Diablo2112's 4-axis SFX-100 build

Finished!

A good 20 hours of work, and one sharp mitre saw blade, and the cockpit is complete. I've had a few hours testing out the SFX-100 system, and in a word, it's stunning! Really, really impressive system. The fine details and texture it provides are uncanny. I've run this with my NLR v3 seat mover, with the seat at *very* subdued settings for surge and sway, and this combo is just fantastic.

There's lots to say about this system, and I'll provide more indepth comments in a few days. For now, here's a few pics. My goal in the 80:20 rig was 1) compact, 2) ultra-stiff, and 3) decent looking. I aimed to eliminate ANY flex what-so-ever in the wheel deck. Even a few of the commercial 80:20 riges I've tried had the ever-so-slightest amount of flex in their wheel decks. Not this one.

I probably over-engineered the deck on this rig. Stiff connector plates, + dynamic joints to triangulate the deck into the frame and remove ANY flex. As hard as you can try to move the wheel, the only thing that flexes at all is the wheel rim. Far-and-away the stiffest setup I've ever personally seen. A bonus of the system (see below) is that the actuators are very closely mechanically coupled to both the pedal plate and the wheel deck. As such, you get tons of tactile and fine feedback through both your feet and the rim. Astonishing, actually. The auxillary control mount (sequential shifter + custom made hydraulic handbrake) is equally stiff, not a bit or flex of movement.

Another element: Thano's controller has worked flawlessly. Thanos + simtools gives tons of options. I'll post my settings in a bit, but they're working very, very well. Lots of fine road detail + good overall track position data, but not overwhelming (unless you go off course or hit something, then the rig jumps pretty good).

Had tons of fun with this project. It has gone as smooth as anything like this I've done, and considerably smoother than the DIY OSW I did 3 years ago. I can whole-heartily recommend the SFX-100 to anyone with even modest DIY skills. (BTW, I'm almost finished printing a second complete set of SFX 3D parts. Let me know if you're interested in these).

Here's plenty of pics to show the finished rig. Enjoy.

Details of the ultra-rigid wheel deck mount:

The last bit to complete my build was the R-Seat free-standing keyboard and mouse stand. Really didn't think a keyboard tray connected to this rig was a great idea. The little stand from R-Seat is wonderful. The layout is ideal, quite compact and super easy to run the mouse. I find I put the keyboard in my lap, and use the mouse on the stand. When done, I just return the keyboard to the stand, very simple.

Awesome rig! I'm waiting for a detailed video review of it and some racing action clips as well!


Thanks
Thanos

Got rid of the huge monitor stand, and mounted the ultrawide on the rig. It's solid, doesnt' shake at all. We'll see how it holds up to the motion. So far, so good, and so much more neat and compact. Wife approved.

That monitor is so awesome. Hope it lasts. Will be watching to maybe get one too.

Thanks. My priority has been a compact rig for the small space we have. Mounting this on the motion platform certainly helps. Triples would be difficult/impossible to securely mount, so the ultrawide is a really nice option for this application. It's perfectly placed here, close to me, just enough clearance for my wheel/hands. Looks great when seated. It's not a triple screen, but its close enough to get decent immersion.

A bit of cleanup work and organizing the right-hand controls. Relocated the slave cylinder for the handbrake, and found a compact way to mount the Fanatec Shifter. Everything is rock-solid, no movement at all in any of the controls.

I've also spent some time tuning settings, mainly for Project Cars 2 and Assetto Corsa. If anyone wants me to post axis and games settings for use with the SFX-100 actuators and Simtools, just let me know.

wow @diablo2112 what can I say ...its a work of art , thanks for posting the details, so definitely gotta see this puppy in motion

What a great simulator ! , i decided to get one too , i'm waiting for parts ! , i'm eager to read / see your feedback with your monitor on the rig ie..lag , nausea

Just placing a link to some new information about running these servos on 110v (USA home environment) ...
https://www.racedepartment.com/thre...controller-thread.168360/page-12#post-3020752

Thanks
Thanos

Another pic, showing the triangulated bracing I used. The wheel deck is absolutely rock solid here, like a heavy steel anvil. Not a budge.

Here's some setup information for a Project Cars 2 profile in Simtools. FYI.

I should say upfront, I also run a motion chair with the SFX, so I've tuned down the surge/sway movements on the SFX just a bit. These profiles still work great on their own, as you'll see. With motion, less is more, of course. With these profiles as a starting point, it's pretty easy to modify various forces up or down to your taste.

