My new build question.

I am going to rework my stationary rig and convert it into a motion rig. I am fabricating a platform for my current rig to attach to. What "motion" stuff do I need to get it to do something similar to this?
I will have a central pivot and I believe the two actuators. But I'm not sure what they are.
TIA everyone.

Hi @Kyle Bright - For what it's worth I love my foot mount sim.

I was in a dilemma for days about whether to go shoulder mount or go down the foot mount path. Now that I am back into flight sims again I am so glad I went down the foot mount path. I also love my rig in DIRT Rally, feeling the bump and hits from your feet up is awesome. I have never tried a Shoulder Mount rig (I will get to @bsft's place one day!) but I think the shoulder mounts give you more fidelity of movement that might be missed on a foot mount.

However, If you balance a foot mount sim well, they are excellent. Mine works like a wheel barrow, all the weight is over the pivot so it takes very little force to move me around. My 8 year old son could lift and tilt me from the front. He thought he was Superman! I didn't have the heart to tell him it was leverage and COG at work

I use 25:1 motors and it throws me around for fun and I'm a biggish bloke (6'3" and 105Kg / 231lb)

Whatever you choose, you will have an awesome time building / tweaking / playing / tweaking / modding... did I mention tweaking??

First of all, I'm sorry for the crude drawing.

I'm gonna make a flat platform with a solid floor, a rocker and the motors.

Secondly, this is gonna get real simple, real fast.

I'm so new to the motion stuff that I don't know what most of the language in this field is. PSU, multi turn pot,and JRK?

I've gotten from the context of reading posts that a JRK is a control board? and PSU is a power supply unit for the motors?. what motors are pictured in the add for the T1000 static? worm drive?

So all I should need is the 2 motors, a couple FSU's capable of running them (cooly) and a couple of JKRs to get my computer to talk to them right?

What are pots for?

Oh...and the blood, sweat and tears too. LOL

Thanx all, GREAT forum!!!!!!

Hey @Kyle Bright - The basic setup is like this:

The JRK is the brains of the operation. You will connect the POT to the JRK and also connect the +/- of your motors to the JRK.
You also connect the 12V supply to the JRK.

The JRK then in turn plugs into the USB of your PC, and reads the game data from SimTools.
Based on the POT position, the JRK then knows which way to send the motor to get the desired motion.

The pot is connected to the motor shaft so it can detected (and feedback) the position of the motor (Heaps of pictures on here detailing this)

Your PSU will need to handle upwards of 25AMP, so most people use Server Power Supplies like the HP DPS-600 / 700 or DELL variant.

In basic terms:

(USB)
PC <------------> JRK <--------- MOTOR
............................ | |________> FEEDBACK POT
............................ |_____________> 12V supply.

(Ignore the fullstops, they are fillers for the diagram )

The T1000 uses actuators I think. Most builders on here use the Wormdrive 200W motors with either a 25:1 or 50 / 60:1 gearbox. Again, the motor you end up choosing will go a long way to determine which Sim you build. This is a personal choice, but most prefer the 200W motor paired with a 60:1 box.

Going down the JRK path for me was a no brainer. The boards are rock solid, and while I have played with Arduino for other projects, having a proven robotic grade board doing all the logic for me was an obvious choice.

As always, everyone here is awesome and happy to help. Ask questions and don't be shy!

Oh... And make sure you get MULTI TURN pots (or at least 10 turns) and with an Electrical Feedback range of at least 180 degrees.

I prefer the 340 degree feedback pots as it gives you a bit more "room" when setting up your Feedback settings, but bear in mind regardless of the Feedback capabilities of your POT, the JRK will only read 180 degree's of rotation.

In terms of a clock, you will get any range between 12 and 6, but nothing more.

Sorry for the spam... I just checked your diagram. Your drawing is more an actuator based model. Others can speak to the best way to achieve that. Most of us use simple levers and motors to get the movement.

