My diy 3DOF motion rig project

Hey Dave

Hehe...and I wanted to be a bit more polite in regards to Simx/Berney. Guess it's to avoid upsetting him so he'd still sell me one of his Accuforce wheels. It's pretty sad actually - there's a guy who's spending thousands of $$ on a manufacturer's sim gear and all he get's in return is the actual gear he purchased and a kick in the butt. I've had quite a few conversations with sim racers and can say it's not just me who's pissed off about their customer support.
Well, it is what it is I guess...
Do you know a guy here in Brissie who's using Simtools? It would be great just to catch up with someone who can show me a bit how it looks like and works.
Would you say Simtool's advantage in speed is significant and perceptible?
That game's rawdata vs. Simx-algorithm point you mentioned is very interesting. So you say then that it's about who's capturing how a car (in a certain situation) reacts in a better way, Simx or the programmer of the sim, i.e. rFactor, GSC Extreme, AC or iracing? A sim with unrealistic physics would result in unrealistic motion and if you think the guys with rFactor or iracing for instance are better than Simx you should rather consider going for Simtools provided they translate the signals from the game into motion correctly. Am I right there?
It would be great if the guys who changed over to Simtools would share their experiences and knowledge.

Thanks mate

@Thirsty , I dont know of anyone is Brisbane with a Simx to simtools conversion. Maybe start a new thread and ask who has, even if its world wide.
@nclabs is the king of SCN conversion to simtools.
With regards to actually how the data is converted, @yobuddy , @value1 , @prilad , @eaorobbie can advise further.
I had a look at simcommander a few years ago when they still had the option of adding commands to use other controllers, but at that time , it was still based of old x-sim code.
I have beta tested x-sim version 3 onwards till it got out of hand and they buggered a lot up.
The first time I went to Simtools, there was only 3 forces, surge, sway and heave. For me the dramatic improvement in motion was astounding. Now it has 6 forces running, I have never looked back. For me its so more reactive, faster in motion to screen action.
Even with raw data and the settings in Simtools, I can refine things so much better so its either wild or sedate and yet spot on.
Its just amazing what the guys have done.
The Raw data VS algorithm can be a hot topic between a few people here.
Cheers dude.

I haven't tested Bodnar wheel, so I can't tell you...
Some Wheel Checks have been made to compare the wheels (speed, torque...). But I can't remember what models were tested...

edit:
http://www.racingfr.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=46848

Beano made some comparison as well, ask him.
http://forum.virtualracing.org/showthread.php/92954-AC-Servowheel-yes-another-one-this-time-by-Beano

good job

Cheers Dave.
I'll do some googling on that and might just start a thread on that.
You know anyone at all here in Brissie using Simtools? I'd be keen on trying out this software with your DC motors as well.

Theres a guy, @headbangersball building an arduino based sim, drop him a line and find out where he is.
Otherwise, as said, start a new thread on site asking for QLD people.
Dave.

Cheers Mat. Just went through Beano's thread on virtualracing. It's great!

There's plenty of distraction in my life, but my project is still alive
I got myself an OSw in the meantime as well.
Here the latest pics:







The whole thing is extremely solid.
Color is not final, just primer.
Now I gotta shorten the Simx mounting and dampening kit, fit the steering knuckle under the seat and then we're getting started on the base frame for rear traction loss.
That one is pretty simple by comparison so I'm not too far off anymore

Cheers

The actuator mounting kit has been shortened and that means the main frame is finally and I started working on the base frame.

Cheers mate.
It's actually not a plate, there are two pieces of angle steel welded on both sides of the double cross member. They are 3mm thick. The plate on the joint is 5mm. They are bolted together with 2 M8 bolts either side. So a deformation of the angles on the main frame would affect the 5mm joint plate as well. It's pretty much 8mm of steel which is dealing with these forces...hope that will do

The base frame is done. I decided to make this rig a flight simulator as well. So I had to sort out position and mounting of the joystick and throttle. It seems to me it's the best fitting that to the seat mover frame.
I got myself the TM HOTAS Warthog. The throttle is gonna be installed permanently and the joystick will be mounted after accessing the rig.

I am a bit embarrassed about not being able to come up with the completed rig, but I can finally say the rig is done...except the powder coating I mean.
So I'm working on the quad monitor stand now and it won't be long and it's all done.
Here the latest bit, the bracket for my handbrake and sequential shifter:


I got an aluminium plate for the pedals done as well - 10mm, so it's pretty robust.
There will be the rudder pedals mounted on it as well, but only if I use my rig as a flight sim. For that I'll slide the pedal plate fore by approx. 150mm. Camlock screws will be used for that - so no tools required.
The change from racing sim to flight sim should only take about a minute or two.


More to come soon

The quad monitor stand is done as well.
That is the flight sim rudder I'm using:
http://vkb-sim.pro/T-Rudder-MkIII/index.php

My pedal plate is quite high in reference to the seat, so I had to work out a diy bracket for it. I put it on an angle of 57.5°.
I'm using thumb screws to fix the rudder to the pedal plate temporarily while in flight sim mode.

Here we go - the design


Cheers

Tada!

Thank you.
That's all from Ergotron.
http://www.scorptec.com.au/product/Monitors/Monitor_Stands_&_Brackets/50548-45-246-026
http://www.ergotron.com/ProductsDetails/tabid/65/PRDID/317/language/en-AU/Default.aspx

Yeah, that's really good quality stuff.
That Ergotron keyboard tray was the only one I found which is adjustable in height. However, just recently I noticed a similar one in a Jaycar store. That one was around $80-90 if I remember correctly. It's probably not quite as good, but the chances are not too bad it will do the job ok...too late for me unfortunately.

There's a problem with the seating position, it was too upright. So I had to make some modifications. Apart from that I switched to a cardan u-joint.
The flight stick will be permanently mounted on the right hand side on the seat frame.
Here some pics: