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New forum member introduction/questions

Discussion in 'DIY Motion Simulator Building Q&A / FAQ' started by Tim Cervinsky, Nov 18, 2014.

  1. Tim Cervinsky

    Tim Cervinsky New Member

    Joined:
    Nov 18, 2014
    Messages:
    1
    Occupation:
    IT Technician
    Location:
    Williamsport, PA USA
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    421Coins
    Ratings:
    +0 / 0 / -0
    Hello, my name is Tim and obviously I'm new here. I've been doing some reading over the past week or so about motion simulators and I believe I'm prepared to get into this hobby. I know there will be some investment I need to make and that will probably slow my progress but I'm hoping to learn from your experience to make it as painless as possible. This project will be directed mainly at racing sims, but I would like the flexibility to use as a flight sim too.

    I come from a family background in mechanical engineering and construction, adding to that a fair number of years working in the 12V automotive field and now a glorified IT technician with some computer experience, not to mention acoustic engineering, video editing, speaker cabinet design, and custom car audio installer.

    As I proceed to evaluate where I need to start with this project I'm wanting to ask some basic questions. I assume one of my first decisions should be what DOF I plan on having. Six would be nice but not practical for my minimal budget. Three seems like a nice compromise. When I started looking at motors I wondered what sources other than new could be used. I have several linear actuators lying around the house but seem to get the impression that these move too slow and won't be suitable for this application. (but they are very heavy-duty)

    At first I thought I would want the rig to carry the weight of everything, but now think that just the seat and controls should be enough. Where do I begin?
    Tim Cervinsky, Nov 18, 2014
    #1
  2. noorbeast

    noorbeast VR Tassie Devil Staff Member Moderator Race Director

    Joined:
    Jul 13, 2014
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    Occupation:
    Innovative tech specialist for NGOs
    Location:
    St Helens, Tasmania, Australia
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    148,577Coins
    Ratings:
    +10,903 / 54 / -2
    My Motion Simulator:
    3DOF, DC motor, JRK
    Welcome @Tim Cervinsky.

    It sounds like you really have a good skill set for creating a simulator. It is indeed hard to determine what you may want to build but for racing 2DOF or 3DOF are likely the best options. The latter adds traction loss and plenty of members have been going down that path of late, so why not spend some time going through some of the current and past member projects: http://www.xsimulator.net/community/forums/diy-motion-simulator-projects.22/

    In terms of getting your head around the basics and the many choices you have the FAQ section is a great place to start: http://www.xsimulator.net/community/faq/

    Then create your own build thread and start asking questions and kick around design ideas, there are some real motion sim guru members who give freely of their time and expertise, which makes building a motion sim possible for the rest of us.
    noorbeast, Nov 19, 2014
    #2