Showroom DX - Compact Simulator

Still a bit to go @SilentChill, there are new HOTAS mounts to make, the haptic harness to add, the computer dock to finish and finding a place to mount and wire in the Arduino for surge control. But at the moment work is taking precedence.

Yes I do have plans for a combined compact yaw/traction loss, but they are a long way off at the moment @-kevin-.

The mechanism is the tilt part, I already had it but this is an example of the style I used, so it could be purchased. You would want to hunt around concerning price if there was a need to buy one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Office-Chair-Seat-Plate-Knee-Tilt-Mechanism-Control-NEW-/380342104992

What I really need video wise is good lighting, as I was trying to capture the heave plate mount movement in the first half of this video: http://www.xsimulator.net/community/threads/dx-racer-compact-simulator.5866/page-15#post-83683

What I may do is try and do a video of it as a 1DOF, with the heave motor driving heave, surge and pitch. With the Rift the 1DOF surprisingly feels pretty good and while you miss the sway it is not as much as you would think!

Some maintenance updates.

I started getting frequent JRK usb disconnects on the right front motor. I swapped out the motor and usb cable, which had no effect, so I concluded the most likely cause was a failing PSU, which was indeed the problem. I use HP server DPS-600PB PSUs and managed to pick up a brand new replacement, with the genuine HP shipping box being somewhat of an overkill:



In the past I soldered the bridge wires direct to the PSU terminals, as per @Slider's original guide: http://www.xsimulator.net/community/threads/how-to-modify-a-server-power-supply-for-12v.5774/

However, this time I am trying something different to simplify swapping out a PSU within the very tight confines of my sim. I have pinched each pair of the blade terminals together and used two 6.3mm female connectors each side to bridge the bade terminals. I then soldered and shrunk wrapped the power cable to the wire bridge just behind one of the terminals. I don't know how well it will hold up in the long run but so far so good and it means I can easily swap out a standard PSU in minutes, without pulling the whole sim apart.

I also noticed that some of the springy metal tabs that normally provide tension in a server PSU bay have been catching on the frame of my sim when I pull it out in an upward direction. So to ensure that can't happen and to prevent any possible chance of earth leakage I also shrunk wrapped the whole PSU before putting it back in the frame.



While I was at it I also modified the pedal plate so that there are three different mount positions, using two quick release thumb bolts. I have a short mount position for my sister and father, a medium length mount position for myself and one for friends with long legs:



I replaced the motor to gearbox coupling in the heave motor when I was swapping motors around, as I had some new metal ones to replace the original plastic items. I have also replaced the one 60:1 gearbox that I have encountered problems with. This gearbox has had two separate sets of gears in it. The second set of gears has only had really limited light use over a month but was already starting to have excessive play. The original 60:1 on the other side has been subjected to the same setup and use since I built the sim and is as good today as the new box I just added. My conclusion is that flipping the shaft may well be the real issue. Hence the new box is right handed so that is not necessary.

Now that the pesky USB disconnects are resolved I can spend some time refining the motion profiles. I also have to make the new HOTAS mounts and tidy up the computer dock and associated control box. I just picked up some tiny chrome housed LEDs today so that I can implement @Archie's JRK disconnect warning lights and reset switches in the limited space I have on the control box.

Yes @muxximess you just adjust the spring to suit, though near maximum works pretty well for me.

The only downside is that I have to turn off the heave motor if I leave the sim running for a while without being in it, as the 25:1 motor can't indefinitely hold the positive upward force that is being exerted on it when unloaded. The 60:1s are unaffected, as they can hold even when un-powered.

One day I may well swap all gearboxes to 50:1 and be done with it, as they can also hold unpowered. I would pick up a bit more speed at the front while softening the heave speed.

What is crucial is the adapter between the heave knee and universal joint, as it is designed to minimise the front pivots through its arc.

Yes, when activated the heave motor centralizes the heave spring position and can move it up and down from there.

I actually use my sim as an office chair unpowered, which is why I chose the 25:1 for the heave at the rear. The 60:1s at the front remain in position when unpowerd. The heave spring will support over 100kg unpowered and being adjustable will perfectly balance a users weight. The unpowerd 25:1 moves, so the seat has some 'give' under you up and down if you shift your weight, which makes it really comfortable.

When in use the heave spring balances the users weight and provides some small positive lift force up and some small negative resistance down, both of which actually help as the user weight is already assisting downward movement anyway and the positive up helps lift the user more quickly.

The last comment is about the arc the heave knee travels through and the relative position of the universal joint used to minimize the impact. When I mocked up the heave it was immediately obvious that seat would travel through a large arc relative to the much smaller arc of the knee if the joiner was perpendicular to the heave knee:



So the joiner is angled forward to minimise that impact, that way the seat travels through a much smaller arc comparable to the knee itself:

Yes reducing the height helps and I did that in the final adapter within the restrictions of my design, which related to the seat height relative to the plate height that mounts the pedal rail.

There is a practical limit in the height where the seat will hit the adjusting knob in the circumstance where the heave spring is depressed and the seat is in the pitch forward position.

You use all three motor to control heave. So they all move down or up in unison for their heave axis settings. But in practical terms that is also affected by what is also mixed in for other axis settings and there is a very slight lateral affect because the heave knee is traveling through and arc.

I am currently playing with motion profiles in how I mix and manage their movements with percentage allocations and filters, with the front motor responses being setup somewhat sharper for the vibration like response of harsh bumps and the rear heave being more undulation in response to bigger heave movements. Like all motion profile development the settings are somewhat unique to the game and car/track chosen. But it feels very different for say the Assetto Corsa Cobra at Nordschleife, which sort of floats around a lot compared to say the Williams F1 on the same track, as it has harsh suspension responses. In fact the Williams is a bit too harsh on the same settings, which is likely what that sort of car would be like at Nords, and is a bit too realistic with harsh heave motions on the sim to be pleasant for too long.

So do you suggest it is a good idea to wire and test before I go drilling holes in my pretty alloy control box?

I do not plan to add the reset warning and switches until the next major update where I pretty much tear the sim down again, as I have to add wires to my JRK box and run them back to the control box, but it is on my todo list of upgrades. I could do a temporary wiring test by removing the JRK fan and run the wires that way.