3DOF - C1500´s first Sim Seat

Hi
First i want to send some greatings from the south of germay.

I´m just in the planing phase for my motionsim but i want to show you whats my idea.

Last winter i build my racing seat with normal light wight car-seat, a Logitech G29 and a lot of wood ;o)
It looks like this:


It makes a lot of fun to drive GT with VR on the PS4 but i´m missing the motion a lot
So i decided to go to the next level.

I found this forum, read a lot of information an started buying ;o)
Today a had the first time alle 3 motors running and thats the point, where i decided to show my setup here

It is :
- 12V 50A powersupply
- Arduino Uno with SMC3 in mode 2
- 3x 43A IBT-2
- 3x WG116 Motor

This Motor has 12V input 56rpm and ~95NM
This should be enough to lift my bu** a bit
The first Arms on the motor hav a length of 57mm so the maximum movement is 114mm

The next steps are a bit harder for me cause i´m not so familar with welding.
Elecrtonic is more a part of my live.

My plan is to make the first ride within the next half year

So i hope that i can get some help und suport of this forum

Kind regards
C1500

First there was the wish
Then came the idea
And only a few seconds later there was a big mistake
So, some more ideas later, i changed my idea from 3DOF to 6DOF

The biggest Problem with my 3DOF idea was the stability.
One option was the hinge in the middel, another option are gearboxes with 2 drive shaft for a stable lifting.
Both are not the ways i want to do it.

Then i found here the projekt from SilentChill
Thats exactly the want to do it.

So i ordert 3 more motors, 3 IBT-2 and 1 mor power supply
Also i ordert a lot of metal for the base and the rig.
A second Arduino is in stock

So, at the Moment no new Pictures, but bills ;o)

kind regard
C1500​

Hi

here is another update from my 6DOF construction.



I ordert a lot of metal for the base also M12 threaded bars and ball hitch
The base will be welded by a friend cause i don´t have
The top frame is tested actually with a wooden Frame.


The next three motors have arrived.
The mountingplates of the motors have been cuttet and drilled.
I used 8mm steel plate


The Potis for feedback are mounted to a Aluminium holder.
the contakt to the Motor is made by heat shrink tubing

The first Engin is running

Next step is to mount the motors to the base Frame

cu
Peer
​

Hi C1500,

first of all, good luck on your build! Seems like a promissing project.

I come from Brazil but currently I am living close to Munich, so it is interesting to know that someone around here is also building a simulator.
I am planing on starting my project next year and I always wondered the best places to buy stuff here in germany.

So I wanted to ask: Where did you buy these motors? Another thing, you are using one power supply for 3 motors? A lot of people recomend not doing that.... Did you run any load tests?

Best regards,
TheBrazilianGuy

Hi
sorry for some mistakes in my last post.
A friend will weld the baseframe cause i dont have a welding equipment.

Hi TheBrazilianGuy
There will be a lot more than 1 powersupply
This one is just the beginning
At the moment i´m researching about supercaps for peak current
I guess a combination of min. 2 powersupplys, a car battery and supercaps would be a good combination.

But yes, i know, the power is "still under investigation"

My first goal is a moving wood-frame

Kind regards
Peer

Sorry once again, it is to early i guess

@ TheBrazilianGuy:
The most parts i bought on ebay.
I don´t have a shop for the metal parts in my city. So sorry DHL and DPD for the high weight of my delivery’s.

Also the motors are from ebay.
I ordered this motors: LINK
Also the arms were delivered from this guy.

Kind regards
Peer

Hi C1500, thanks for the reply.

I'll move again in February, but after that my build will probably start. It is good to have already some buying options.

lol. I guess they don't mind... I think the mechanical parts will also be an issue for me when I start building.

That sounds like an interesting idea. I'll keep an eye on your progress to see what solution you will find.

Best regards,
BrazilianGuy

Hi

I calculated a little bit today
The motor has 120W @ 12V, so the "normal" current is about 10A
The interesting point is the current when the motor is starting.
This current can be much higher but only for a few milliseconds.
The idea is the use of big capacitors directly at the input of the IBT_2

Next Step is to measure the current directly at IBT_2 input and the mounting of the motors to the main-frame

Maybe I change to the really cheap DELL powersupplies, ~24€ each with 502W seams ok.

