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Showroom Full-Frame 2 DOF, 80/20 Strut, JRKs, Wind, Flying/Driving Rig

Discussion in 'DIY Motion Simulator Projects' started by Zed, Dec 11, 2017.

  1. Zed

    Zed VR Simming w/Reverb Gold Contributor

    Joined:
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    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, DC motor, JRK
    Anyone running in VR knows how important it is to have knobs, switches, and buttons to control things especially in flight sims. I had a DSD button, knob, and switch box laying aound that I couldn’t use on my rig since it was big ad bulky, and the controls weren’t grouped intuitively.

    [Edit - swapping out for a Leo Bodnar interface. The DSD was never reliable and I’d have to switch things multiple times sometimes to get it to take and that was an immersion breaker, not to mention taking attention away from flying the plane. I suspect the DSD doesn’t have much software contact bounce mitigation but don’t know that.]

    I decided to rework them and mount them more to my liking. I'll post the stl files later but here are pics to show the concept. It’s not finished but this is the setup. I still need to add wiring. As a bonus, I accidentally threw away my wiring diagram from the original box but it was trivial. The only oddball bit was the knobs that are great for incrementing and decrementing settings. While testing the circuit I discovered there are a fair number of working additional terminals that were unused in the original box. 32 terminals with 10 used for the five knobs leaves 22 for switches and buttons.

    I printed up a base and box for the circuit board, and boxes and mounts for the switches, buttons, and knobs. I think with FSUIPC this ought to be pretty handy. For those unfamiliar, you can do the same things with an Arduino. I just had this laying around.

    E2770BFE-C088-472D-B017-758ADA7E15C4.jpeg 2E7E2082-66D7-4FD6-98DE-F74EE6BDE251.jpeg 9953A8AC-4E01-42FE-920D-D5D23931D48E.jpeg F28834ED-5441-4C2F-B5E6-ADEB0E9BFCF3.jpeg
    • Like Like x 1
    Last edited: Sep 7, 2021
  2. Jerry Atrick

    Jerry Atrick this is my sim Gold Contributor

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    My Motion Simulator:
    4DOF
    Hi Zed, nice job, and well done.

    Jerry:)
  3. Zed

    Zed VR Simming w/Reverb Gold Contributor

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    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, DC motor, JRK
    Thanks, Jerry! Still wiring up the switches but they will help cut the need to reach over and find the mouse to activate common controls. May rework with better switches and knobs later especially now that I know the other inputs all work even though they were unused. You think you’re finished and then you aren’t. :thumbs

    Edit - yep, never finished. I recently got a Leo Bodnar USB interface and some nice stacked rotary switches like you see on the Garmin units in FS2020. The Derek Spear Designs switch interface was never reliable even before gutting it to connect to custom switches. Also got a load cell interface to try to give my toe brakes a more realistic feel. Will update some more as those projects complete.
    • Like Like x 1
    Last edited: Sep 7, 2021
  4. John Oleinik

    John Oleinik New Member

    Joined:
    Feb 21, 2017
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    Seattle, WA USA
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    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, Arduino
    Amazing build! This is very similar to the designs that I'm getting started on for my seat mover for flight sim. Where did you get some of those online quotes in the states? BigBlueSaw?
  5. Zed

    Zed VR Simming w/Reverb Gold Contributor

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    My Motion Simulator:
    2DOF, DC motor, JRK
    Hey John, thanks!

    Are you talking about the online quotes for the output arms? I don’t remember where I got the quote but if you web search for online machine shop you should find something. A friend of mine machined mine and did full CNC treatment on them. I don’t even know what those would have cost at a regular shop. But, if you can design to just a single axis for cuts, it will cost much less.

    Good luck with your build! Since yours is similar, happy to answer any questions if you want.