My 2dof project for $200 and NO welding (+$100 for Traction Loss + $200 for G-seat)

Hello all, I'm starting a 2dof racing sim project with a budget of $200 and NO welding. (I have later determined to add Traction Loss with a budget of $100. Later in the thread [page 4], there is also added a H-shifter for $20 and a G-seat for $200).

I have an Oculus Rift VR that has been sitting on the shelves for a good half-year, and when I discovered VR racing, I was hooked! I put my Aura shakers to my racing cockpit, and the immersion was even more real (although I don't have Simvibe). However, the turns made me nauseous, as I am very prone to motion sickness in VR. The solution? Make a 2dof simulator!

My limitations:
- low budget: around $200
- no metal soldering tools or skills (although I can do electrical soldering)

What I have already:
- Oculus Rift VR headset ($400)
- VR capable PC with 970 gtx ($400)
- Playseats Racing Simulation Cockpit ($60)
- Fanatec Porche Turbo S Wheel, shifter, and pedals ($60)
- Aura shakers with amp ($60)
- Basic wood-working tools

Parts purchased so far:
- 2 Motors: Volvo S40 2004 Wiper Motors USED on ebay - total $40
I picked these because they already have the motor arm on them and they have a large mounting bracket.
- Pivot Mechanism: Mustang drive shaft with 2 universal joints on Craigslist - $25
- Power Supply: DPS-600PB server power supply on ebay - $16
(only 1 since the wipers are probably low-powered)
- Arduino Board: knockoff brand on Amazon with some wires, etc - $8
- Monster Moto Shield: I got 2 (1/2 boards) off Amazon because the cheaper combined one would take too long to ship from China. The extra $10 hurts... $20
- Potentiometers: 5pcs Single turn 10k - $8


Total so far= $117
I have $83 left

Need to purchase:
- heatsinks and heatsink tape for the boards (waiting, since I don't know the CPU size on the boards)
- metal rods and end ball joint (I think I have to wait until I figure out the arm size on the motor)
- coupling for the pots (I have no idea how I'm going to put the pots on)
- I have a medium-sized 12v fan (smaller than PSU fans)
- Wood

I am waiting for my orders to ship -- but in the meanwhile, I'll be working on modifying the universal joint from the drive shaft

I've uploaded the pics of my current set-up

Am I missing anything? Do I have the wrong parts? Any thoughts or suggestions?

Today I worked on the pivot mechanism.

I bought a Mustang drive shaft off Craigslist for $25.
Procedure:
- This is kind of like what I have:

- Take off one end base of the u-joint because it has 4 holes for securing it under my racing cockpit.



OK, now that this base piece is off, I can work on the other end.
Taking off the other end of the drive shaft that has the u-joint. This has a proper-length shaft.

Take out the pin and hammer in so that the other side pops off

Here is the shaft end taken off

- the base and and the shaft end pictured together

combine the ends together on the u-joint to form the pivoting mechanism.


Finished for now!
I need to attach the top to my cockpit base using wood and screws
I need to make a wooden base and drill a tight-fitting hole for the shaft to rest on. I will also try to drill a hole on the shaft and nail it so that I can prevent it from wiggling left and right.

That's it for today

Next, I'm making the wooden holder that will secure the pivot mechanism in place.

I layered some 2x4 pieces, glued them, then drilled a large hole in it


Here it is next to the pivot mechanism


I had to spend some time to make sure that it was a perfect and tight fit. Here is the final result


It is snug and secure!
Next up is making the wooden frames

Hello! First of all, thank you for your input and help
I think your concern is that the u joint will swivel because there is nothing to hold it in place?
I thought about 3 solutions. 1) drill the wood and the U joint shaft and put in a bolt through both (i think this was your suggestion) or 2) put in wood pieces right next to the U joint so that it has no space to swivel, or 3) nail in large nails (4) vertically down right next to the U joint so that it does not swivel.

I guess your suggestion would be the most solid choice (but the most time consuming)? IF there is as much pressure there as you mention it, it sounds like it's worth the time?
What do you think about the other choices?

Looking forward to watching this build, I also did a "no-weld" lower budget build recently!
If you want to reference mine to learn from my mistakes check it out: https://www.xsimulator.net/communit...-mover-on-homebrew-ricmotech-rs1-clone.10377/

I hope you have better luck sticking to your budget than I did! Have fun with it, this community is great

For the universal joint, here's what I did, all you'd need is a duplicate of the yoke you already salvaged to make things more compact:

hi @armpit where did you get the UV from ? looks like a good design

2x https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00IVQPU5A/
1x https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000CKN762/

Follow up on my thread if you have questions, I don't want to derail Qlittles thread!

Ah, i see, that would be an elegant solution -- thank you for the help!
however, seeing that the cost of the part is more than 10% of my budget, i think i'll have to do a workaround for now. maybe later, when i've tinkered with it, i can do some upgrades.
nice build by the way -- way more pro than my hack-job

i've opted to go with your advice and drill a hole in the pivot shaft, and additionally to put wooden blocks on the sides:


drilled hole

the bolt will go through the wood into the shaft.
and i put wooden blocks on the sides for enforcement

this is a noob question: how do i edit my title? i meant no "welding", not no "soldering"... and i have opted to add traction loss (which decision i now regret, but i've already bought the parts...)

