Kermit Kong's 6DOF Project

Hi guys,

In the meantime I'm also finally arrived the 6DOF / Oculus world.
I want to show my 6DOF project and appreciate if anybody has some comments about it.

At first some pictures how the current development is going on. At a later stage I also want to share all my drawings and 3D models to the community.

Today I'd some time to wire the first motor control box. This box includes the power supply and H-bridge-driver PCB for two motors.




more is coming soon....

are you making a new pc for your sim (i saw a motherboard box in the pic) what pc are you making?

yep, already made a PC, i7, with MSI Mainboard, 16GB RAM, GTX1080 GFX, Oculus rift VR

Hi guys,


More pictures made...

At first, the Embedded HALL-Sensor end-switch for the servo lever. Just placed two neodymium magnets on the motor axis and used a HALL-Sensor for the detection.




The position Sensor is realized with an endless HALL-Effect Potemtiometer.




For safety reason I add some fans (used cheap 12V fan) to guarantee proper airflow to prevent over heating.


theres so much work in front of me, but I guess in few weeks I can ride the monster

All the electrical stuff is well assembled and everything is enclosed. So I guess next week I can start with first basic motion tests

Some pictures will follow ...

Looking good so far. Looking forward to reading your progress.

wow, so big !, i'm not sure whether this monster fits into my hobby-room :-D

if everthing runs smoothly, i will start with basic motion setup by next week.

I have a similar problem, but lucky to have the Wife agree to that .

ah yeah !, same here, but i have to pay twice, means if i take 500 bugs to make something for my motion seat, also have to spend 500 bugs for her ! Thats the deal man !

Hi @kermitkong very nice work like a awful lot of guys here we appreciate the work required to build a 6DOF platform , well done ,
You knew there would be questions ( were all hungry for Info and not embarrassed to ask LOL ) so can I ask what make of controller Your using for your project and the Motor Spec .. I may be totally wrong but they look like DC permanent Magnet type ?? Sorry if I missed that info if you already mentioned it elsewhere

Hi @wannabeaflyer2

I'm using the roboclaw 2x60A motor driver (3 boards for 6 motors). The motors are permanent magnet DC 24V /490W motors (50 bugs on eBay each)

The controller is my own development, it's based on a ATMega1280 CPU

This board handle up to 6 motors and has a capability to monitor up to 6 HALL-effect end-switches,

I'm using 24V/100A power supply's in combination with 2x 22000uF/40V capacitors.
Each power supply drive two motors.

Hi @kermitkong just to say thanks for the Info and great to know that the DC motors can work with the reduction gearbox pushing my luck here but what size Reduction gearbox did you select , You Posted that its 25:1 gear ratio but was it a size 25 , 50 , or size 75 gear box ? See i told you we ask a lot of questions LOL its all good background information ...best part is your showing the use DC motors with these gearboxes most times they are fitted with AC motors, so your project gets very interesting for a lot of guys, that would prefer DC to AC for the smaller sized Platforms.. just to say for posting this project and the Info

Hi @wannabeaflyer2

These's motors make 1800RPM and I use a gearbox ratio of 30:1. gearbox size is 040 (50 bugs each). I guess these are strong enough. Servo lever and some other parts are CNC made. All 3D files and drawings are available on request. So should be easy to reproduce.

Hi @kermitkong once again thanks for the info I added some cad drawings to my DIY Linear Actuator Thread and as I love looking at the way people design stuff i'll be checking here regular as clockwork

problems with the Roboclaw 2x60A Motor-driver,

if they get RC-PPM signal on both channels at the same time, then the internal CPU of the roboclaw hangs (firmware bug I think) and the motors are running unexpetly :-( only a shut down/restart helps at the moment :-(

I trying to find a fix ! Is a real HACK !

I changed the length of the rods from 600mm to 400mm. I think this length fits better to the rest of the beast.
One side has a left-handed thread the other side has a right-handed thread.

Hi Kermitkong, very nice job. and seems not that much money is needed
I didn't know gearboxes like these were available for 24 V DC motors
Could you please give us a link, you re From Germany aren't you? You found them on ebay de ?

Hi @accelero

I will share the complete BOM with the community including all 3D-drawings.
So please keep tuned.

The motors were bought from eBay.
And yes these are 24V DC brushed motors.
Quite strong with 490W max. Power consumption .

Yes, I'm from Germany...

Yody ,

1st real movement test, directly controlled by the SimTools Engine