My 2DOF DIY sim.

Here's what I have planned so far. It's very different from the other sims I have seen in that the center of rotation is high above the head of the occupant. This means the motion and rotation both work in the correct direction. The occupant isn't pushed sideways the wrong way in corners, for example, and will actually feel a push in the back during acceleration, which is the opposite of what happens with the center of rotation under the seat. The center of rotation can also be moved down to the chest area for applications other than racing by changing the angle of the rails. I used rails because it's not practical to suspend the sim from a point above the ceiling, and being floor based makes it easier to add more functions later. I'm a helicopter technician and addition to racing I fly helicopters in X-plane, so the sim is designed to work with home made Westland Lynx inceptors that I'm building. I have made the pedals and collective lever already.

I will cut up the MDF today if it doesn't snow, and then start CNC-routing the parts I need once I am 100% done with the CAD-modelling.

I have most of the components I need:
Eight machine rails with bearings
An Autostyle bucket seat
Thrustmaster T500RS steering wheel
Two 900 kg winch motors/gearbox assemblies
Two Pololu Jrk 12v12
Three 24 LCD monitors (actually six, three on the current desktop, three for the sim)
HDMI splitters to divide between the desktop and sim
1000 W 14V switching PSU
12 m of aluminium profiles
Lots of MDF

The CAD model is not finished. It's at the end of the concept stage.

keep it up ...

Groovy..........

I just finished cutting up the MDF into most of the parts I need. The next step is to CNC-route the parts out of the pieces I have cut. I need to refine the design first. I'll also weld an aluminium frame for the monitors.

I think I might need something that can handle more voltage than the Jrk 12v12, but I'll deal with that if and when the time comes. It's important to get it up and running at all first.

the jrks will surprise ya mate, specially with the winch mate.
Ya need help sorting them out there is a couple of us here that know all the tricks
:thbup:

First parts have been cut out. I started with the biggest pieces, the side plates for the cockpit frame. Simple parts, but pretty complicated to cut because they're longer than mny machine, so I had to flip around and align to cut each piece two times. Most of the rest of the parts are just basic route jobs.

yeah, looking good.

The rest of the MDF parts for the cockpit frame/roll axis.

Assembled, with the seat.

This looks very nice furniture well done!

Thanks. Hopefully it'll work as intended. I had to order some more aluminum tubing now because I found that I don't have enough for both the frame and rail supports. I hope the monitor frame will be stiff enough.

I need a bigger house.

at least you have some decent equipment there to use.

Cutting some more parts. The machine is capable of running twice as fast, but I prefer to take it slow if I can.

oooohhhh...I have a nerdon.....
I have only a garage floor, a milk crate, and hand power tools to use.
Thats one sexy sim you are building :clap:

Nerdon. Haha. That's hilarious.

Everyone should have a CNC router. I made this one back in 2007 using hand tools, a bandsaw and a pillar drill. I'm thinking of making a new one with the help of the router for better accuracy.

All the finished parts. The next step is to cut and weld the aluminum tubing. Hopefully the tubing is stiff enough to support three monitors and the Thrustmaster wheel. The wheel is a bit of a bully.

This will probably turn out to be a really good simulator, and i will follow this thread.
Nice to see more Scandinavians on the forum =)

Having to drill hundreds of holes makes me very glad I have a robot to do the work for me. I really wish I had a thread mill as well though, because tapping 52 holes isn't my idea of a good time. Thread mills cost a fortune, unfortunately, so the threshold for ordering one is pretty high.

The rails fit, and the holes in the frame match up with the holes in the profiles. It's always fun to test fit new parts. MY bandsaw isn't large enough to cut up all the parts, so I'll have to do some of the cutting at work. I'll try to get the bottom frame and monitor frame cut and welded this week.

The aluminum doublers for the mounting point in the middle of the roll rail profiles. Not really necessary during use, but helpful to hold the assembly together while changing the rotational point, and strengthens the MDF assembly. Once the bottom frame is welded I can actually put everything together. That should be fun.

I have the pitch axis mounted for testing, and I'm pretty sure I need more power than the winches can provide at 15V without burning. The available force at the rated max of 12v/25 A is around 18 kg, and my rig will probably require at least twice that to move satisfactory with a range of 400 mm. I'll deal with that once I have it up and running though. If I made linear actuators I could get all the force I needed, but that's more work than I care to deal with now. I'll try to get the winches working ok. My calculations coule be wrong.

I think I have a good idea for mounting the winches, and they will be hidden under the sim. I also have simple plans for adding a vertical lift axis if it works well.

It's fun to see it starting to take shape. It moves smoothly, but all those linear bearings add a little to the load. Also, it's impossible to balance it without compromising on the location of the rotational points, so I might need a spring to relieve the winch in the pitch up direction.

EDIT:
How did I arrive at 18 kg? Must have been tired. 900 kg at 15 mm is actually 45 kg at 300 mm. I'm optimistic again now. Unless I'm tired now.