my pilot chair project v1

Hi everyone,
first-off, this is a great forum. I've been doing research here over the last couple of months so I could finally build my pilot seat that I plan to use for elite dangerous (ED). I am a VR player with a cv1 oculus. I figure that a motion seat will further enhance my gameplay. I've over 1000hrs in VR with ED so far and now it's time for the 'next level'.
I planned to start with just 2DOF to keep things simple until I find my feet!.
I've been using my exec office chair for ED which will be the basis for my motion-seat (albeit quite hefty).
I'll post images and pix of my progress.
Kev

Hi,
here is my parts list.
The first step was to build a 2DOF in miniature on my work bench. I used an arduino uno R3 and dual monster moto VNH2SP30 bridge with a couple of small gear-reduced bi-directional motors.
I settled on using RacingMat 2DOF code from this forum, as I figured this was a good place to start.
Simtools v2 and the ED plugin was installed on my pc and I connected it all up. After a little help from the forum my miniature motion sim and software was working ok.



I already have two 90ZYT199-12-MPC2 60:1 drive units but these are pretty current hungry for my monster motos. I did use these motors when building the seat base but just recently after a monster moto burn-out I've ended up swapping these out for some 12v wiper motors for now.

For the actual motion sim I scaled up the parts
My final parts list is as follows (mostly from that popular auction site);
6x PHS10 female rosejoint rod end bearings M10RHT - £23
2x HP DPS600PB 575w psu's (one is a spare) - £32
a couple of 22k pots (tried cermet 10k vishay ones but the 22k's work a little better)
1 x Arduino (genuine) uno R3
5x monster moto VNH2SP30 dual bridges (several are for spares)
4x 120N 10inch gas struts
2x vauxhall astra 1998-2004 12v wiper motors
some metal framework and fasteners that I have knocking around.

Hi again,
I acquired a steering column shaft inclu. CV joint.
This was chopped and mounted to my steel base. the exec chair was modified to fit. The leather seat can be removed from its steel cradle making setting up fairly straight forward (levelling, welding etc).
I then set about making up some motor mounts, making brackets and cutting 10mm threaded bar to use as the actuator arms from motors to chair.
Build images follow;

more build pix focusing on mounting the chair cradle to the CV joint;


The 12v wiper motors arrived so I gave them a bench test with ED and joystick (did this on the dining room table as missus had gone away for a couple of days and garage was bloody cold!);


Next task was to get fit these wiper motors to the sim chair and get the chair moving.

More build pix



Next job was to mount and zero-up the pots, boot up Simtools and ED and hopefully the seat cradle will move;

I tried to sit in the cradle and the movement was pretty quick and jerky. I played with the axis limiting in game engine and set about installing a footrest and some damper arms to counter the pitch movements. 4x 120N damper arms were installed just forward of the UJ (CV) joint just forward of the balance point. These dampers will offer resistance when pitching forward (but my weight will aid the motors when doing this). I set the dampers to mid-point in their travel when attaching them. This way they will offer some assistance to the motors when pitching back. 2 of the dampers are offset slightly to offer the same resistance and assistance when rolling.


The next job was to fit the leather chair back into the cradle;
This is set up and ready for flight.

Now I'm aware that the chair and cradle weigh 15-20kg and I'm 55kg + ancilliaries like footrest, extra screen, hotas etc. I'm counting on the gas struts to do the job of damping the jerkyness mentioned earlier. Clamp-meter current tests showed the motors only draw max 2A when in motion with peaks no more than 4A, so not ultra powerful to move this mass.
I just needed someone to give it a fly while I kept a check in the electro-mechanicals. I got my son, who is similar in weight, to fly while I checked and filmed (sorry its in portrait).
After a couple of minutes it was clear it was working pretty well. At this point nothing has really been tuned in game engine.

Ok, after some tweaking in game engine, I set the forces for roll and pitch at 60% and 50% respectively. The axis limits are at 90% as the motor arms were affecting the pots positions (looseing because of contact in mechanics). I've made some sturdier pot mounts and its all running well since. I also have an emergency stop button that will kill the drive voltage if anything goes awry during flight.
I've re-instigated my VR headset and been putting time into ED in VR with flight motion (albeit only roll and pitch).

Aside from very, very occasionally having to reset the pots so the chair goes back to dead level I have had no problems whatsoever in over 50 hours of gameplay. I tend to play for between 1hr and 8hrs near-continual playtime. I have to say I'm quite pleased with the outcome.
I'm sure there are further enhancements I can do to make it even better - I welcome any comments.

I began to research this pilot sim seat build back on 17th Jan 2017 and started gaming in it on 23rd Feb 2017. I would have posted this earlier but I couldn't stop playing ED for long enough. Its been a blast from start to finish and I have this forum and its members to thank, for the inspiration, answering my questions in the Q&A forum section, and providing the tools to move the ideas forward!

I am looking at moving to a 3DOF as a next step - any suggestions for which 3DOF's will suite a starship? and which software to try it with (for an arduino and mm's - or other recommended drivers+supporting code/guidance).

For now I leave with a vid of my 'mostly harmless' son playing an ED combat sim in full VR.
Thanks for reading and I hope you didn't find it too booooooring!
Kev B