Motion driven servos contoled rear view mirror objects

Hi Guys,
James From Scotland here

Been sim racing for a couple of years now with a particular passion for Dirt Rally 2.0. I have done quite a bit of customizing my rig with the ambition of always having something which can be switched between sim racing and working from home in around a minute.

To do this I've made several things like like fold away pedals, DIY button box with an android screen connected to my gear stick and DIY handbrake all of which can be moved in and out of position. I've also made a monitor arm for triples which can move from tight against the wall to out behind my wheel.
The only venturing into the electronics side of things I've done so far is add vibration to my pedals via SimHub.

As i'm sure a lot of people here find, the building and designing the custom things can be as enjoyable as actually spending time in the sim.

Due to lack of space i wont be creating a motion sim in the near future, but the project that brought me here is motion related. I saw a video on youtube of a mini motion rig using very small servos to replicate the in game motion onto a model F1 car. I would like to do something similar but to have 2 servos control the swing of an item hanging from the rear view mirror (ie a scented tree or dice etc).

I'm aware this is quite a trivial idea (and to my knowledge hasn't been done before), but the rational would be one day i would like to create a motion sim (when i have more space) and i thought this could be a good introduction to some of the elements of creating one (at hopefully a pretty limited cost) and better inform me before starting a Motion sim project i cant complete. Also in Rally weight transfer of the car, particularly the older ones is crucial to maximize speeds, i thought this could be a way of visualizing weight transfer without requiring the space for a full motion sim.

Questions,
1) Has anything like this been done before?
2) Are there any particular areas of the forum i should be looking that specializes in small servos etc (alot of the previous reading i have done is about much bigger motors for obvious reasons!)
3) If i do all the correct build thread and guide is this likely to qualify me for the DIY Licence of Simtools or is that only for full motion sim rigs?
4) Am i likely to need a motor shield even for very small servos? (i already have an Arduino Uno and some servos, so the only things i believe i still need is potentially a motor shield and an appropriate software)

Many Thanks

thank you @noorbeast, that is exactly the kind of info i was looking for regarding RC servo motors, looks like i've got some reading up to do and get started building!

been doing some background reading of FAQ posts and general Sim Tools Documentation leading to getting the servos up and running. I then used some scraps I had to make a rudimentary stand to test the servos working in the LFS game.

next steps
fine tune the Axis Assignments a bit
Make a V2 stand that hopefully can incorporate a third servo for heave at some point down the line (and isnt made from lego and paperclips)


heres a quick video of the first pass of it working
https://imgur.com/a/G6M9b6y

V3 of the scented tree rig.



made a small metal frame to hold the servos which can be attached to a flexible mobile phone holder i had. I've added a third servo to the design which can deal with heave movement and allow sharp up downs for bumps etc. To allow the tree to still flex a little its attached by spring, but i think its possibly too loose as it droops a little in the banking corners.

this is my settings, i think i could get more cornering rotation, but i found when i set it too high the servo jumped to default position then would operate out of position, is this common and an easy fix? i assume setting limits or the like?

links dont seem to have worked for the images (and i cant delete the double post? sorry i'm pretty new to forums)

better image of the device
https://imgur.com/a/vEZlHhF

Settings
https://imgur.com/a/Kqmlwma

I love what you have done ! its quite funny to watch

can you think of another use for it ?

as i said in the orignal post it was intended to be a sort of weight transfer visual guide, and i think it actually reasonably successfully does that. i think it does add a bit of immersion, people who have went great lengths to build truck sim cockpits i think it would be a good addition for some immersion having it wobbling away

while this is much less serious build than the typical projects on here, i did find it a very good introduction to Simtools. if anyone else would like to build their own version i've compiled a bit of a build guide and pulled in some of the FAQs which helped me along the way.


Total parts list
Arduino Uno, MG90 Micro servos, 6v DC power supply, blank Arduino uno shield and PCB header and scockets (though a servo shield would probably be easier) goose-neck phone holder, scented tree, paper clips, small spring (roughly 40mm long, 7mm diameter), assortment of metals i had laying around (see servo mount section), m3 bolts x9, m4 bolts x2


Servo mount
my method of building used metal with a small amount of welding (though brasing or soldering would probably work) and mainly using threaded holes as the joining method, however if you have access to a 3d printer there is probably a much more elegant solution possible (and if you have access to neither then lego technic also works see https://imgur.com/a/G6M9b6y)

The main difference between my design and a typical motion rig (or mini motion rig like @insanegr ) is because this is hanging, and only supporting a small length of round bar, spring and scented tree, it can have a servo dedicated only to heave motion. see video below and picture showing what each component was made from. I'm aware its a little rough looking but it was made from scraps and i'll probably do some more testing then paint it.

The tree i just used a spring with a slightly smaller inner dia than my round bar so friction holds it in place then used a hot glue gun to attach the tree

The goose-neck phone holder clamps onto my montior arm, and the servo mount simply clips in like a phone would and the phone holder alows full movement to align everything to the screen in game.

Arduino
The Arduino code and was thanks to @eaorobbie which can be found from this post which also includes a circuit diagram, though i also added an additional servo which Insanegr also explained how to do.
http://www.xsimulator.net/community/threads/2dof-simulator-servo-model.6851/#post-7727

For neatness i made my own Servo shield but would probably be easier just buying one

Simtools
As someone new to xsimulator.net and servos and motion rigs i found the following sheer volume of FAQs a little overwhelming at first so have listed a handful i got the most out of
https://www.xsimulator.net/community/faq/rtfm-start-with-the-official-simtools-documentation.117/
https://www.xsimulator.net/community/faq/steps-to-create-a-motion-profile.228/
https://www.xsimulator.net/community/faq/tuning-centre-and-axis-settings.240/
https://www.xsimulator.net/co-ordinate-system/

Remember to run a race in LFS before using simtools.

here are the settings i used

haha awsome, nice work and well documented