectors are for each motor. At the back you find the main power supply cable which feeds the internal fuse box (35A for moto monster and 3A for Arduino) and a USB cable for the arduino. Also on the left side is an additional white connector for turning on the power supply.
The holes without a grommet on each side are air exhaust for the fan (which blows directly on top of the monster moto shield.

Update!
Thursday i received all the metal work i ordered. After a quick check if all was complete i made a quick overview how things are going to be. Then i started drill work for the adjustable rubber feet, and adjustable u-joint base, seatbelt mounting points, etc. On the seat frame i drilled multiple positions for the U-joint and mounting positions for the seat.

On the sketchup design i moved to locking pins for the adjustable rear feet and the future front frame for the steering wheel and pedals. I decided to go back to M8 bolts with a handwheel on it just for the ease of use and speed of adjusting. This requires only one hole to drill and welding a M8 nut on it. This saves work and adjusting can be more precise instead of per 5 centimeters.

The frame 'll be TIG welded (doing it all myself ) next week i'll update with some finished welding pics, but for now you can enjoy these one's

Update!
Last days busy with welding, adjusting and fabricating. I was able to complete the seat frame and base frame. I painted the seat frame, but the base frame is still unpainted. I want to do some testing first before finishing the frame. You can also see the uplholstered seat which i completely did myself (yes i'm proud of it )
I made several mounting options for the motor linkeage, ranging from 20mm CTC to 80mm CTC. just to be able to simply choose and test. I tested the motor by applying 12V and found them to be very strong at 50mm CTC moving my weight (92Kg + seat and frame ). No need for extra supports or springs the thing feels very rigid! Remember i have 17V DC motors running at 12V DC, cheap motors from ebay and they are from the same manufacturer as the well know smolka's. (These motors have steel gears also)
For the pusbars i choose M6 rods at first, but they started to bent very easily, so i put a steel rod on them for strength. Absolutely perfect know

Nice to see the resemblance with the sketchup design, and such a detailed design made fabricating the framework much easier.