COCKPIT Alex Open Sim Wheel and rig project (work in progress)

[Alexjonson]

Hey liquido!

Thanks! I really need to get a proper camera out to capture some of the stuff. I'll try if the gopro could do something a little bit better compared to my Z3.
Not much of an update. But I have orderd and manufactured some stuff for the Mige. Electronics arriving early September is what the word says now. Rig work is going really slow and I can't decide what to do with that I'll give you an update when it's worth delivering one.
Always nice to see others rigs aswell, so bring it up liquido, with or without a supermodel

 

[Alexjonson]

Well... another bloody update. Now I want some feedback, its no fun otherwise aye.

 

[luchian]

Whoa.. BIG update this #3, thanks for sharing !
It's a serious and quite impressive project to be honest

Don't take the remarks badly, it's only constructive.

12 mill aluminium plate which is where the pedals will be mounted

Isn't that too thick ? 12mm seems like a lot !

What will happen to the seat though ? I understand you're going to mold an adapter after you, but how will you make it look nice after ? Do you have some clothing planned ?

Will you use the same metallic profile for the entire frame ? Seems a bit too small in section, I'm not sure this would make a solid enough frame ? Unless you've planned so very intricate design ? This is in regards to knowing you're gonna put an OSW on it, so I imagine forces will be quite substantial.

What kind of screen(s) do you plan ? Will you be making a frame for it/them as well ?

 

[luchian]

PS: that Mige, with the wheel and the adapter > so sexy !
PPS: very clean work on the base frame.

Do you happen to have a photo of the seat before ?

 

[Alexjonson]

Hi my loyal follower!

I don't take anything from you bad, unless its bad.
12 mill is not as thick as you think, considering the brakeforce on the Heusingveld Engineering Pro Pedals are 55kg, and me being me always planning ahead in building my own hydralic pedals which will have even more force, but thats another story, and probably an even thicker plate!
It's actully not a very thick metal profile, 15x15 mm. But once you forge it together its really solid, the crossmembers on the bottom are about 1/3 done and it's already no flex in the thing. For the wheel mount I will have to have some support bars around the whole base to handle the force. It will be a fairly simple but still advanced setup to make it strong as F**K, flex will be eliminated to 100%. I won't accept any flex, if it does flex, I'll get the angle grinder out and re-do it stronger. But to be honest, I'm not worried at all, I will stress test it before I will do the full welding to see that it handles my bodyweight without any problems which should ensure that the osw will be solid on there. But I still want to keep the whole rig as light as possible to make it easy to move around if needed.
For the screens I'm planning 3x of ASUS VN247H screens, since I only have a 970 and I don't want to spend more money on screens atm. Maybe updating to 27" or viritual glasses in the future, even tho I'm not too impressed with the picture quality of these viritual glasses.
I will design and make my own tripple screen setup, as with the rig. I can do some kind of update around that in this thread aswell. Only thing certain atm is that the tripple screen frame will be standalone from the rig so the screens don't start to shake if the wheel would go crazy or something.
Happy to hear that you like the adapter! Took me 5 hours to machine that thing. I don't have any CNC machine at my disposal so I had to do it with a normal lathe and milling machine but that gave me great pleasure to see how good it turned out in the end.

Holy shit this turned out to be a long response.

Alex.

 

[luchian]

[..] But I still want to keep the whole rig as light as possible to make it easy to move around if needed.

I like the approach - seems like you've put a lot of thought in in. I will however keep my reserves until I see the upper frame !

Only thing certain atm is that the tripple screen frame will be standalone from the rig so the screens don't start to shake if the wheel would go crazy or something.

Exactly - that's why I was asking - having independent support for the screen it's the best solution. Shake free.

It'll be very interesting watching this thread - lots of ideas on how to spend money !

 

[liquido]

I'm loving it.. the more updates you post the most I like what you are doing.

maybe you are using too thin metal beam for the structure?

that garaje is the heaven for me... keep us updated please, it is a pleasure.

EDIT:

I just read the large post... I think I start to wach your updates before yo post... I miss it.

so that structure is good.

 

[liquido]

It will be good try to desing a movable base for pedals to change from 2 pedals config and 3 pedals config.

something like a quick relase for the clutch pedal to keep out of the action when you are driving a car with semi/automatic gear box.

 

[Alexjonson]

Hello race friends! Thanks for some feedback!

Exactly - that's why I was asking - having independent support for the screen it's the best solution. Shake free.

It'll be very interesting watching this thread - lots of ideas on how to spend money !

About the screen mount, that actully goes against itself since I won't have any base-flex, but also if I would do a formula style rig or do something else, the screen mount should be easy movable.
It's certainly lots of ideas how to burn money, but I think it's gonna be worth it in the end. You can do a OSW fairly cheap nowerdays aswell, but I'm going all in. If anyone would be interested, PM me and I'll give you some good info.

It will be good try to desing a movable base for pedals to change from 2 pedals config and 3 pedals config.

something like a quick relase for the clutch pedal to keep out of the action when you are driving a car with semi/automatic gear box.

