6DOF Work in progress

Thought it was time to start a thread. Have been reading so much since I tried a very basic sim at Formula1 this year. This forum is a wealth of knowledge that it almost makes building one of these seem simple LOL.

So after much reading I opted to use @wannabeaflyer2 DIY linear actuator setup. I've received a bunch of goodies as well. Didn't realize how much this costs with the crappy USD to CAD Exchange rate.

Guess I could call it Christmas in July.

Openbuilds belt


Openbuilds switch with mounting plates

Gear pulleys

Ballscrew to motor coupler

Cheap Chinese linear guide and 1605 ballscrew

Box of ballscrews

Mini mockup out of plexiglass to make templates for easier production and all the parts acquired thus far including
20x60 openbuilds linear rails
32x2 sabertooth
Bk12 ballscrew base




I'm likely to have a million questions once I move and can start building.

Thanks to @wannabeaflyer2 @SilentChill @Pierre Lalancette as these were largely the threads and videos that drove me to this madness.

I hope the kickstarter campaign for the AMC controllers pans out as I have yet to source that.
I also am having trouble picking a good motor. I seem to think these amp flow e130 motors should fit the bill. Any advice or recommendations?

I also forgot to mention @SeatTime as well for his thread

Yeah he was the one who started all this madness lol

Got to working this afternoon and whipped up the first linear actuator in rough form. Took me about 6 hours to drill and plan it all out.

Great work! All the best with your build.

Any help with motor selection

This seems to be an option to me SLT86BLF55 model

It's the middle column motor 565w

@beng2k
Depending on your body weight and the weight of the upper frame, I would think that 565W may be a bit on the high side. Over engineering is OK but once you start drawing more than 32A or you go to 24V the driver board selection comes into play. So it might be best to consider the motor and driver board at the same time. @SilentChill and @wannabeaflyer2 diverged at this point with Craig going for 2x60 Sabertooths and batteries whereas @wannabeaflyer2 stuck with 2x32 and resistors.

You really need to read both of their threads carefully and weigh up the pros and cons of both approaches before you buy the motors.

Hello @beng2k. Sorry we all brought you into this simulator construction madness, fellow Canadian.

If you read my thread, you came across this:

https://servotak.eu/tools/engineering_calculator

I tried to remember/understand the way to calculate all this, using an inclination on 75 degrees and a load of 45 kg. Please, verify everything again as I am wrong most of the time.



So, if I did not do anything wrong, you need 250 W of power, so you are covered with the 565 W. All torques are well below the 1.8 n-m rated torque of your motor. But the 0.667 Ideal Gearbox Ratio raise a warning into my head that I may have overlook something. Let's hope someone more qualify takes over my calculation and give you all the right info.

Anyway, welcome and good luck with your build. It already looks awesome.

Got busy with the drill press today

@beng2k Great stuff!
Some have found that the motor couplers you have got snap pretty easily. For this reason I went for the 'Plum' couplers with a polyurethane core. Just a thought

Can you use a brushless DC motor with the sabertooth?
I have no clue, but afaik usually brushed dc motors are used with sabertooths


/edit: on the DimensionEngineering page i found this for the sabertooth 2x32:
"Easy speed/direction control for pumps, conveyors, automation and any application that uses two brushed DC motors"

So no BLDC possible!
Also found this short video that shows, that it's not working. In the comments it's also explained.

Great. Thanks for the input. Could I run the 2x32 @ 24v with a battery. Reason being I bought these before thinking and noticing the change in silentchills build when he went to 2x60s.

Most motors seem to give specs on alibaba when used at 36v. Should I effectively reduce rated rpm and torque by 1/3 if operated at 24v?

A great tool to play with i calculated everything in excel

Some points to consider:
The "traveling weight" is the axial load on the ballscrew, not the load from the top (~(your weight+rig weight)/6). so if your actuators have an angle γ of 45° (what could happen if your platform goes completely down) you will be able to lift not45 kg but only sin(45°)*45kg=31,8kg. So you Motor has to lift more than 40 % more than the load from the top. This is the first point.

The second point is the gear box
No one would you a gearbox with an linear actuator. The "ideal gearbox ratio" is given because of the difference of your ballscrew pitch, rpm of motor the wanted linear speed. If you enter the right values, the "ideal gearbox ratio" is 0. You have your ball screws with 5 mm pitch. If you have your motors, you can calculate your linear speed: rpm [1/s]* pitch [mm] = Speed [mm/s]. so for 3000 rpm you'll get a linear Speed of 250mm/s and for 4500 rpm -> 375 mm/s.

The angle γ for your calculations should be the lowest for you rig, since there is the biggest load for the Motors. And for the construction you should set γ as big as possible But not too high, because you'll lose the way in sway and surge direction



The 36v question: you already bought some 36V pmdc motors?

Progress has slowed. Bought a new house so lots to keepe busy including my home automation projects.

I have ordered motors similarly spec'd as the parvalux motors being used from China. Well see how they do.

Finally built the main actuator arms. I did run out of nuts on the last arm but I now live 45 mins from town so not as easy to get things now.

Here are my completed arms minus the motors. Started to mount some limit switches and working on sourcing the shaft components and joints next.

Bought a new PC for the project but still need a video card good enough for the Oculus. Thinking GTX1070 right now.

More updates

Bought a GTX1070 and Rift. Got the Rift for a great deal $400CAD used. Even with a no motion setup it's insanely fun.


Been practicing my F1 Rally and Drifting lol (I do drift in real life)

Built the base mostly and looking at options to fix the arms to the base. Should to u joint be fixed at both end or can they rotate on a rod and not be fixed to the rod. Ie dropping the u joint between the base and arm without actually fixing the u joint to the rod sitting on the base

Do you guys think that a 30mm OD 28mm ID carbon tube will be strong enough or should I get a 28mm OD 26mm ID to bond them together?

I'm also curently looking for a way to attach my actuators to my base. @Hoddem offered me a solution that could be useful to you if you have a 3D printer (or get access to one).

6 DOF from scratch

You can get the files here.

6 DOF from scratch

For the size of the carbon tubes, most simulator use 22mm-25mm. A bit more thick. You should test them first with a load other than yourself.

HAHA, Who does that.

Project is looking good...so is the R33 @beng2k

Me: You should test them first with a load other than yourself.

Of course, no one. Still, listen to me, and not someone who said on my thread:

"They are very heavy and have stood up to my extremely scientific can I stand on it test with no flex."