Showroom Smitty's Rotary Servo 6DOF build (Complete!)

This looks fantastic! Now I know where to get some info in case I start building one

remarkable and efficient engineering work; very beautiful machine
Honestly very impressive
Good flight

I've gotten a few requests for all my designs, I'm not too keen on giving it all away, but you can poke thru my 3D eDrawings model here. You will need SolidWorks eDrawings viewer.

Where do you source the tube bending?

See his post
„We're having the raw steel plate & tube cut & bent by job shops, so that wont be an issue. Plus one of my friends on the build runs a machine shop so there wont be much we can't do!“

Can you share the job shop for the tube works please?

https://vr3.ca/

i sent them the solidworks model of the tubing and 3 days later it was on a pallet on a truck!

Thanks!
What tube size are you using on your built?

4130 steel, mostly 2.00 x .065 and some 1.00 x .120

Amazing!

I have a question, if you were to make another one, what would you change?

I mean it looks perfect from an outsiders perspective (well mine anyway) but as the user, you will have indepth knowledge, about little things, that you would do differently if there were that "next" time.

Not a whole lot!

• One thing i was thinking about, would be to drop the seat/pedals about 100mm, (red lines) while keeping the bottom tube in the same spot. this would also lower the upper part of the bent tube and monitor. It's not hard to get in/out but this would make it easier. Lowering CG is never bad.

• The tube at the purple arrow is a weak spot. the whole forward pedal/monitor part of the tubes comes to this point, and there isnt much there to prevent bending. on frames #2 and #3 we did add some thin gusseting under the tube to help. My frame doesnt have the gusset and it hasnt been a problem, but i get some resonant vibration from that frame section bouncing up and down.

• A softer chair maybe? i covered this hard plastic chair with 1" foam but it can still be a bit rough. i've looked at other sim seats but many are just too wide to clear my heli collective. other seats that were the right width didnt have the shoulder harness cutouts that i need. i keep looking but i havent found a good replacement yet.

Other than that, it's been pretty much maintenance-free for almost 2 years now, and im in it nearly every night

By the way, what is your sheet metal's thickness and alloy? 1011 ?

various - 1/4" on the base and servo brackets, 11GA for pedal/joystick/seatbelt brackets, 14GA on the stuff holding the monitor. all generic "cold rolled steel", so its probably 1018

Wow... so even 4130 steel 2.00 x .065 tube alone is not rigid enough? Is it flexing during motion (vibrate) or more flexing during braking (pressure from the feet)?