The baseplate will be moveable from left to right. then the pedals have some movement option in them, aswell as I'm gonna do so you essentaily can move them freely. All pedals will be bolted down with 4 screws. They will be able to move from side to side as close or as wide from each other in a matter of minutes if desired, which is good thinking that they have to be hardmounted properly.

I'm loving it.. the more updates you post the most I like what you are doing.

maybe you are using too thin metal beam for the structure?

that garaje is the heaven for me... keep us updated please, it is a pleasure.

EDIT:

I just read the large post... I think I start to wach your updates before yo post... I miss it.

so that structure is good.

The metal beam is indeed very thin, but it's not neccecery to make it any thicker as long as you do a smart design to support everything together solidly. I'm not worried about flex while still keeping it very light. Goal is that the whole frame, without any extras to it like baseplate for pedals and wheel or seat should be about 5 kg. And I have seen some aluminium profile rigs having flex in them with an OSW, which this one wont.
The garage is certainly great. It's where my dad works so I've got all the machines needed at my disposal which is very helpful to make quick prototypes of stuff.

 

[Alexjonson]

What will happen to the seat though ? I understand you're going to mold an adapter after you, but how will you make it look nice after ? Do you have some clothing planned ?

About the seat I have not decided. For the Formula Ford seat we just took duct tape and coverd the seat in that so the mould wouldn't fall apart or something, which worked fine. But for this I have considerd doing some kind of cloth and sprayglue to make it look nice, on the front at least. But that very much depends on how thick the final mould will be, if that one is very thin it would probably be smarter to go with duct tape, but the ideal thing would be to have some kind of cloth.

Shoot more questions, I enjoy having a technical rant!

 

[luchian]

it's not about that, but you know.. makes you wonder.
Don't know about you, but in my case the cockpit corner is the living room, so it has to look at least half decent.
I see your approach is more on "immersion" and close-to-real customization with no regards (yet) on the aesthetics. You should maybe add a small tray with drops of fuel so you can scent it .

 

[Alexjonson]

it's not about that, but you know.. makes you wonder.
Don't know about you, but in my case the cockpit corner is the living room, so it has to look at least half decent.
I see your approach is more on "immersion" and close-to-real customization with no regards (yet) on the aesthetics. You should maybe add a small tray with drops of fuel so you can scent it .

I have mine in the corner, but it will be probably as much in the middle of the room, living small and cheap, more money for sim racing. But I do like the race-car look of things so if it looks abit rough around the edges I wouldn't mind I think, but I think it will look really good in the end. I love how the seat looks without cover, looks brutal. I might end up having only support on the sides of the upper back and something under the bum. We'll see.

I'm planning having an old 2 stroke karting engine going full rpm's while racing so I can feel the smell.... (Not serious)

 

[luchian]

[..]I'm planning having an old 2 stroke karting engine going full rpm's while racing so I can feel the smell....

Ha ha ha, now THAT would be racing !

 

[Alexjonson]

Both good and bad news today.
Good news: I have sourced some stuff and modified some stuff I already had so it can easily be worked on, update coming maybe this weekend if we can get some shit done.
Bad news: the electronics package will be delayed, but that is maybe good news so I can get the rig done before everyone can practice without me.

Enjoy the friday chaps.

 

[luchian]

As long as there's activity towards the end goal, it's always good news . Looking forward to the update !

 

[Alexjonson]

There is some activity, I have found some new motivation after last weekends great steps forward. Nothing as major as last time (atm) but development big or small, it's always fun doing stuff

 

[Alexjonson]

After yesterdays blow with the electronics, I'm back where I started with that, but with a higher tolerance for paying someone else to sort it out for me as I regard myself not brave enough to do it. Or maybe I should, we'll see. Will do some work on the rig tommorow again so update coming tommorow evening hopefully.
Saw a picture which I felt I could relate to. Very wise words.

 

[Alexjonson]

Hello Boys!

Quick update for you here.

Got my aluminum plate. Have started to machine it. Work in progress atm. Also got yet another steering wheel.... also got a TIG welding machine, so I can get the beautiful welds I want. Also working with someone on a buttonplate with nice features for my gt style wheel which I'm waiting on aswell. Let's see if I get some shit done this weekend. Once the pedalplate is done the most time consuming work is done I think. It takes a shitload of time to machine everything without a cnc machine. Also orderd some electronics for the servo motor. Loads of stuff going on without actully anything to show atm, but sooner or later it will all be done and I will be a happy lad. Also today is my birthday, and as the saying goes, an accident never comes alone...

Alex

 

[luchian]

Quite a lot actually ! Even though there's nothing to show, I read activity. It's cool, it's inspiring keep it up !
Oh, and happy birthday ! I guess I don't need to ask what's on the wishlist .

PS: you'd normally get your own thread for celebrating unless your profile is not complete .

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

 

[Alexjonson]

Quick tease which I forgot to mention yesterday. I got myself a proper Osw quick release (those with splines don't manage the vibrations from the servo) from Holger Buschfink, named Q1R, brilliant little piece of kit built to last forever.