2DOF Wiper Motors Arduino Flight Sim + Oculus Rift

[patador]

Finally finished my flight simulator project which was started four years ago. I started with the purchased Joyrider build plan online. Started purchasing PVC tubing, nuts and bolts and all the necessarry hardware. Finished the build with no motors. Motion was on a gymbal system utilizing center of gravity of the rider. I wasn't satisfied with it and dreamed of having motors and interface but didn't know where to start. Then, I stumbled across this X-Sim website and my dream turned into reality. The following is the history of my build from hardware to software. Thanks to the forums and project gallery which guided me with my build. I hope that this post will help others in this community in building their own sim platform. Credit goes to "Sirnoname" for his post on his build utilizing the open source X-PID firmware, Arduino, and 2 H-bridges. I based mine on his post. I welcome questions and will try to answer the best I can based on my build experience.

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View of completed Flight Sim

Hardware:
For the display I used a 24" LCD monitor and as an option I use Oculus Rift and works quite well with MS FSX.

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MC and 2 H-Bridge

Bought an Arduino Uno from a local store and ordered at least eight H-Bridges. I am glad I did since it almost took a month for shipping through an Ebay purchase and from Hong Kong. I could've bought Polulu boards but they were pricey for my budget. I recommend buying several since I burned at least 3 of them during test runs and tweaking the configurations. I decided to install a 10amp fuse on both motors and a 30amp fuse in between the battery and the h-bridges. I'm glad I did since one fuse blew on me during flight which then protected my circuit board components.

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Oculus Rift

Configured and tested the beta Oculus Rift and works quite nice and really gives you the sensation of the flight blocking off all external visuals of the room and looking around the cockpit and the windows. Really helps your orientation specially on landing approach just by looking out the cockpit windows left or right. The only drawback is that you can only play just several minutes through the O Rift since it can be nauseating and at one point I almost puked with the combination of sim motion and the Rift in your face screen. I ride the sim using the 24" LCD mounted and use the Rift once in awhile.

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Wiper Motor with pulley

A couple of trips to the local auto junkyard to collect wiper motors, pulleys and used fan belts. I had to find a good length belts to cover both the top and wiper motor pulleys.

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Roll Axis Pot

This is how I installed the potentiometer for the roll axis feedback. Purchased the pot and the pot knob at a local electronics store and mounted the knob to the caster with a glue suitable for plastic and metal. I used a thin piece of aluminum sheet to hold the pot in place but movable enough just in case i didn't glue the knob centric to the axis.

More details and photos Coming soon...

Software:
The interface I used is based on "Sirnoname" X-PID interface. Million thanks to him for his hardwork and detailed instructions and recommendations.
More details Coming soon...

[RacingMat]

Hello Patador!

Very well done! it's working: congratulations! It's such a pleasure riding its own simulator
Would you mind sharing a video?

and yes, sometimes days, weeks and years go very fast...
yours
Mat

[patador]

Thanks Mat. It does takes a lot of patience finishing this project. Yeah, I will post a YouTube video soon. I want to setup the NoLimits Rollercoaster. Have you done this setup? Anyone who has done this please send me info on how to configure. Thanks

Rob

[RacingMat]

Hi!
I'm not using "NoLimits Rollercoaster", sorry

You will find tutorials in this section: http://www.x-sim.de/software.php?lang=e ... umentation
yours