gyroscope jet simulator - concept brainstorming thread

I agree with @tronicgr Retrofit and existing Sega r360.

I missed out on an auction for two of them that Michael Jackson owned. I thought they went cheap.
The buyer refurbished them to original condition. Which increased value but made it hard to find part when it breaks down.
I thought the units should have been upgraded to more modern electronics.

Also I haven't seen any one post about the current units out of Europe or Asia that are following this same 360 concept you are looking for.
Do a google search in the images section..
use search words like "360 flight simulation" and you will see what your looking for as far as working designs.
this may save you headache and money.
At least you can use this as an example

Personally I like how you get in and out.

There are some basic plans to look over posted all over the internet.

When I get my retrofit done I will want to go this direction. so good luck I want to follow this project.

I just learned I personally can't post pictures from my internet searches.....
So you will have to be a detective in your own personal searches. You will find a stripped down model to guide you in your design.
And some finished designs going to market.

I found one basic design and was unable to post it as a reference for you.
Like I said I have been watching this idea for a while just to busy with my "money pit" project

@SmartCraft yep I have seen some of the "spherical skeletons" yet but I haven´t found one who made a closed sphere.
As I think of it a skeleton won´t work since I would drive with the motors on the outside surface of the sphere. Though building a skeleton like this looks like a good way but it leaves not much room to the pilot ;-)

http://www.kwartzlab.ca/2011/11/icosahedron-flight-simulator-platform/

@xytras Ok I understand. I did see that unit also. It will be good to see where you go with this.
I was mainly drawn because of the ease of loading and unloading and complete 360 Axis
I will follow this one.
Thanks

I will not go for a sphere in the first version, I just don´t have the right place for that. Playing with GRP creates a lot of stench, explosive atmosphere and a lot of dust.
But in case I will one day I would probably start with the surface and add the skeleton then. This may not sound logical but I think it is easier that way round IF you have
a mould for the creation of a glas fiber hemisphere.

@xytras I do want to see how this goes. Since I didn't get the sega r360 I have wanted to see a compact 360 unit built.
So I'm rooting for you and this design.

Finally I found some motors that might fit for this. Still have to check the torque but they do 120rpm at 24V and have a 20Nm torque at a 4:1 ratio.
I just need to get my hands on the missing gearboxes for these. I could drill my own gears in POM but I don´t like metal running on plastic.
I also found some "cheap" 20 USD 24V Motordrivers with current rating 20A and peak 59A that should just do fine.

I gave up using the winch motors for the roll (inside) ring because I just cannot silence them there due to lack of space but they are still a good choice for the outter ring
as I can even put them on a 2:1 or 3:1 transmission and they still should be fast enough for looping speeds.

Great!!
If I wasn't up to my neck with my "360 Commercial retrofit". I would be going your direction. I do have a couple of questions.... Did you finalize your design? Did it come out like your drafts that you posted above?
Have you found a slip ring to your liking? I'm using a Mercotac 8 wire model 830 (2@4 amps, 6@30 amps) slip ring. I know there are lots of units out there so it will be interesting how you will transfer power and data between your loops.
I use 3 for power and the other 5 for data

This will be fun to continue this project. Your welcome to glean information off my problems.....
I don't mind your input. My unit will be shipped to my location today or tomorrow...... Then I can find out what a mess my help caused.
That is another story.

No I didn´t continue with the design yet because I want to have some main parts first so I can fit the concept to them.
About the slip ring I am not sure yet but I am aware there are many choices. I guess I will put one into a used BMX handlebar bearing.
Before I get a slip ring I need a good idea about measuring the position. Best bet will be a gyroscope sensor.
Already bought a tiny digital one a while ago that should do the job. But I´ll test that before I believe the specs that say it can read 2000° per second ;-)
It also reads the g-force so I get all the required data in a sensor for $2. Anyway it requires 4 wires +2 if one motor +4 if 2 motors. So an 8 wire slip ring
probably is a good choice. Two more if I need another sensor.
A lot of sandbox playing with the electronic stuff before I make some progress at the mechanical concept.

Great idea in using the gyroscope sensor. I may add this to my current 360 commercial retrofit that i'm working on...... I finally got it relocated to my work warehouse.

I didn´t get any further with this yet because I am still busy with my 2DOF simulator. Slowly getting the material due to a damn strike at the post. Waiting already 4 weeks for some of the items

Don't feel that I'm pushing you I just have similar interest in this concept. As I search the internet I see there are many attempts with similar ideas. So thanks for sharing

Alright, since my 2DOF is almost done it is time to get back to this while I am waiting for new motors for the 2DOF...

For the 360° I think leaving the PAN axis out would just be lame so I reconsidered a sort of spherical gyro construction. I love the concept made by GusBiz but I want to keep it cheap,small and constructable with common tools.
CF is great but it is expensive, the dust isn´t too good for health and I never worked with it so that is not a good idea for a first project with CF.

I´ll stick to steel or maybe aluminium for the cage if I find someone welding it for me. This is the updated version:



The outer box won´t be part of the sim, it is just showing the bounding / consuming space box which is a cube around 1,50m.
To start with this I´ll probably build the inner cage from wood just to see if it really got enough space or some tweaks are required.
Of course everything can be constructed and calced in cam program but sitting in the cage just gives more exact information.

One important thing I need to keep in mind is that this thing needs to fit through a door (which is around 80cm) so I cannot weld all parts