MWB 4 DOF Simulator

Hi,

I have been following this forum for some time now and about to start building my own 2 DOF simulator rig, mainly for Dirt Rally and Assetto Corsa. Though I would start my own Thread. I'm also using an Oculus DK2 so the sim seat should be the icing on the cake!!

I have but together a test rig (that works) and will post some pic's later.


Parts I have so far.

1x Arduino
2x IBT-2 43A High power motor driver module BTS7960B
1x DC 24V 15A 360W Power supply (may need a second depending on current)
2x 24v 3.3A 110RPM Invacare geared wheelchair motors
2x 10k Potentiometers
2x Flexible shaft couplings
2x Anti roll bar drop links


Parts I need.

1x Universal joint
1x Bucket seat

I will also need metal to make my frame.

That's all for now, any help is greatly appreciated

Mark

Hi Mark, looks great. Cheap and functional collection, as you already mentioned the PSU could be too weak to handle current peaks. Wish you success when tinkering your build, thread subscribed

Ok so it's been quiet a while since my last post, but I have decided to make some changes to my rig, and am now going to build a 4DOF

What realy got things kicked off was finding a pair of Invacare wheelchair motors on eBay, I had been hunting around for windscreen wiper motors for quite some time, but was not convinced that they would be up for the job.
I have seen some fantastic builds using them but I always planned to go 6DOF at some point and wanted to be able to upgrade. The motors are not perfect for the job but for £50 I'm happy to try and make them work, biggest problem is that there's only one output shaft From the gear box, so it 's going to be a bit tricky fitting the potentiometer to the same shaft as the arm, without the risk of the arm hitting the pot. The motors are 24V 110rpm and I think about 150W all the gears in the gear box are metal and they seem very robust.

Mock up of one of the motors connected to an IBT-2 H-Bridge/UNO R3 Arduino

Hi @MWB good luck with your build and where are you in the uk ?

Hi @Daguru Thanks, I'm from Egham Surrey. I've been working on this for some time now, been meaning to update my page.

Last night I managed to pop one of my IBT-2! On closer inspection it seems that one of the tracks underneath the heat sink had burnt out has anyone seen this before?
I have my suspicions that I may have put to much voltage into it, after looking it up max input voltage is 27v and I put 28v in

Anyway moving forward, I have a spare!! so another thing I noticed was that there was no thermal compound between the board and heat sink. I have a fan on the heat sink but I noticed when it was working that the power chips were running pretty hot. So off to Maplin I go!!

Back from Maplin with some goodies!!
Got some thermal compound

Also saw some small stick on heat sinks, every little helps!!


Thought they would be good to stick on the front of the power chips.

Yeah I've read first thing you do with those chips is unscrew the heatsink and thermal paste them up

Upgrade to the IBT-2 all done!
hopefully this will make them a bit more robust

Quick question, when changing the settings in SCM3, are the settings stored in the IBT-2?

No the ardiuno board only the voltage gets passed through the IBT-2

Thanks @Daguru seems like a silly question now! lol

Video of my motor test

This was the video that inspired me to build a 4DOF

Pics of the test rig I built for two motors, so that I can connect to Simtools with out having the motor roll around the bench.

I guess im late to the party, Was going to suggest you drill out the Motor shaft and thread in a bolt. but it seems you've found your Own Way to mount the feedback.

For reference or future builds, here's how i did the Feedback mount on the Motors in question.

https://www.xsimulator.net/community/threads/2dof-to-3dof-diy-seat-mover.5271/page-26

@MWB May I suggest you going straight to the Hall Effect Pots? You know, it's just a matter of time till you're buying them, cause the other pots will die sooner than later and before dying they won't work well and you'll regret you hadn't bought hall effects pots before (happened to me and to a lot of others too...)

Cheap useless stuff I got rid of:

@MWB I agree 110% with @Blame73 cheap pots are great for a base test but before you finish the rig get them ordered and fitted