Kind regards
Peer

What a freaky day
i found new powersupplys for only 20€ each, so i ordered 6 of this one here:
Dell Poweredge 1950 Power Supply DPS-670CB A Z670P-S0

So hopefully this will be enough power for my 120W motors

But here ist also a new problem
I´ve tried to move slowly all 3 motors on one of the Arduinos.
On the Arduino is SMC3 1.0 and it is configured in mode2 cause of my 3 IBT_2 each i use.
For testing i started SMC3Utils v1.01
In the first trie, only Motor 3 is working.
Then i measured cabeling (no failures found) an restartet the whole system.
Now motor 1 and 2 are, lets say "controlable" but they work with completly different Settings.
Now my Question: Could this happen due to only one powersupply?
The current limit is not reached.
But why are not all 3 motors working at the same time?
Is there something else then mode1/2 to configure before flashing the Arduino?

Kind regards
Peer

Hi again C1500,

I'll start really carefull here and say that I never got to the point of testing any motors. I am working on wrinting my own piece of code for a microcontroller because I wanna try some new things and then I'll need to ajust everything manually in my code.
So all this was to say: I don't have experience in this thing! Don't have a clue how to use SMC3 either... lol

Buuuut, I have a feeling that the power supply has nothing to do with that, specially if you are driving the motors with no load and trying to move them slowly. What I saw people complaining is that if there is a problem with the supply, it just shutts off...

I my opinion, a weird behavior is way more likely to happen on the motor drivers. From the little I know, they need two PWM signals in some specifc way. I guess that is the mode 2 in SMC3. Anyhow, I could only say with some osciloscope measurements, which I guess would be hard to get... How are you actually measuring stuff?

I would be nice if some of the more experienced guys would appear around here to give you some hints.

Best regards

Good news
All 3 motors are running
The problem was that motor 3 was out of position limit.
I reduced the limit without watching the position of motor 3
So it runs into stop directly after powering up.

And yes, one powersupply is definitly to less power ;o)
Its OK for 2 motors or 3 very slow running motors.
But if there is a little bit of speed, the powesupply goes into overcurrent

So now i´m waiting for the welded main frame AND the power supplys

BTW: This is how i connected the Arduino and the IBT_2


Have a nice Christmas

Kind regards
Peer

Hi,
Sorry for the Xmas interruption

I got my main-frame back from welding. I drilled 24 holes for the motor-holder-plats.

Now it looks as follows:


Next step is cabeling the other 3 motors.
The first 3 are running very well.

I´m still waiting for the 6 power supplies.
One is definitely not enough

Cheers,
Peer

Once again a little update

I wanted to get a feeling how high this construction would become.
Therefore, I mounted the seat on the upper frame and put it very carefully on the lower construction.

Here is a first "impression"
I LIKE IT



regards
Peer

Hi,
Today the power supplies were delivered. The first test was extreamly disappointing.

I use 6 of these: "Dell Poweredge 1950 Power Supply DPS-670CB A Z670P-S0"

If I try a littel bit faster movements with "SimTools GameEngine - Output testing", lets say 15% of speed, the overcurrent protecton switches on, the powersupplies switch off and orange LEDs turn on.
Then I have to switch of the complete power supplyies and start them again.

@SilentChill : Have you modded the overcurrent protection?

Does anybody use the same power supplies?
Does anyone have an idea how to use the complete current of 54.4A of the power supplies?

Regrads,
Peer

This is why I switched to Chinese LED PSU's as they don't trip out. Server PSU's were always tripping out on me I did buy some diodes and also tried big Caps but just ended up getting the LED PSU's as someone else had used them with no issues.

Can you run them into a battery and see if they have some surge protection ?

Can you measure the voltage and see what is going on ?

Hi
They shut down completely and stay in this state until i power off the PSU.

@SilentChill: thanks for the hint.
My first and single PSU is one of these Chinese LED PSUs
The fan is horribly loud.
So i will mod the case and put some 92mm fans on for cooling.

More PSUs and also the fans are on the way.

More later...

Peer

Hi again
I have another question

Is there lets say "a best way" for sorting the 6 axis respectively the motors?
Clockwise or counterclockwise ?
Where to start?
In the driving direction?

Thanks for your help
Peer

have you got the motors running with the smc3 test program ?

make sure each one is working correctly

adjusting the + and - will make the motor turn clockwise or anticlockwise

Hi Gadget999
Yes, all motors are running in SMC3 test program

Sorry for the missunderstanding but my question was a little bit different.
i´ve made a graphic to explain my question

The motors are actually connected like this:


My question is: Which is the best way to sort the axis?
Here are 2 examples

1: sorted clockwise


2: rear to front


I know that i have to reconnect the motors when I change the axis.
But thats the no problem.

How did you connect the motors / axis ?

Kind regards
Peer