Showroom DX - Compact Simulator

I am planing an increase in height of between 10-25mm, mainly for the surge tray to clear the adjuster knob on full pitch.

Sure is @SeatTime and I can still pick it up and use my kitchen top as a workbench, which I am doing at the moment as the shed is a bit cold during winter.

This gives a bit better idea.

The original mount is in the background and I could easily match that for the new mount point. However, I need to raise the uni a bit so the surge plate on the bottom of the seat can clear the adjuster knob at full forward pitch, and maximum down heave. So I will need to raise the uni above the original height a little. I will determine exactly how much when I make the uni adapter to mount it to the heave plate and can test it with the seat.

Heave is up and down over a relatively limited movement range and the three motors push or pull with the universal joint being a constant point between the seat and heave frame.

My Supra has exceedingly stiff suspension so I am very used to harsh road feedback and have really missed it in the sim.

A bit of an interim update, as I have temporarily put the sim together so I can check clearances and to figure out further structural changes, like new HOTAS base mounts.

Adding heave has resulted in some radical redesign and very close tolerances, but I hope it eliminates the issue with the 60:1 gearboxes spreading the brass gears, as I can now use the 25:1 at the front, while the single 60:1 manages the heave and keeps the sim level when unpowered. The heave is so well balanced I expect to experiment with levers up to 100mm CTC.

What I had to give up was the full frame option, as the weight of the heavy Fanatec wheel and pedals was a strain on the heave spring. Making the sim a seat shaker with heave and having surge for the controls is, I think, a reasonable compromise.

So basically the surge plate which formed the base of the original sim seat has been flipped over and mounts directly to the top of the motors, with the shape of the mount plate on the rear engine preventing the plate from rolling despite it being held with only one bolt. Undo that one bolt and the surge plate lifts up for access to the third pot.

The tolerances are incredibly tight when packing 3 motors, 3 PSUs, a built in amplifier and new subwoofer, which is now located down the spine, plus heave and surge into a 500 X 500mm frame. It has to go together in a very specific order.

The sim is still a long way off being wired up and tested, as I am still finalising where some structural elements are to go, and what needs to get wired into the new computer dock, which will conceal all the wires, powerboards and two additional amplifiers. I will likely raise the wheel/pedal quick release mount by 50 - 100mm. The rear speaker mounts still need the harness guides made. The JRKs and Arduino for the 40kg surge servos are getting a new housing and a cover for the base of the sim still needs to be built.

I accidentally broke one of the RC servo connecting ball posts that screws into the surge plate, so will have to find a supplier for those. Do any of you Aussie RC guys have a good recommendation for a supplier, as the shipping from HobbyKing is just plain outrageous for such a tiny part?

Only temporarily @SilentChill, I pulled it half apart again today to start working out the cable management for the new computer dock. I reran the PSU power cords and the USB cables, so I won't need to touch those again. The computer dock end looks like a spaghetti nightmare at the moment, but now that the cables are run I can work on cable management, as I did with the computer case itself.

I put the sim back together and tested the sound and haptics via the new control box, plus the Fanatec wheel and pedals running out of the build in USB hub. The control box will also house a 7" Nexus tablet and some JRK reset switches, based on @Archie's great idea. The Pyle amplifier has a channel for the Buttkicker, another for the haptic harness, one for the on-board subwoofer and shoulder speakers and the final channel controls the big external speakers that plug into the on-board amplifier that is built into the back of the sim frame and which is tucked away behind the 3rd motor.

Thanks @SeatTime,.

For the surge plate servos it is the Arduino, 2 BECs and @eaorobbie's RC code.

There seems to be a little more resistance mounted this way but it does not need to compensate for movement angle, so I will find out if the combined 80kg capacity is enough.

Thanks @bsft.

From my perspective the real problem with the 60:1s is that they are only rated to 90nm, though as far as I can tell that does not appear anywhere on the Motion Dynamic website.

Changing the design like I have means there is far less strain on all the gears, as they no longer carry the weight of the Fanatec pedals and wheel. When you sit in it the heave spring now takes the weight, up to about 100kgs. So there rear motor has very little load and I expect to be able to experiment with CTC up to 100mm, vastly reducing the NM load.

It is a bit deceiving, the front rods get pulled fully vertical unpowered, even if you sit in it with maximum dialed in on the adjustable tension, as the heave spring forces the 25:1 gearboxes to the maximum upright position. The rods have an 8 degree angle when the 40mm CTC levers are in the level position. While I have not gone higher I have moved the connection points further forward, to gain additional leverage.