1 DOF Motion Seat Idea "possibly innovative?"

Greetings - Long time listener, first time caller.

I have found this community to be absolutely amazing and the knowledge wonderful.
I am interested in putting together my first motion sim rig but want to try something a little different.

I want to build an otherwise static rig except with a 1 DOF seat. The idea would only to have the bottom of the seat move, while the back remains fixed. The motion would not be far, maybe +/- 2 inches horizontally. The seat will rest all its weight on a base supported by ball bearings. (or something similar)

The goal is to have the seat bottom provide feedback similar to what the wheel does. Not to much to throw you around but enough that you get a "seat of the pants" feeling.

To do this I plan on using the following for construction:
- DC Worm Gear Motor - 12/24v 250w 25A ---- (I am flexible on the ratio, wattage and amps, taking recommendations)
- 2 Moto Monsters
- 1 Arduino
- Helical rack and pinion (rack bolted to bottom of seat platform)


Alternatively I was wondering if it might be possible to do this with a simcube direct drive kit. Except to have the mige motor receive force feedback commands but not be an input device. In that it might truly make the seat very informative very similar to a wheel.

Disclaimer: I know this is not the best system to build (for g forces). I am just interested in the simple and different. I am also not stuck on any way to execute this idea and open to suggestions. Thank you so much for all of your input into the forum and your wonderful support.

Images are just stand ins, not actual items. Would love to hear your opinions.
-John

@noorbeast Thanks I appreciate it. The idea makes me wonder if I might be able to get a little pitch effect out of it.

Hello, this is a good idea ! Why not doing it for surge only then ? You would have to do something so the pedals could move with the seat but it could give the information the Wheel is missing, might be a bit more complementary, you could "feel" your acceleration and braking. Anyway your idea is cool and good luck in your project, if I may be of any help send me a message

Consider moving the back and not the base. I would think it would be lighter with less mass to move. Thats what stirling does anyway.



I think there are two problems with the simucube idea.
The first is that the simucube runs in torque mode. If you move the position of your chair in torque mode then your body is doing the job of positioning the chair. During a long turn your chair would try to drive instantly to the farthest position possible and you would be using your muscles to keep it from doing that. Simtools moves things in position mode. That means that during a long turn the chairs position will move a distance according to the amount of force your body should see from the turn. These two approaches are very different and there are appropriate times to use each one.

The second issue is the forces coming through the simucube are not necessarily the correct forces for your body to feel. This might not be a bad thing though. It depends on your goal. If you are looking for a more realistic feeling then getting the physics from simtools is the way to go. If you only care about the detail that should be coming through the steering wheel then you may want to pump those forces through your body as well.

If I had to guess, I would say that you are hearing how strong the mige motor is and how much detail comes through it, so you want to apply it to a degree of freedom on a motion sim for your whole body. I think you can get as good of detail from simtools to get the proper forces and feed them through a mige for your sim, although that will be much harder (mainly because of the position feedback required).

I could be wrong though.

There is a vidéo on youtube , easy to made it !

Thanks for the great input. @cfischer So the simcube idea is scrapped. It just isnt feasible (thank you for your input on it).
@Remishka we are now going to work on using heave and sway thanks to your input.

This weekend I spent time with the wife going over whether to move the back or the base. The problem for with moving the base is weight, and developing of a base that can move freely in a stable manner. Hands down I think the back is the simplest and most proven way to go. Which is why we ended up looking for a solution for doing the base. If nothing more than providing some lessons learned.

Fortunately we have a positive direction we are going with. We discovered that small movements to a base with a stable back are super communicative to the user.

The "possible solution" we tested were with a 6 way power car seat base. These frames are built in a way that allow for multiple degrees of movement, existing track framework and above all else support the weight of the user. As of now small motors offer plenty of strength to move the user. The movement of the base alone provides positional information, combined with a fixed back gives a feeling of a g-seat with sustained forces.

As of right now the intention is to rotate a power seat mount 90 degrees. The original forward and back motion will become sway for longitudinal G forces (The most important for this application). We also plan to test implementing heave as well with a second track. The 6 way also leaves small pitch and heave function that could be used.

Being able to use an existing structure will bring the complexity and price of the build down greatly. With smaller inputs than a traditional seat mover I think this will fit this project right in between simvibe and traditional motion simulators.

Thanks so much for the input and ideas. You are all awesome!

Please be as critical as possible, looking for suggestions thanks! John