2DOF with experimental motors build

Well, after reading and reading, I am in the beginning stages of my build. I have ordered some parts and thought it out a lot. The hours invested in reading on this site should prove to be invaluable.

Here's is where I am at so far:

>Received 2 JRK 12v12 today
>Received a few hall effect pots today - http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/6127V1A180L.5FS/987-1392-ND/2620661

The motors I am going to "play" with are a bit different than anything I've seen so far here. They are electric power steering setups from a Chevy car. My testing so far has only been direct connection to a 12v deep cycle battery but they are very fast and seem to have a lot of power. I am actually hoping that I can "tame" them down some with the JRK so that is one of my questions right now. I need to do some more reading of the JRK manual but hope to do more testing using the JRKs this week. If the motors do not work out I will go to "plan B".

I think I am going to use gears to run the pots. I have a plan I've been working on that involves machining some Delrin gears and machining alum brackets to mount up to the motors. I have a CNC mill in my shop and as a hobbyist do pretty well with it. It's probably overkill but, hey, why not - haha.

I have a spare race seat I can use for the build and hope to get a chance to run by the metal supply shop tomorrow to pickup some stock so I can start putting the frame and base together. Will 1" square 0.120" wall steel tubing be ok? I considered alum but my TIG skills are not the greatest with alum. I do not really have a perfectly planned design but am planning to go full frame. Space is for the sim is not an issue and I really want to try full frame to start with. I fully respect recommendations to start with just a seat mover but again, why not.

Hmmm, what else? Oh, I picked up a G27 controller kit to start with. Something tells me I will not make it far with just that but we'll see.

I have to admit that I am notorious for starting projects and never getting them finished. I also am horrible at posting back on forums to show progress along the way. I do a lot more reading than writing. I will do my best to improve on both of those downfalls during this project.

Is there any place that I can do more reading on PID functions etc.? I am sorta lost at this point although I have a small idea on how the JRKs function. Would just like to get ahead of the curve if possible.

Lastly, thanks to all on here that contribute so much - @value1 , @bsft , @Pit , @eaorobbie and all the others - thank you so much!

Hello @kopper
First thing, I guess they are wipers so they MUST be earth isolated from the casing.
Heres a basic guide to setting PID and motor settings in jrks
http://www.xsimulator.net/community/marketplace/guide-to-setting-pid-and-motor-settings-on-jrk.124/
Cheers, David.

Damn you're right!
Since I finished - and by finished I mean that it could be used for playing - I played maybe 10 minutes.
I spent a lot of time adding stuff, refining, upgrading, planning...

IT'S AN ADDICTION

I will be watching this thread with interest as I am just behind you and hope to be starting my own build soon.
Look forward to seeing some photographs soon and wish you every success.

Since the steering unit I am testing for possible use works both directions I assumed it was isolated but I will double check. Is it as simple as checking for continuity of both leads to the case?

Thanks for the link!

Thanks for the input @noorbeast! I hope I didn't sound boastful mentioning the mill. It is just a bench mill (Grizzly G0704) that I converted to CNC but it is very useful. I also built an 80/20 CNC router and to go along with you and others mentioning "addiction" to hobbies and the building be a lot of the fun I have used it very little since finishing it. I had more fun building it than anything.

Progress has been slow but fruitful. Here are some pics to show where I am at. I am very close to starting on motors and electronics. My plan is to build a "modular" setup for them that bolts to the rear section of the base frame as I have a feeling I may be swapping the motors out. These things seem to be pretty robust and I am afraid the JRK's will not handle them. I have ordered the parts (Arduino and pair of MM) to try SMC3 with each MM driving a motor like @Pit is doing with his winch motors in case the JRKs do not work out. If that doesn't work I'm not sure what I will do but want to be able to start over easily without having to cut/grind hence the reason for the "motor module". Hopefully it will make more sense later.

So, I pic of the joint setup. I built a small amount of adjustment in. If you noticed and wonder why the bolts are not centered in the slots on both sides it is because I forgot to move 0.1" and re-zero the axis after using the edge finder when I used the mill to drill the holes on the upper plate and had to redrill them (the were not centered in the slots). doh!


The frame/base setup:


And lastly I picked this up on sale around Christmas and it has been invaluable. I do not know how I went so long without one.


More to come later!

Yes, I mounted everything up and found the COG but added a little adjustment in just in case. The steering wheel brkt is aluminum and slides over the uprights you see up front. It is adjustable up and down and also has a slide setup for front to back. My alum TIG skills are not as good as what I can do on iron so I'm too embarrassed to show the pic!-lol Actually, didn't think to take a pic when it was all put together but I'll get some soon.

Here is the motors I'm experimenting with:





The fancy pot brkt and gears I made:



I was going to solder the power and motor wires directly to the JRK but picked these larger terminal blocks up from the place I got the hall effect pots from (Digikey). The are rated for 12ga wires with the same 5mm pitch pins as the ones that come with the JRK. Even 10ga wire fits in them although tightly. Figured I'd try them first since I could be changing things around and such.

They were cheap so I grabbed them to try. They fit well and should work out great.

@noorbeast
Will these do?
These are what I am going to be using....

There is a socket and plug effect so removal is easy if need be.

The socket is rated 10A @ 300v
and the plug is Rated 10A at 300V.
Cable hole entry size up to 4mm2 or 12AWG.

Here you go:

http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/282856-4/A98357-ND/1150143

The ones I linked are rated at 24A. I'm not sure if the ones @kanuk linked will handle the load we need but I do like the socket and plug idea.