Showroom New 3DoF built

Following along with @Halloween2go s new built I'm trying to copy his and adding a few things to make it work for my environment. Today was a productive day and I've gotten the bottom and middle frame mostly done. Still needing some parts here and there though, but since its a winter project I'm not much in a hurry.

I will need mine to be mobile so it will be on caster and if possible also work for some flight sim stuff.

I'm not a great welder yet, but I'm pretty good at grinding so that comes in handy.

I wonder what options folks have been using for seats (beyond the basic Jegs one that I have seen). Speccing out a Jegs with padding / cover gets you close to some of the other options out there. For instance will seats like this work or is the weight a concern ? https://www.ebay.com/itm/385096840290

Hi Mate,

Aw wicked we are building the same one at the same time haha,

I've just ordered my seat from ebay Its a Bride copy fixed back fiberglass seat, It should be fine weight wise as the pivot is directly below your butt

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1744242...ZRyqpiTjEpWFgg%3D%3D|ampid:PL_CLK|clp:2047675

What motors and electronics are you going to use?

I look forward to seeing how yours comes along!!

Cheers
Dave

Yay .. another one. It's hard to figure out all the measurements though but it's getting there.

I am using these motors which you might be able to find in your neck of the woods. The electronics will be simple arduinos. I had a few laying around already. With some luck I get the metal work done in the next week or two.

Yeah it was a little hard haha,

Yeah nice I've got almost all of my electronics, My control box is built, and i have the motors and pots ready to go!

If you want to check out where I'm at you can follow along with mine here:

https://www.xsimulator.net/community/threads/rav3ns-2dof-with-tl-compact-full-frame.15289/

I'm stuck waiting for my seat to arrive and then ill smash it out got messed around by an online retailer for nearly two months (sold me something that wasn't actually in stock)!! gave up and cancelled the order the last week and spent a little extra and ordered the fake Bride, It shipped this morning, Can't wait until its here!!! then i can smash out the top frame YAY

I'm also making my uni joint bolt able and the changing the front pivot to bolt able as I'm going to get mine powder coated rather than paint it

Look forward to seeing your progress!!!

Cheers
Dave

The boltable u-joint is a good idea. I don't want to mess with going to a junk yard, I can built my own double flanged u-joint for not much money using some parts. Less time as well than driving out.

Basically going to take 2 of these with 2 u-joints. With shipping I'll be in under 50 USD. The GBP is so favorable these days and often companies there ship faster to the US than you'd buy it from a US vendor.

I found some seats that will work and are likely a little bit more comfortable than the Jegs at only marginally more cost.

Lookin good.. The driveshaft I purchased had two U joints.. So one is on my old 3dof.. the other one I am putting on the compact rig.. $20 bucks.. I thought that was a bit high. Also regarding the seats.. I chose the plastic one from Jegs cause it weights about the same as my Kirkey aluminum one.. 11-12 pounds.. The Blue seat I have weighs maybe 28 or 30 pounds with the adjustable rails.. You just get better motor response with a more uncomfortable light weight seat.. The races I do are like 20 min long and practice is about an hour.. I dont really notice the 'extra' padding but everyone is different.. and the Plastic Jegs has no modification for ergonomics other than the 15 degree rake.. *might be 15 degrees?* DMAX

That seems fair...my plan is to do more long distance (GTR/Le Mans) so comfort is important for me. The nice thing about a build like this is that you can always make changes later.

I am also starting with the controller box. I have a few older server power supplies laying around and they should be able to provide adequate power to everything. I have started to dismantle them and they should just be able to fit nicely into this enclosure together with the rest of the electronics.

Either this is going to be brilliant or it will suck horribly. I am going to need to move my simulator around in my shop to make room occasionally for other projects so fixed ain't going to cut it. I hope these wheels will do the trick (they can be locked into place). The pivot hinge I got for the front is too tall so needing to source another one to fix that. Waiting for the seat to come in on Tuesday so that I can start figuring out seating layout and more. Not a bad day of progress.

I used wheels like that on mine but the shaking and movement was off putting when using the sim so i removed them. But if thats what you need to do I guess you just put up with it. Nice work!

Seat and the parts for the u-joint arrived today. Since the seat frame will be balanced (and I'm not a heavy person), I picked a little bit more comfortable seat over the lowest weight possible. Mocked it up a bit with the seat belts in my shop over lunch. I considered time + gas to drive to a nearby junk yard to find a driveshaft and it was easier, faster and cheaper for me to just buy 2 u-joints + yokes from the UK to the US west coast. Besides that they give me some spare parts for the blue Land Rover in the background if I ever need them. This weekend will be figuring out seating position / ergonomics before building the overall seat frame.

That seat sure does look confortable... nice work

Thanks. It is super comfortable bit still gives great support. I am mostly going to race vintage GT so a hard-core seat just wasn't on my wish list. It's a little heavier but I am not a heavy guy so it all evens out.

On the other plus side, I got the bottom frame done and painted. Maybe I will regret it but I wanted to protect it during the colder and wet season and using some bedliner to also hide some minor imperfecions. I am making a few tweaks vs @Halloween2go 's build but that's what this is all about. He is a good inspiration.

Made more progress today. Fabricated the seat frame and welded it all together. The frame will be removable from the cockpit frame for portability. With some luck I can spend a few more hours tomorrow sorting out the rest of the cockpit frame.

Drilled out the mounting holes with a few to be able to move the seat for balance. This seat can be manually adjusted but it still gives a few options moving forward.

Didn't get as far as I wished on the cockpit part though.

I know the welds look shitty at the moment but once everything is fully mocked up I will work on cleaning them up more.

Progress today. Had no meetings in the afternoon so mocked up the pedal section. Tested it out with the seat on it and it's pretty much perfect. I can slide the seat on its sliders so easily to adjust to a comfortable spot. My christmas present came early as well in a Fanatec pedal set which will replace the old trustmaster ones.

Maybe I will get close to finalizing the cockpit this weekend.

Pfew .. glad @Halloween2go posted another video today as I was catching and getting worried. It answered a few of my questions that I had so thank you. I mocked up the front cockpit part and its where mine is a bit different for accessibility to get in and out, that said a few more cross braces to be put in. I did run out of steel tubing though and being real frugal I am in at about 60ft of it right now for those that are planning to build the same.

Tack welded it all in place and refitted everything for fit and layout. It's darn near perfect. Next up is getting the balance point sorted which means putting the proper Fanatec pedals on for weight.

Once the additional steel comes in I will fab an additional angle brace on the long uprise and the u joint mount. Lots of fun progress as it's starting to become visible.

Mocked up the layout of the gearshift and real pedals I am gonna use. Still fits. The balance still checks out. I also found a spot for the thing in my shop when I am not using it. Will need to get rid of a 50 ton press but I am not using it anyways. The pedal mounting plate also will do its job with the fanatec pedals fitting perfectly.

These 50 dollar ebay shifters are actually really nice and solid. Needed to fab up a mount but it's perfect. Worth the money.
The pedal mou t plate for the fanatec pedals also fits like a glove.