Question Need Motor etc. Recommendation for Large 2DOF Model T Car Sim

Hi all, @yobuddy suggested I make a public post. I hope I did this in the correct place.

We are building a 2DOF simulator of a Model T car. The car body (shell) and 2 passengers (driver and passenger) who are both sitting on the same bench seat are riding in the car. We're making a fake car shell. The game engine video is running on a rear-projected screen in front of the car. The driver will be driving the streets of Chicago 1920, and the passenger will be firing at the screen with his Tommy Gun and shooting NPCs and windows and barrels and the like via UE5 (our custom program).

The issue is, we know that we need stronger motors because of the total weight of about 1000 lbs. (300 lbs. per person and 400 lbs for the shell of the car). The car doesn't travel over 30mph, so it can be clunkier than a "real" racing sim. We wish to position the two motors at the rear of the vehicle left and right, in what seems to be rather common 2DOF configuration.

We've been looking at 1.5 to 2HP 220V motors with a worm gearbox of 1:50 ratio, VFDs (variable frequency drives) and then we have to tack on 10k pots somewhere and find appropriate mechanical linkage and get SMC3 working on an Arduino- we haven't found/purchased these things though and we and YoBuddy haven't found on Ebay quite the right thing (or at least as far as we know).

So we could use suggestions from the expertise of the community in picking motor size, gearboxes, drivers or VFDs and encoders (or pots), and linkage! Yes we could go to moving the driver and passenger seat separately inside a car shell that's mounted to the ground - we know this and don't want to do this - so please don't bother suggesting that. I'm ok with stepper motors or AC motors or DC motors, but I assume that we need motors that can move 500 lbs. in about a half second (one on each side).

I hope I'm not forgetting anything - any assistance is very much appreciated - we have about 3 months to weld this thing up and get it running and we have other things to do outside this simulator at the same time. I'd love to buy a turnkey solution for each motor if I can afford it.

THANK YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME TO READ THIS! @yobuddy also suggests we ask @Thanos

Noorbeast, Thank you so much for your reply. I've played with SimCalc but there continues to be an A before B before C issue for me. I can't put in motor torque, because the RPM is too high - the motors are usually 3450 RPM. So then I need a gearbox - I look on Ebay and find worm gearboxes but I need one with a 5/8" shaft input (15.xxxx mm) and I can't find any. Then I would need to calculate the output torque based on the input torque and the RPW but I would need to find the gearbox to do that calculation - that's just to throw in one number in SimTools to see what it says.

The "servos" you list below seem to be servo drivers, which then require a motor to be attached and say they take most motors but that doesn't really help me, especially with calculating. This company you listed is in Camarillo, CA and that's a forty-five minute drive from here so part of me would drive over there to discuss it with them.

While I'm here for anyone who knows, I was planning on using a steel coupler on the shaft output of the gearbox and welding a lever to it, and then connecting that lever bar to a ball-joint on each end rod. Anyone else have a better way of taking a keyed shaft and connecting a lever to it - especially one that will handle a lot more weight? (my application, around 900-1000 lbs. total weight of Model T car shell and two people sitting on a bench seat.

Incidentally, because the two people will "get into" the side of the Model T and sit on a bench seat, the actual thing I'm going to be building the seats on will be the floor of the "car", which will be something like a rectangle that's 40" wide and 80" long with the pivot point under the seat. Speaking of which, I can't find anywhere that sells a Cardan Joint that's surface mount. Universal Joints as far as I know aren't made to take that kind of weight pushing down on them, but rather are used to a twisting force.

Thanks everyone - I know it's a lot of questions!

Cheers,
Jeff

make sure you have way more power than you think you need, or the project will be failure

consider using 4 motors instead of 2 - i have a 6d0f and i run 12 motors

you could have 2 motors at the rear and 2 at the front, or 4 on the rear working in pairs

Gadget999,

This is a fantastic idea - so for example if I had four in the back (two on each side) would the two be facing each other and their shafts coupled together? I can see that! Do I have the idea right?

yes that would work - or have 2 at the front and 2 at the back

(on my 6dof i have joined the shafts together and use one gearbox)

OK THANK YOU - I think 2 in the front and 2 in the back is best because it's easiest to add a 10k pot for feedback if the shaft has an "end" sticking out.

Do you (or anyone) have a recommendation for a heavy duty U-joint pivot point?

Cheers,
Jeff

use a cv joint from a off road vehicle driveshaft

I was thinking about a CV joint, but an off-road vehicle one makes even more sense. That's a good idea, thanks!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/25533906...uid=3E0ozfCpRuu&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Yep, flange on one end is great, thanks!