Update: My 2DOF + homemade shifter

@kingh3 no offence mate but Pit and Seatime are trying to help me solving my issue with burning MMs, if we can keep that kind of discussion apart that would be nice You can find more detail on the hardware used on the first pages of this thread

@Pit & @SeatTime , if I recap, when mounting a new MM, I should:
- put less thermal paste to avoid short-circuits
- isolate my connections from the wood to avoid short-circuits
- better ventilate my electronic box
- if possible measure the max amps consumed by the motors
- ... ?

thank you.

I would also ensure the bottom of the circuit board under the main driver chip can breath, as it forms a major part of the boards heatsink. Either by leaving that area open, or putting the circuit card up on spacers. FI I have also mounted mine vertically with the heatsink fins facing up (similar to a CPU heatsink in a PC case) so I am not fighting thermal dynamics. Picky I know, but I have found if my heatsink fan stops for any reason (and I am using CPU fan/heatsinks!) it does not take long under load for the MMs to shut down - so their useable heat range is not that great. But then again it could be something else - which is why you may have to start measuring currents.

@SeatTime : I followed your advise (can only agree with you ), and placed the four MMs on spacers. It's not as efficient as having them vertical but certainly better than stuck to the bottom plate.

I have just reinstalled everything, with a new MM to replace the burned one and I come to the conclusion that I had two problems:
-overheating
-short circuit, probably due to the thermal paste that was going around the chip. I can't believe overheating literally get the chip to smoke like that...

After 30minutes playing on Nordschleife with the electronic box completely open, the four MMs are still cold

Here is an updated view of the rig (still have to build a proper box for the shifter):


The parameters currently in use (I may increase the PWMmax if I can maintain the MMs cold)


And a new video (pardon my bad driving...):

I would like to thank @Pit and @SeatTime for your help and good ideas that led me to solve my issue
I'll keep this post updated with future changes

To keep this post up-to-date, here is my rig today:

* Trackpad fixed next to the wheel, more convenient than moving a mouse on my legs

* Manual shifter in his box, attached to the seat itself so it moves with it and always stays at the same position for the driver:


* I was tired of moving the rig from one room to another, decided to leave it in the hobby room and equip it with three 40" screens




For those of you who aren't sure whether to invest in a three monitor setup or not...GO! Not only the immersion becomes a lot greater (even though I was on a 3m50 large projector screen before) but you will even gain shorter lap time Indeed it's a lot easier and more natural to drive when you see where you should head in a sharp curve...

Your last video you posted in April, Are you still running Those settings ? They look Massively overdone, and Very much unrealistic to the vehicle in question (McLaren F1)


PS I 100% agree, Big Screen's are Awesome. the level of immersion is right up there.

I believe I have reduced the motion since. At that time I was trying to find out why I was burning so many MMs and was doing different tests.

I'll post a new video soon.

Oh and by the way, my manual shifter still works like a charm, after hundreds of laps I can say it's not as fancy but probably more durable than most shifters on the market

Glad to hear the shifter is working as you planned.

Also Glad to hear you've toned it down a Bit. Most Race cars even f1's aren't THAT Big of movements under throttle and braking, let alone a Mclaren F1 Street car.

To help Tune the motion, Watch some Real Life Onboards of a Particular Car first, Watch the driver's head, Watch his Elbows for how much he's fighting the wheel/physics on his body. there's lots of Ques you can pick up from Onboards that directly translate over to our rigs.

Maybe post up your Axis % settings and your Tuning center and we can go from there.

PS If you want a Good Paddle shifter car to test with, Fire up the Zonda and play with the TC level's a Bit (Ctrl+T)

Thanks for your advises but no worries motion is good now I've spent some time to fine tune it and everything is alright now

A small video to waste your time

Sorry the sound is very bad, I only had my headphones working so I tried to put them close to the phone during recording...