Help ! Help ! Help !

Hi there,

I am a newbee at this whole conception of Motion Platforms but determined to build one. I should say that I have been Flight Simming for the last 12 years having built my own cockpit with Matrox TH2Go with three 20 Flat Screens, Simkit Gauges,Goflight Modules and all the other bells and whistles, my current FS is Microsoft FSX for which I require the platform. The reason I am telling you all this is not to brag about what I have but to make a point that the structural side of this motion platform does not frighten me at all but what I am scared to hell about is the electrical end of it which I read about in this wonderful site.

Now you might say well whats your problem all the information you need is available to you in all the different sections so why not use it ? I will tell you why, most of the people reading this forum are very accomplished and if I might say Guru's on the subject of motion platforms and hence write and talk accordingly . Now this is absolutly invaluble and it is fantastic that so many people are prepared to give their time to share this wonderful information with others, however, for the last two weeks I have been reading through all the various sections and forums within this site and find that there are quite a few like myself who are struggling to grasp all this much appreciated information and I will tell you why.

When you attempt to build something that you are not too familier with the first thing you want to know is what do you need to build it with. The second thing you need to know is what is the function of these components ,how are they all inter-related and the compatability of them with each other. Now I have downloaded from this site approx. 300 A4 pages of information which I considered to be aimed at newbees like myself and have read them more than once but find that my head is so full of fantastic types of various platforms that I am more confused than when I started knowing very little !

I have found the reason for this is the information is so scattered that when you try to put it all together to try and come up with the makings of a motion platform you are left with so much uncertainty if what you found one place will be compatable with what you found somewhere else.
Now you might say well what the heck is he looking for ? The info is all there so why cant he use it ? I will explain.

I am trying to build a Motion Platform for my FSX and I need to know : 1. All of the components neccessary to do this and a little explanation, as I pointed out above, how all these work together and the function they perform. I would be very happy with a modest 2 DOF Platform and dont mind buying these components if they can be baught (or if not I dont mind making them). Now this does not mean that I want everything handed to me off the shelf with no effort on my part, most of the enjoyment I will get from this will be building it.

Now I appeal to any of you kind hearted people to facilitate us newcomers who are on the bottom step of the ladder in relation to constructing a motion platform, to get us on the next rung !!

My sincere appreciation for even reading this and I confident that help will be forthcoming so that I can in the not too distant future sit down and enjoy my Motion Platform and know without the help I would never have had it.

My thanks in anticipation.

Toni

Hi Toni,
what a humble post indeed if I may say so .
I`m in the same situation like you, but my advantage is that I`m very skillful and electronically educated.
I agree with you in most of things but one in particular, forum is full of knowledge and help but scattered all around. Main flaw of this is that too many of us are repeating same questions again and again. Those gurus are probably too busy developing more interesting stuff for us, so I`m surprised that they have time to answer almost every new post. I can`t thank them enough for that.
On the other side, we should be thrilled that so many people are here to offer help and pass their knowledge to us.
Keep reading and searching for info, cause I`ve been doin` it every day, and always find something new. Half of the forum is written in German and I`m afraid that cause of that I`m half way back from making my Sim. (nothing against German, just don`t understand it and automatic translation dont work very well )
I`m certain that we`ll have something to show to the community in near future.
BR, Igor

Not even close... The evolution in electric motion control was right after I joined the forum (almost two years now) with all important information written in English fortunately. :yes:

Its true. The information is so vast that even we that develop on them can't properly sort it out in one place. BTW, the Wiki was made for that purpose. To help us a little, by letting users fill there any info that is useful for the rest too.


Thanos

toktiny......I am in the same boat as you, only I have nothing but ideas and drawings. I do agree with Thanos..... it would be difficult for the hand full of 'gurus' to answer all the individual Q's of everyone that is new to the world of motion sim especially when the Q's have been asked a number of times already. I am struggling myself, but know I will get there. My only problem is I dont want to spend a fortune making wrong descisions and taking the long way round when there is other logical less expensive ways to achieve what I am trying to achieve. I think what one needs to do first is break it all down(not the sim, your ideas and requirements ha-ha). No one sim is going to be the same as another so your requirements are going to be different. I think a table view has to be drawn up, maybe even on the site of all the directions and steps one can take with all the options available and there pros and cons. That way when you get to a step that you are unsure of you can click on it and get info from the people that have the same problems and how they got around it. I think this will help the scattered info problem. I know its no good me just saying this and not doing something about it, but I thought it may help you to do your own breakdown as it is slowly helping me. I broke it down firstly on the 1)physical dynamics of what I want to feel from my sim( coz the last thing I want after all the time and effort is to think it does not feel real). 2)Then the distance it has to travel and the degrees of freedom it has to have to achieve this movement. 3)Then the materials to be used(price vs strength vs weight factor) 4)Preference in what type of driving force....actuator, dc motor or wiper motor, pneumatic etc(price vs strength vs effectiveness and dont forget noise level). 5)The electronics, power supplies and software to drive such device(compatibility to keep in mind). This is where I am at and only found out about an H-Bridge yesterday, but dont know how X-Sim communicates with the H-bridge board. And dont know if this works with actuators or only dc motors 6) Where and if you can get all these materials. 7) the stages of purchasing the materials (you dont want to get to far ahead of yourself incase something goes wrong and you change your mind to take a different direction). Then Im sure there are many other steps after that but I'll cross those bridges later (-:

HI Dymsix

Sorry I did not see your mail sooner but I have started and completed my motion platform and am in the final stages of creating a profile. I have a thread under DIY Motion Simulator Projects called Re: Started 2dof SCN5 Platform for Flightsim FSX and you might find a few tips here which I have recieved in the building of same.

Regards

Toni