bmw e36 racing sim project wip

hey all been a long time, not been too well with all my health and what not,

but id like to show you a part of the sim that is pretty much complete apart from a printed circuit board I'm waiting for from China,

been wanted to have the fanatec Clubsport shift be able to automatically change from h pattern to sequential from a flick of a switch

and improved to show you what I've been working on the past 3 weeks,

a lot of coding and problems with coding to solve and 3d printing to go wrong but I finally got it perfect

here is the plate on which everything sits on it'll also reinforce the shift if I'm pulling and shift too hard,





I then went about 3d printing things but haven't taken that many photos so here is the basic setup

with the motor mounted it was time for the electronics

I have made and ordered a custom PCB print professional from jlcpcb so ill post pics when it comes in about a week or 2






and final here a video of it working ignore the vibrating sound that's interferants or something in the PCB and hopefully a PCB from jlcpcb with work a lot better




regards

andy

Hey, all long time no see,

my mental health hasn't been great for a while, been down in the dumps and not only that I nearly cut my finger off cutting some wood for a cupboard I was making

but today I felt well for the first time it a while so I knuckled down and got in the sim shed

if you go back and read page 2 about mounting the motor to the shed and the way I mounted the steering column too you'll see that the steering column and motor is mounted apart from each other well this didn't work too well as the motor was high enough and when it was all bolted down you couldn't turn the wheel as the steering column mounts locked the shaft the way it was mounted so not giving up I redesigned it all

first, I welded the steering column directly to the motor ish, I fashion a bracket that bolts to the existing mount mounting bracket,




its a bit shoddy and I could have done better but I had to start again 4 times on the bit because I kept getting it wrong, boy I was mad making this part



anyway then I was time to fix the issue with the frame under the dash, the mounter needed to sit high under the dash without affecting the cluster that I will later be installing


so here I came up with a different way of bolting the two half together





much better, ignore the black marks the frame is level as.... well the spirit level I have lol


then it was finally time to mount the mounter after test fits ( first fit was perfect so that when tack welds became the full welded thing)

here is the motor in place






now it was a case of installing the boss ready for the fanatec adaptor and steering wheels,

I also installed the shroud to see what it would look like but I've still got to install and wire up the ignition switch and indicators and wiper levers to a control board to work with the game










so that's it today its been a good day I feel good with what I've got done, it's been a long day and I'm knackered and dirty, so this bath and bed I think,

I've got dialysis treatment tomorrow so I won't be in the sim shed tomorrow but I will be in the workshop doing some tidying up as welding and grinding today made a mess haha,

but ill be in the sim shed on Thursday if I feel okay to do so but I've been feeling a lot more myself the past couple days so I've been able to do stuff so hopefully ill be out there

for know peace

right so another update for you guys, I'm getting on with it now, been a good day today,

started work on the gear changer mounting and handbrake mounting

so first I removed all the temporary mounts made from wood as I now the sizes and places I need the steel mountings,




then I had to make and fix the left-hand side dash support and front gear changer support, I had to add some extra 40mm box as when I did a test fit a few days ago I had the gear shifter forward 40mm and that was out of line to the boot for the gear shifter so I moved it back 40mm here's a picture on the extra 40 box added on




then i made a second bracket for the gear changer





and here it is mounted in the shed all level





I then did a test fit to see what it was like






then I put the center console in to then get the measurements for the handbrake surround, this is not the gear stick handle that ill use it's just what I had in the shed at the time the BMW one is in the office







then I made up the handbrake mountings and here it is in place, got to order some new drill bits as some very hard stainless steel broke the bits I need to drill it with, and ill have to order some more mild steel as I've ran out of that and had to use the stainless steel and it wasn't ideal as it doesn't weld very well but it got the job done





and here is the handbrake surround mocked up I still need to get some plate to mount the handbrake and the surround but it was getting late and I was very tired at that point





so thats all I've done today I feel good with what I've got done, I'm home I can get out there on Wednesday after the gym

regards

andy

right so Heres something for you, I originally had a fiberglass duct for the blower motor but it was fitting very with and it was scruffy so I've over-engineered the hell out of it and came up with this






here is the current progress 1day 10 hours to print this half 2 and a half days for the other half






here is where I'll be going its a ford blower motor as you may have seen in another post,







this is the gap it has to bridge,

not done a lot else as its been a bit of a birthday week I've been out and about eating out and seeing people


hope you enjoy the pics and see you in the next update




peace

well shite, it failed on me 23 hours in






the supports broke 19 hours in so I thought id get away with carrying on but 4 hours later the extruder shifted of course and it buggered it


