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Question Which motor best suits a FFB stick?

Discussion in 'Motor actuators and drivers' started by Dirty, Oct 15, 2017.

  1. Dirty

    Dirty Well-Known Member Gold Contributor

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    Hey :)

    since this is my first post here, a friendly "Hi" to all of you guys (...girls?) suffering from the same mental illness as myself :) It's good to see I'm not the only one!

    My goal is to eventually build my own 6DOF motion platform. I am well aware of how much work and effort that might take but I also know just how much they can deepen the immersion when done right :)

    To get myself started in this new hobby of mine I thought of building a FFB flightstick for my cockpit to gather some experience before setting off on building (and spending money on) a bigger project .

    I am wondering what motor to use for this. I know basically (very basic!) how the different types of motors work, but I am not certain how the properties of the motors apply to my flight stick and which traps to avoid.

    All I (...think I...) know so far is that the motor does not need to actually move anything but rather his only job is to apply a certain torque onto the axis.

    So I cannot use (worm-)geared motors(?) as the gears would block motion(?). And I don't need a servo-motor as I really don't care where the motor is, only the amount of torque it creates(?)

    Which motor would an experienced motion sim builder use?
    Where do you guys buy your stuff? (Shipment to Europe)


    Thank you in advance :)

    Dirty
    Dirty, Oct 15, 2017
    #1
  2. noorbeast

    noorbeast VR Tassie Devil Staff Member Moderator Race Director

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    My Motion Simulator:
    3DOF, DC motor, JRK
    noorbeast, Oct 15, 2017
    #2
  3. Dirty

    Dirty Well-Known Member Gold Contributor

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    Oh,... :)

    Thanks for the reply.

    But no, I didn't mean to build a 6DOF joystick. An interesting idea still!

    I just meant to build a force feedback lever, to have a little project that would allow me to gain experience with Arduino/H-bridges/motors etc... The math and programming side of it doesn't scare me, but I have never actually worked with any real hardware before.

    So, as far as I can imagine, I need a motor that...
    - generates about 20Nm of torque on the axis, because I want a 50cm lever that lets me feel 40N of force.
    - has a gear that does not block me from moving the axis in a direction opposite to the direction the motor is applying its torque.
    - is able to move the axis at a rate of about 360°/s if I let go. That would mean about 125 Watts of power.
    - has as little "grainy-ness" as possible.

    Which motor would you guys use for that?


    Assembly_2017-Oct-24_03-06-46PM-000_CustomizedView4207193623.png
    Dirty, Oct 24, 2017
    #3