Simple Gear Box with PIC18F or Arduino

[kooky74]

Here is a tutorial to create a simple H gear box for your simulator.

The presentation is done with a PIC18F but can be adapted simply for any arduino board (If you need, ask me and I will help for this).

Step 1 : designing the top H with aluminium.


Step 2 : first make the 6 top holes and join them by cutting with a saw.


Step 3 : Weld a patella on a steel bar.


Step 4 : Create a box that will be the structure of the gearbox. Do not hesitate to make it STRONG...


Step 5 : Weld the bottom steel bar on the box.


Step 6 : Create a wood (or plastic) support for the 6 contacts that will receive the lever. My contacts are done with a magnet where a wire is weld.


Step 7 : Screw the wood support inside the box.


Step 8 : Place the top aluminium and prepare to screw it on the box.


Step 9 : Beginning of electronic part.



The principle is quite simple :

-In a main loop of the firmware, I am reading the status of the 8 pins of a port.
-Theses 8 booleans are then translate into ASCII code "1" for true and "0" for false.
-I then create a String containing the result and add a cariage return.
-This method is slower than simply sending the byte corresponding to the 8 bits directly but it is easyer to debug.
-Finnaly I get the entire string and send it throught an UART.
-I add a TTL / Serial port converter that get the UART signal and transform it to a virtual USB serial port to the PC.
-The PC will receive for example : "00010000\r" when the gear 4 is ON.

Step 10 : Creating the board.


Step 11 : Developping a USB serial port converter to Keyboard mapper. This solution is simple and easy to do. When the driver see the status of a gear changing, it sends equivalent keyboard key to the system.


Step 12 : Attaching the card on the bottom of the box.


Step 13 : Make a simple leather covering that will stay in place with the top aluminium screws.


Step 14 : This is how you want. When the system is finish you can buy a biutifull "head speed" or do like me : simply place a wood ball and place it on the main gear tube...


Step 15 : Installing the gearbox on your simulator and enjoy!


Notes :
Final product is about 1.8kg.
The driver is added at the windows startup. You can also "write" with your shifter because it sends keyboard keys

[dalantaibaatar]

Very nice, do you have more schem

[dennisnojack]

Wow. Great work....