I am beyond peed off,

so adjusted the supports and hoping for the best

this time it's a 19-hour print

I knew something like this would happen to me


regards
Andy




ps I need a pint ......... or 5

right so got the first half and biggest print is done, its a bit rough near the end but I think it'll be fine




also, I forgot to post an update on the gear changer,


I had ordered a PCB from JCBPCB and here they are in all there glory






then I had to populate the board

if anyone wants one of these I'm sure I can sort something out maybe even a tutorial if anyone wants one, ill give the code and schematics and pics and STL files for the 3dprints







that's it for now, got 17 hours to wait for the next print, it's currently printing the first layer and it seems to be going down well so let's pray it goes well it's costing a lot in filament to print this but I think it'll be better than my first attempt with fiberglass



peace for now

andy

so got both prints done

unfortunately i have had an operation today and have to be off for 48 hours, I'm hoping I can get back to work on Wednesday if the weather is okay,

got a lot of wiring to do so I think there will be some big updates coming soon,


still, need to figure out how im going to do the pedals which is the next big think after mounting the blower motor,



here is a picture of the ducting all finished, I might coat it with something to reinforce it a bit more but other than that I just need to bolt it together




that's it for now check back soon for more update


peace

right so got in the sim shed today and tried to fit the ducting above......


it didn't fit

I am annoyed at myself for not doing it this way I'm about to show you,

ive 3d modeled some new ducts and ill be using some 100mm ducting you see on the tumble dryer




you can tell basically how this is going to work

I just need to get some more printing filament ordered as I have ran out,

I cant print then right now as there something on the printer nonrelated to the sim shed

I did, however, get the gear shifter part bolted down and the bolt put though on the handbrake frame,

I didn't take any picture as the thunder flies were really getting on my wick so I packed up and 3d modeled these images instead

that's it for now

should be back in the ned couple of days with a new update hopefully on the ducting

peace

hey all so I know I haven't been on here for a long time but most of you know I have kidney failure and I struggle in the heat we have had and it's still hot here in the UK

well, that and the extreme rain and wind its been hard to get anything done......

and then something amazing happened to me

I got a phone call at 23.50pm on 18.08.2019

it was the Hosptial

I was told there was a kidney for me and it was a perfect match

and well I accepted it

on the Monday 19.08.2019 at around 13.00pm I went under the knife

the operation took a very long time

but it was a success

I had had my first kidney transplant I had been waiting 5 years for

I was 6 days in the hospital and the kidney worked straight away

I was discharged

I am home now and have been for 2 days

I feel great but

I am very very sore

I feel I can run 100 miles but I won't

I have a long road ahead of me and I need time to recover

this means I won't have to have dialysis every other day and I won't feel tired 24/7

and in turn, I can when I've recovered work on the racing simulator more

so when iv recovered you'll be seeing more of me

but for now, there won't be any updates not till I'm strong enough and the doctor lets me work again

regard

andy

PS thank you for your support and understanding in my time of need

Thanks man that means lot, im still doing very well my kidney fuction is at around 56 % which is amazing only 3 weeks in,

im able to do alot more now sadly not been able to go in the workshop but i am doing an online Udemy Course learning C++ which should help with coding the arduinos,

im also going to do a advance Arduino course and learn how it works abit more, then hopfully ill be able to work on a Stepper motor cluster that has a custom PCB with A Usb hub Intergrated and maybe arudinos too but i have an idea to have them on sockets so dont know what im going to do,

im swaying towards socketing the arduinos so its not as complicated

but the learning is what comes first while im still recoverying as i still have pain in places

regards
andy

Great news, wish you the best.

Hey, all so id like to update you all on my Sim, I've decided to move my workshop and get a bigger shed for the sim rig as the 6ft by 4ft is not big enough,

I need to be about to have 3 monitors on it, maybe 5, so I'm going to invest in a new 8ft but 6 or 8 ft shed,

it's going to undo some of the work I've done but it won't be long till I'm back where I want to be, I'm moving my workshop to a bigger unit so I have room for a lathe and a CNC plasma cutter, as well as more bench space and welding table,

I'm looking to move in 2 or 3 weeks, and my workshops and sim shed are all packed up ready for the move.

so I won't be posting much on here, but id like to let you know work has not stopped with the time I've had off.

my kidney transplant is doing very well

sorry I've not been active for so long.

kind regards

andy

Hey man. Hope you're doing well now. Feel sad about your health issues, and at the same time glad that you've got success in the transplant. Just to let you know, your post means a lot to me, as I would say it will be such a motivation for me completing my rig, soon. Thanks man. Yeah I know it's a long post however I do think I you deserve my respect..