At the top of your thread above the first post but below the title, you'll find "Thread Tools" off to the right, click it and you'll get what you need

Thank you mucho!

I've purchased more things.

Here is the initial list and how much they were:

Parts purchased at the beginning:
- 2 Motors: Volvo S40 2004 Wiper Motors USED on ebay - total $40
I picked these because they already have the motor arm on them and they have a large mounting bracket.
- Pivot Mechanism: Mustang drive shaft with 2 universal joints on Craigslist - $25
- Power Supply: DPS-600PB server power supply on ebay - $16(only 1 since the wipers are probably low-powered)
- Arduino Board: knockoff brand on Amazon with some wires, etc - $8
- Monster Moto Shield: I got 2 (1/2 boards) off Amazon because the cheaper combined one would take too long to ship from China. The extra $10 hurts... $20
- Potentiometers: 5pcs Single turn 10k - $8
Total = $117

More stuff purchased:

Wood - $2
2x2 wood - 8 ft $2
MDF board - $7.50
2 framing anchor $1
rod - 24 inch $8
heim ball joint x2 = $24
nuts and bolts = $10
Cobalt metal drill bit - $4**
3 inch wood screws - $4.50**
Wood screws = $5**
¼ drill bit - $4**

Subtotal = $72
$117 + $72 = $189
Total for 2DOF = $189

So far, the 2DOF is under the budget of the $200 target

**items people probably already have

Then, I had the idea of getting traction loss. I bought the parts, but now I regret it...

wood 2x4 - 8 ft $4
swivel caster - $3
caster wheels- $7
wheelchair motor - $40
motoboard - $10
heim joint - $12
threaded rod - $8
metal piece (to hold the pot) - $1
nuts and bolts - $5

Cost for Traction Loss = $90

The reason why I regret adding Traction Loss is because I think it'll be difficult work, and I'm not sure how much impact it'll have. I think it might have been easier if I used that money to buy simvibe... oh well, maybe when simtools gets that shaker upgrade, i wouldn't have missed out.

I've made the top board and the bottom frame for the Traction Loss that swivels:

Here is the underside of the top board. I put 2 wheels for movement and a caster wheel on the left for swivel.

I pulled the wheel out of the caster wheel

Here is the bottom frame

This is where the caster wheel will fit on the bottom frame

Here is the board, the pivot holder, and the bottom frame put together:

if you look carefully, where the wheels meet the bottom frame, i put a 2 pieces of laminate boards to make the surface smooth.

it swivels, but when i put about 50 lbs of weights, it takes quite a bit of force to move it.
i hope the wheelchair motor is up to the task.
i even thought maybe i need to buy skateboard wheels, as they are made to move with much weight on them (because of ball bearings)? idk

Wow this is taking shape fast!

I'm inclined to agree that you need wheels with ballbearings, but that caster swivel looks like it may be undersized for the load that will be on it, too.
I've personally never done traction loss so take me with a grain of salt but it's in my future plans; I've seen a few heavier builds around the internet where they use boat seat swivels like this http://amazon.com/attwood-17720-Attwood-Boat-Swivel/dp/B001O0D6SI that would probably be able to handle the weight better without binding up IF you find the caster is your bottleneck there.

ah! thank you again for your help. atm, i'm not sure what is causing the friction, but it doesn't seem to be the caster wheel (with only 50lbs so far). however, once i sit on the chair, i think it will become apparent where the problem lies. the main weight is away from the caster, so i tried to incline the board towards the front. if it ends up being the caster wheel, i have you to thank for a great solution that most importantly fits by budget

Next small step: putting the pivot mechanism on the bottom of the racing sim seat frame.

I attached a 3/4 inch MDF to the bottom of the racing sim frame

Next, I attached the top of the pivot mechanism to the bottom of the board (of course, after finding out the center of gravity)

Finally, I attached the Aura Shaker to the bottom as well. I'm not sure if this is the best spot, but it is the easiest spot for it.

oh man, i only have an hour here and another hour there to work on this project... this project is going too slow and starting wear down my enthusiasm hoping i can keep it up to the end...

Next, i'm installing the wheelchair motor (I got the wheelchair motor off ebay for $40)

First, i'm sawing off the bolts except one, where the heim joint will attach to

I bolted the motor to the base (kinda hard to see)

I attached the pot to a piece of metal, but also sawed off the pot end because it was too long

this is how the pot will attach to the motor (it will be upside down)

just in case something goes wrong and the arm goes against the metal bar, i attached the metal bar with Velcro... i will also use some rubber bands to keep the pressure on the pot.
next, although the motor is bolted to the base, i put extra wood pieces to keep it in place

here is a zoomed out pic

and here is the close-up of how the arm and the pot are positioned

hmmm.... for those with experience, what is the likelihood that the arm will go outside its parameters and swing 360 degrees, knocking off the pot?
i thought of another solution, to put the pot at an entirely different place, but then the pot will only turn maybe 50 degrees...
another solution is to put a pot that spins infinitely at the back of the motor (where the break used to be), but i don't have such a pot, and i'm not sure which one to order (the pot has to be able to spin more than 10 times)
i even thought maybe i can use lego wheels to make the pot turn only once, but lego wheels produce a noisy sound....

any ideas? or is this good enough? I have about 2 extra pots...