Showroom Full DIY 4DOF with TL and SURGE

Hi all,

I would like to start sharing the build journey of my SFX100 style motion rig, with "baby" actuators, which proofs to be cheaper by £250/€300/$337 per actuator.

I am a liquid filtration engineer with extensive knowledge in electro-mechanics and fabrication with medium level of CAD but very little to none PC and gaming experience.

I have followed this community for almost a year before i decided to join and i would like to thank everyone for sharing ideas and knowledge. So there might be silly questions asked on the way

At the moment i am 9 days through the build with a huge number of parts on order , due to be delivered within a week from today, 74 hours of printing (at the moment) on 2 printers with 200+h to come, as i am designing more parts daily.

Below you can see a sample of the ally profile i will be using and some printed parts that will be the slider assembly (150mm travel).

Got the profiles delivered late yesterday and started tapping and smoothing up the edges today. Also both 3d printers are running full gas, hopefully i can finish the actuators parts in the next couple of days.

More progress to follow.

brother. You use that controller!

Thanks for the suggestion, but i intend to use AMC controller for this, i have one on the way, mainly because of it's ease to use and because is well built and stable.

All the internals and externals for actuators have been printed now (- the motor/actuator coupling housing which will take 12 hours each).

Also have designed the surge and TL axis drive side and non drive side of the linear movement part.

very good I will be following your project looking forward to the result of the actuators, which motors and drivers will be used?

Can you please write in english, as I do not understand what you are trying to say. Sorry for this.

sorry for the language I ended up copying the untranslated part in google translator and I didn't even notice, I just corrected it

80st-M02430 and AASD 15A servo drivers, controlled by @Thanos AMC AASD15A motion controller.

Got the profiles delivered today to build the rig, all nicely cut and packed accordingly. I need to place another order fairly soon for some more 4040 profiles to build a subframe for TL as at the moment the budget is low as I have already spent 2000£+ on parts.

Also i had planned to get the actuators fully assembled last weekend but due to wrong threads that have been cut on the ballscrews (M12x1.5 instead of M12x1 to fit the locking nut of the FK12 support bearing) it has been slightly delayed , as i had to order M12x1.5 half nuts (from ebay UK) which are not lockable but I will loctite them with the green one which is the strongest of all the thread locks from that range.

I have decided to start working on the surge mounting plates this weekend (have actually started yesterday, friday after work and ended up in the garage until 11 at night) with some major hickup but easy to fix. Reason for that is, that the 3"x3" ally angle profile is not true 90⁰, in fact is missing 1.6⁰ from becoming true and this would affect how the linear guide blocks would slide onto the HGR20 rail (3.2⁰ overall deflection which would damage the linear blocks in no time). Anyway sorted that out by adding grubscrews which will act as "tensioners kinda spacers " to push away the top end of the profile and form a true 90⁰ between the extruded profile and the lower end of the 3x3.

The surge frame will be sliding on 8 linear guide blocks Hiwin HGH20CA with 400mm long HGR20 rail giving me 200mm travel (100 front 100 back), all of these being connected with 3d printed parts and bolts.

Most of the important part of the rig is all assembled now and it moves really easy and smooth. Still waiting on the M12x1.5 half nuts but i have also ordered from a different seller on ebay, same nuts and it should be delivered tomorrow, in order to start assembling the actuators.
At the moment i am printing the last servo motor coupler housing for the actuators, followed by the Drive/Non-drive side end plates, main body and adapter flange for the traction loss axis.

The linear guide blocks, I have packed them with grease and also the seals are stiff-ish, this is why they stay in position (see photo) considering is on the vertical.

Finally got the actuators assembled (without the servos at the moment). They have been lubricated with silicone grease on the inside and the ballscrew with normal grease.

Parts for the TL have also been printed. The ballnut housing main body has been printed with 100% infill , 8 perimeters and 12 top/bottom layers at 0.2 layer height.

Gorgeous man! How much throw will you have on the actuators?

170mm but I will start gradually at 100mm see how it feels, ramp up to 150 and see how that feels like.

Wow! Looking forward to seeing it move!

Finally back at it, after building and partitioning the kids bedroom for an ensuite bathroom, fully plumbed and tiled, time to carry on working on the sim rig.

Initially i wanted to have the sim sitting on a 25mm MDF board as a base with separate built enclosure (out of mdf or chipboard) for the electronics with a thick bunch of cables going to it. I was skeptical about it from the first time i had this thought as i have very bad OCD for cable management and books .

So, having some timber left from the ensuite bathroom build, i decided to make a platform 260mm in height, stain it ebony black, on wheels so that i can move the sim around for housekeeping purposes mainly and also in the eventuality i need to make space for something temporarily, I could move the sim around. And the main bonus i can put all the electronics inside in a custom made enclosure with lid and all the cables will go by the chassis nicely and straight.

Ordered more extrusion to build the TL suframe which i am waiting for the delivery today at some point.

I am planning to assemble the surge and TL axis this weekend and possibly assemble the TL subframe.

Got some more done over the bank holiday weekend. Made the TL subframe, mounting plates for castor wheels and actuator footcups and assembled the Surge axis+fitting but not fully connected to the surge subframe yet as i need to print some more parts as i have changed something in the very last minute before starting to fabricate the connection rods between surge swivel point and chassis.

More work has been done. Mainly woodwork as i am waiting for some parts from aliexpress and there is covid outbreak again in China , so "not so soon boy"

Huge issue encountered with the caster wheels for the TL subframe, beign very clicky and feeling really square when spinning with only the weight of the TL frame itself.

Long story short, got refunded by Amazon, bought another set, different brand same size, received them and they were the exact same design with the exact same problem. I have decided to take the wheels apart and see the state of the bearings and guess what, they were absolutely shot (considering the casters were brand new).

It turns out there is a little shaft which goes inaide the 608 bearing to conver 8mm ID of bearing to 6mm hole for bolt (see photos) and that shaft is getting flared by a punch press i believe at one or maybe both ends whilst is inserted on the bearings, which is damaging the inner race of the bearing. Ordered SKF's with 6mm ID which turned out more than the price of the casters set itself (and now i am waiting to get them delivere)

Finally got a ton of parts (one other ton still needed ) mainly bits and bobs from aliexpress, few electricals from ebay uk etc.

Managed to attach the surge onto the rig fully assembled, got the TL axis assembled, electrical cabinet enclosure built and traced down for slotted trunking mounting and DIN rails.

More progress to follow this bank holiday weekend.