The foot motor mount is an excellent design as it can be kept "thinner" than some traditional sim setups. and shorter as well. @Archie has done a great job with his.
As for difference in motion between front and rear motors, well, its where you feel more shaking, thats all. I am currently using a shoulder mount sim, motors at back, but my "desk racer" is excellent in motion and motors are near the knees

ok guys, I have my plan in mind, but that just creates more worries and questions ehh?

I am going with the 2 DOF platform idea that is in my drawing, however, I am going to use linear actuators at the rear with the COG "rocker" towards the front. I have found many dc linear actuators at $80.00 (U.S.) or less, even as low as $40.00. They are available with pots built in.

I'm thinking this would create a lot less work. Most of the info around here is for motors and not so much for linears like this. I'm curious what speed and strength I'm looking for? The specs in the descriptions are foreign to me (for now)

I also am assuming that JRKs will still work with something like this right?

Lastly, I'm thinking this setup is gonna require a second PC to run it correct?

Lastley.

What degree of motion am I looking for (overall) when figuring my platform movement?
Guessing around 5 - 10 degrees?

My foot motor had motors 700mm from pivot but only 450mm apart total, so I had about 7 deg pitch/surge and 17 deg roll sway. A good profile sort helped even it up

SO....
backs to the drawing board

I will pitch / roll my sim over the weekend and report back.

Something to keep in mind, I at first wanted a Sim that shook my bones, like @SilentChill's awesome "Bone shaker" sim However, I found I was more comfortable with subtle movements and could stay in the sim longer. In DIRT Rally I get thrown all over the place, but the sim is probably not even breaking a sweat.

Pitch is the axis I love. Even on a static sim you still "lean" into the corners with the mind trick, so you naturally move in your seat. But with Pitch, you feel the drop and climb of the track which you can't any other way. I love it and beef it up on all my profiles (keeping in mind I also want good Surge for the gear changes / accel and braking)

Remember what I said about tweaking.... *rubs hands*

This is a video of my sim in action for now. Give you some of Idea of the fidelity and range of motion you can get with a foot mount sim:

Click this to see the post and then click the video link.

Full frame generally gives more feeling of pitch (going up and down hills), but looses slight overall acceleration kick (which a seat mover gives more of).
But as @Archie says, it is a mind trick. Work with forces one at a time and you get the "feeling" correct.

Archie,

Your sim is alot like what I'm looking for so I'm gonna work with your "shopping" list at the beggining of your thread. The biggest difference for me though is that I'm going to mount the drives at the back so that I generate much more pitch under accel / decel. Much like one mounted on a u-joint. This is almost exclusively for racing, P cars, rF2, Race Room...etc. My other challenge is the location. I turned my garage into a bar (ultimate man cave) and the rig has to be "user friendly" and easy to get in and out of, because EVERYONE is gonna want to try it !!!!!!

Cool. @Kyle Bright - You may want to mount the Motors further forward to compensate for the weight of your legs and pedals. Keep in mind that when you brake in the sim it will drop with no issue (Gravity), but the the motors will be working really hard to pull you back level if the motors are at the back on a full frame. As an example, If you mount the motors in line with your thigh when sat in the seat, it will likely be a good compromise.

Again it all comes down to design and getting a good centre of gravity. (COG)

On the subject of lots of users / friends. If you are going to be the heaviest player of the sim, set it up for you. If you have friends considerably heavier, they will be able to have a go, but the COG will be out making the motors work that bit harder. Anyone lighter than you will be fine. COG will still be out but the weight shift won't be as great.

Not wanting to put you off at all. Just lots to consider.

I learned a lot from all the members on here, and my Sim is awesome because of them, not me

Well, once again a change of mind.

I'm shooting for something like this.

However, I'm gonna put my motors on the outside of the platform and use a rocker instead of a U-joint. My intention is to keep it as low as possible yet still maintain a nice available angle on the actuation.

I'm getting dangerously close to kicking this off and shifting to the Projects thread instead of the questions thread