As a general comment, there's 3 very important elements to any profile. 1) the axis allocations, 2) the tuning center limits, and 3) the "intensity" level setting. I'll cover each one here and give 2 examples for Project Cars 2: a "smooth" setting; and another "tactile" setting especially good in VR.

Also note, my actuator positions are identical to what Thanos' recommends in his documentation: #1 - left rear; #2 - left front; #3 - right front; #4 - right rear.
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Axis Allocations

This is relatively simple. Generally, you want the totals to add to no more than about 130-150%. you could go more, but you risk clipping. Here's the axis allocations I use for PC2. I like my rig to have a nice amount of pitch and roll, to simulate going up and down hills, and around banking. To access the axis allocations, open the "game engine" icon in the Windows Task bar.

And before anyone asks. No, I don't map in traction loss on my rigs. I never really found it convincing in the SFX actuators, and frankly, my OSW wheel is better at giving cues for that force. You may feel differently. In which case, add the traction loss axis like the "sway" settings, perhaps at 15-20%. Whatever you like here.

Axis allocation for PC2, screen 1


Axis allocation for PC2, screen 2


Don't forget to hit "Save" after you adjust these settings. Note the orange checkboxes in these screens. They're critical. This tells Simtools which direction to apply force. Note that surge/sway is the REVERSE of pitch/roll. You may prefer sway in the opposite direction (especially if using this profile with a monitor; my sway setting is really tuned for VR). Feel free to reverse the "sway" boxes; try it both ways.
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Tuning Center

Next, let's cover the tuning center inputs. This is what calibrates the telemetry output to the range of motion of the controller. Telemetry output varies from sim to sim. We have to establish the range for each force. This is done in the tuning center (right click "Game Engine" in the Windows task bar, and you'll see "tuning center" as one of the options, left click that to open)

These values are very counter-intuitive. The LOWER the number, the GREATER amount of motion for a given axis. This is because we're setting the point at which each force will provide the entire range of motion set in the axis allocations.

Here's my inputs for PC2.

Tuning Center for PC2


You may have to check the green box above each axis to red to be able to enter these numbers. Tuning this screen is much of where you establish the "feel" for each sim. Don't forget to hit "Save New Settings" here if you change these numbers. Note the assymetry in "surge". This is to provide a nice gear change effect on the SFX-100.
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Profile Settings

The final tuning option is the "intensity" and "profile settings" for each game. This is found in the "game manager" portion of Simtools.

The single most important thing here is the "intensity" setting. Think of this a smoothing filter, and it has a HUGE effect. The difference between 100 and 99 is enormous. 100 is raw, unfiltered. 99 is pretty heavily smoothed. I basically think of the difference between these 2 as a switch.

I use the following 2 settings here. I save them separately, and can switch just by recalling each preset. Here's the "smooth" setting:

PC2 "Smooth" Profile setting


PC2 "Smooth" Profile setting


The second "editor" screen allows you to fine-tune each axis forces. I don't adjust them in my "smooth" setting. If you want more of a particular force, this is a good place to increase that. It will automatically save your setting in the selected profile name whenever you change this.

Here's my VR setting, it's quite a bit more tactile, and will shake your rig quite a bit more:
PC2 "VR/tactile" profile setting


PC2 "VR/tactile" profile setting


As this setting is quite a bit more intense (since its unfiltered, intensity=100), I reduce several axis in this profile to keep things reasonable. You can up these settings as much as you want or can handle. Both of these profiles will tilt your rig nicely when going up/down hills. Try it out at Spa or Watkins Glen (among my 2 favorite tracks).

So, there you go. Good luck! Let me know how you tune your sim and how you like the results.

Wow! Great work! This is probably the nicest rig I've seen in my 15+ years of sim racing. Congrats and enjoy.

Post up a couple videos of it in action and maybe a pov video when you get a chance. I'm sure everyone would like to see it.

I still in the process of getting a decent video of this system, but here's a very short take of a buddy trying out VR on the system. A little motion goes a long way in VR. I route pitch/roll/heave mainly onto the SFX actuators, and surge/sway onto the motion chair.

Feels fantastic, especially in VR. Short clip, just to give an idea of how they work together. Note the relatively large changes in pitch, as you go up and down hills (at Watkins Glen in PC2).

Also of possible interest. My v3 is on a slider system, with the entire v3 motion platform on the sliders. These keeps the proper center of gravity over the v3 as you move the chair. Super simple to get this installed (low) on my 8020 homebuilt profile.

I arranged to have the extrusions for the actuator housings black anodized. Here you go:

I've had a couple of requests to show how the motion chair was mounted on sliders and how the Thrustmaster HOTAS was attached. Here's a few pics to show the details.