3DOF semi DIY simulator project

Hi all,

Finally, I will rejoin you in this crazy thing of homemade motion sim !

After years of envy and doubts, I am now waiting for my simukit 400W kit to arrive at home.

Meanwhile, I have designed the seat :


It is designed to handle both wheel and HOTAS, as I am a huge Elite Dangerous fan.

First question for the ones who own a simukit : What is the width of the base ?

My rig is 80 cm width, will it be good to place it on the base ?



Until next time !

Well, time flies...
I am nearly finished building the simukit sk3 kit.

Here is my first fully assemble test before placing the "cockpit", which should be done today.

Looking forward to the cockpit mounted and video showing it in action. I really like the Simukit 400w 3dof. Have you also thought about adding traction loss just like @jjanu here?https://www.xsimulator.net/communit...simulator-with-simukits-solution.11465/page-3

Hi ! Thanks for your interest !
Unfortunately, I only have a picture of ther cockpit mounted, as failure in one potentiometer ( my primary explanation) let the motor go round and breaks everything... The time to resource the broken parts.



Yes, once everything is set up, I aim to add traction loss / yaw. However, I still have no idea on the "howto" at the moment.

Ok guys ! I am back in business
Here is a video of my first try with the cockpit mounted :

Since then, I have redone the third potentiometer(?) cable, and have fully eliminated the jitter.

I then had a first try on trackmania with my little son (5yo) on a short track : even with the effects at 50%, it was impressive !
I was not impressed by Project CARS (1), the surge effect (acceleration / deceleration right ?) is not enough present, even with an increase scale of effect.

However, on Assetto Corsa (I hate their GUI, how conter intuitive it is...) effects were perfect !

I will try tonight Wings of Prey and war thunder, then start working on Elite Dangerous.

Nice work. What exactly was the problem you had with the pot?

Hi Fluke !
I needed to relearn how to solder ^^ I think I create a loose electrical connection by heating too much the first time. The wires are tinier than I think.
Things I learn doing / redoing this :

Heat the solder iron at 350°, and do not apply it for more than 4 seconds on the smallest wires.
Have some length on the unwrapped wires to the pot : you do not want them to be tense.
It is also important to have the gnd common to all the pots.

Okay guys, long time without a post here !
I had little more time last night spend mostly understanding how to configure and tuning different games and tools (like VR motion cancellation).
I have pretty decent motions in Project Cars (1), assetto corsa, and Elite dangerous.

I now have a calibration / settings question :
In project Cars, how can I increase the acceleration effect and decrease the deceleration's one ?

I have seen some videos on Elite where the pilot move when the ship is detached from the hangar, but I cannot manage to feel this. Effects are working like a charm otherwise.

Thanks Noorbeast ! Always here to quickly answer my nooby questions ! I will give it a try during lunch time.

Hi Axenic,

I am very interested in your project and others on the simukit design. I am very new to motion sim and found it a bit hard to source all the correct hardwares and software combination to build my own motion platform. It seems that I could take advantage of the simukit kit to make life a little easier for myself. Could you please tell me if there is any downside to using this kit? Here are some of my questions if you could help me shining some light onto them:

1. Since it is from France would there be any problem in the electrical hook up (France's voltage is 220V whereas it is 110V here in the US).?
2. Does the kit come with everything you need to connect the motion platform together (minus the cockpit) or do you still have to buy more nuts/bolts/wiring/connector/hub/etc?
3. Does Simtools software and license come with it? If not how do you get them and for how much?
4. what is the dimension of the platform after you have set it up? I would like to know if it will fit into my room, especially the height of it.
5. how long did it take for the kit to arrive?

Thank you for your help,

stargazer

Hi stargazer !
Sorry to respond so late...

1)The PSU come with a switch 110/220, however, you will have to source the power cable with US ("outlet"?) connexion.

2) The kit come with everything you need, minus the cockpit and the way to connect it to the kit.
I personally had to drill 4 holes were it was the more convenient.

3) Simtool license does not come with the kit. You will have to source it by yourself, here : https://simtools.us/license/

I took the professionnal one because of the remote profiling. As I play mostly in VR? GameDash does not concern me.

4) The platform is really very compact, it is an equilateral triangle of about 80 cm (31.5 in) side. Mind the fact your cockpit will most likely be larger. (For reference, I find mine compact, and it is 70cm x 120cm. (27.6x47.2in)
after second reading, you seems to be interested in the height. As in the picture, the highest point (the seat) is at 150cm (59.1in).

5) the kit took a long time to arrive, because of a shortage on some references. Moreover, even if the guys are sympathetic are prompt to answser, there were some pieces missing in my package.

Bear in mind I also had some pieces broken during the assembly, because of a bad design. They told me this was fixed by now, but I had to engineer (and print) my own gears to correct it.

To be honest, I am not that thilled about the price I paid, and I think I found some US 3DOF makers when I was searching online. The full kit is about 2000€, and you will have to pay some more taxes on it plus the extra for the shipping. (The packages were very heavy).

Do not hesitate if you have more questions, I will gladly answer them !

Axenic
Thank you for the detailed reply. It is very helpful.

I have just ordered the kit.

Initially I like to build a 6dof platform but I found out that many builders on the forum have a bill of material that costs north of $8K and they also spend a lot of time on the machining/welding of the frame and parts. I am a fairly handy guy but the amount of effort people put into their 6DOF seem overwhelming for me.

I then looked at some ready made platform like DOF reality, racing cube, topspeed and njmotion. I like the njmotion a lot given its performance and reasonable price point and positive review. At the end I chose to order the simukit (3dof 400w + sk3 about $3000US) because I thought that if one day I still want to build a 6DOF then I could still reuse the motors and parts of the 3dof kit. I think compared to njmotion the price is high.

Could I ask you what type of cockpit do you use to build your sim? Where do you buy it and how much did you pay for it?

thanks

Hey ! I like your approach. I have the same. The 6DOF is in sight, but I though I should up my level with a 3D0F one.

My cockpit is hand made, with aluminium profile. I sourced them on a european website : motedis.
I think in the US you have something similar called 80/20 (BTW, I am interested in an explanation of this name.)
I first based my ideas on this one : https://www.motedis.fr/shop/Friends...n-09/2017/KPCR-Piez-RIG-Expert::99999866.html
with mods to support my HOTAS and a shifter and a TV.

After assembling it, I wasn't found of the result : too heavy, too broad. So I restarted from scratch and build my own design, wich you can see on my post.

It cost me a total of 615€, but I have nearly twice too much pieces. Most of them have been recycled on "b-sides" projects, most important one is a support for my second keyboard and laptop. (The one which drive the motion rig).

axenic
jjanu highly recommended his GTOmega cockpit so I think I will go with that one. It costs around $349.99 euro. Not sure how much addional shipment and tax will be when it is sent to the US. On jjanu recommendation I have also asked simukit to add an additional motor 400W + hardwares for the yaw/traction loss system. I am hoping that the complete built will be useable for both flight simulation (xplane) and well as racing.
What games have you tried with your setup and how well did it work?

Oooh nice one !
at first I wanted to add the traction loss effect, but I do not know how to implemented with my cockpit. It is still a project.

I tried Elite Dangerous (the lack of time to help the find the memory pointers is irritating...) but it needs a lot of tweaking to be enjoyable. Also, very demanding on the motors.
Project CARS and Assetto Corsa are fun to play with.
Trackmania turbo too !
War Thunder is both VR and Motion compatible, but I couldn't have something good enough.
I plan to test ultrawings and DCS.

Hey Bro i bulding a device 3dof. but i haven't code arduino