Project "Wackelsitz" - 2DOF Wipermotor Sim

[mreiner]

Hi together

I think I got my first PC Racing Wheel more than 10 years ago, and since then I'm always trying to improve the immersion while racing.
So finally some years ago I then got myself a Playseat Evolution, which was quite good, but I still had some problems with it.
First of all the wheel-stand was always in my way between my knees and I also never really managed to adjust all parts to the size of my body so that it felt right.
So now after moving to a new house where I have enough space, I decided to completely build my own simulator. And while searching through the net for some design ideas, I suddenly came to this site, and thought: Ok, so let's make it a motion simulator.
And of course I want to share my experience here with you.

The base is highly inspired by the plans of the Ricmotech RS1, adapted to my needs, and powered by two 12V wiper motors:


I finished now the planing, and collected all the parts, that I think I will need, which are:
- 2 Wiper Motors

- 2 Pololu JRK 12v12

- 2 10k Pots
- an used 1000W HP Server Power-Supply

- Universal Joint

- Aluminium parts for building Motor arms and fixing the motors to the platform.


- rods, ball joints, screws and other usual hardware parts.
- wood for building the base platform
- two bass shakers + amplifier - one will be placed under the seat, and one in front to the pedal base.
- As input I will use my good old G25 with reverse mounted pedals
- For the start I will use the seat of the playseat. I plan to buy a new one soon, but have not decided which one it will be.

So until now, I have built the rear part of the base unit and mounted the motors and pots to it, to make a first test run with the motors. On an AI run of GTR2 the motion already looks quite promising. (Pixs will follow)

The next step will be to build the base for the seat, mount it to the platform and see how it's moving. After that I can make the final measurement for the front part (wheel and pedal base) to perfectly fit my body.

So that's it for now, but more to come soon...hopefully


Update 15.07.2013

I managed to get the motors isolated (thanks Mat for your links) and mounted them again to the platform. Had to change the position, as at first they were to wide.


Meanwhile started to build the front unit:


I also built the seat base, an mounted it for some tests, but I'm not fully confident at the moment. The cuttings are not as precise, as I want them (my fault), and over all I'm afraid it's too heavy, so I'm thinking of maybe changing to aluminium for this part as well.



I also realized, that at the moment the whole seat construction is too high, so I have to shorten the U-Joint mount.
But as I decided to go for a new seat, which will hopefully arrive within the next days, I'll wait for it to get the correct measurements.

And then it's time for the first test-run.

[RacingMat]

That looks promising ! I'm eager to see more ...

From my experience, I'm pretty sure that your aluminium motor support will need reinforcement ! if not they will move and ultimately aluminium may brake under "metal fatigue".

Could you please tell me how much you bought your universal joint ?

Mat

[roidal]

That looks really very good !

[mreiner]

I got the U-Joint on ebay for 30€ (incl. shipping). It's from a YAMAHA XJ 900.

But currently I'm facing some problems with the motors, as they have current on the housing. So I'm now trying to get them isolated.
Hopefully I'm able to make some overall progress during the weekend.

[RacingMat]

thanks for the u-joint reference

for isolation, you can have a look here http://www.insideland.fr/?page_id=700

and here http://vos-playseat-stephaned61.xooit.fr/t7-Creation-d-un-simulateur-automobile-2DOF-avec-des-moteurs-d-essuie-glace.htm

[mreiner]

received the new seat(s) yesterday

Look and feel is really good for the price (~150€ for the pair - one is for a friend who is going to build his own sim).
I got them from http://www.fk-shop.de/

So with the final seat I can now take the correct measurements for the seat height and also adjust the front-stand with wheel and pedals.

[tommy6]

Sieht sehr gut aus ... Weiter so toll gemachte Arbeit

[mreiner]

Good news here.

During the weekend I assembled all parts together and mounted the Wheel and Pedals and went for the first TestDrive in GTR2.
At first I had some problems with my Pololus as they were disconnecting all the time. But after I found out, that one pin of the USB-Connector was a little bend out of shape, and I carefully corrected that, everything was working perfect.
The movement feels really good, although I still have to do some adjustments on the profile. - A video will follow soon.

But still I decided to make some final adjustments to the construction:
First I lowered the back side construction of the seat mount, for better looks and to have more space in the back for the Electronic components:


And second I mounted the seat sliders to the front unit, to have it adjustable in size:


TODO:
- built a nice box for the electronic components.
I'm currently planing to fit it inside the rear of the base plattfrom with a nice cover of plexiglas.

- fit some fans to the motors, as the get pretty hot after some time. I plan on building some kind of housing around the motors and mechanical parts.

- do the final painting, and other cool stuff:
after waiting for over 2 month, I finally received one of these, which will be mounted onto the wheel, controlled by an ardunino bord.


I also got myself this cool part, which will be integrated into a Button-Box I'm currently planning:

[mreiner]

Hi together.

Thanks so far for your comments.
After some pretty hot days here in Austria, where I was not really keen on working on the sim, I now made again a little progress.
The movement with the lower back is still feeling really good - also made some adjustments to the profile and pololu configuration for a smoother movement.
The only problem I realized after some longer test runs is, that the motors get way too hot, and even start smelling. So I had to find a way to cool them down.

So I got myself such a heat sink:


and cut it into smaller parts, so I can glue it to the motor housing with a thermal adhesive:


what finally looks like this:


additionally I will put a fan on each motor, what will hopefully then be enough to keep them cool.

I also got myself 3 22" Displays from ebay (24€ each), where I'm currently building the mounting support for them.


So by now mechanically everything seems to be fine, so I'm going to put all the electronic parts and final wiring in place *

[RacingMat]

Hi !

Your heat sinkers look good on your motor
I have seen people drilling holes into the housing itself (after dismantling)

-> Just avoid letting them getting too hot : because the heat will demagnetise your magnets and your motors will loose power...

Have you measured the current intensity ? mean / max ?
it'd be insteresting to know

good luck