Playseat to 2-DofSeat

Finally, I've got back the pivot. Welded good only a bit of small plates, guess we had a miscommunication

Luckily I have 2 more counter plates so I can sandwich the wooden plate between the 2 steel plates.. and it gets support from the mounted rods underneath.. So I guess I'll be fine!!

So here is the pivot and my base set playseat with G27 steering/shifter and pedals..

For the rest I will be using:
ZYT90 12V 180W
50:1 gearbox
Arduino Mega
Hal pots
Monster Moto Shield (need cooling fins before I forget!!!)
Load of nuts and bolds, angle brackets.. etc..

The lever will be under the knees so I get a clean top and finish the with some alum tear plates or whatever they are called..

First step is to build it and test it, second step is taking it apart for painting and decorating, and finally hopefully ENJOY it for a long, long time.. Hope I will not get addicted, ( to building)
Having build 4 3D printers in the last couples of years I know things can get addictive!!

.. Oh yes.. another thing ..design and print me a 2:1 gear so I can have the full potential of the 180degree Hal pots.. or would this be overkill?!

I will try and keep track of the build as good as possible.. But I thing I get carried away and forget all about the blog Or I will run in a whole load of trouble and keep on asking questions here

With kind regards,

Michael

Looks good man, just ask as you need to here and you will find answers

Welcome Michael! I can help you with you're question about the hall pots. In your case it would not be overkill to use more of the pots movement imo. If you are using the same hall effect pots most of the rest of us are, they start out limited to 92% of the range your controller can register (at least when using the standard 5v reference). What that means is they output a minimum voltage of .2 and a maximum of 4.8, not 0 to 5 like a standard pot @ 5v. So it sounds like you would be using only 90 degrees (one-half) of the pot without gearing. And that would be using less than half the resolution of the ADC on the arduino after you factor in the 92% voltage range.

However, these pots are very sensitive and any backlash added in by gears will detract from their performance. Therefore, I would recommend just using the 90 degree range hall pot instead of the 180 degree one if you can get one from a supplier that will ship it to your location. If not, keep you're gearing as tight as possible!

And like bsft says, if you have any more questions we are here to help you if possible. Just ask.

I think that if I use herringbone gears I can eliminate backlash..
I use these type of gears on my extruder for my printer...

Something like this..


this type of gears is almost without backlash, well actually on my extruders none..

Today I started mounting the pivot and Motor brackets.. So tomorrow I can mount the motors to the boards..
Then the 'hard' building stuff should be done and the 'tinkering' and electronics side starts..
Longer bolts so I can sandwich the Playseat main frame beam ..
I will drill holes through the frame and bolt the frame to the board to get the structure rigid..

The idea..

Actually the whole idea is to use whatever I can find at the hardware store as I have no powertools at hand.. just using drill, hamer, saw and wrenches And I have fun already! Quite curious where this leads to Failure or success.. Just worried about my lever connection but I can ask somebody to make me one proper..

looks ok so far.
Where do you plan to connect the motors to the frame?
As for simple tools, all my builds are a garage floor , $30 electric 100mm grinder, cheap electric drill, $99 arc welder, half rusty wood saw, etc. Nothing specialized at all.

Motors are in the front.. Good to see, that I am not alone in doing builds under equipped
I saw so many tools at the hardware store that I could use right now, but probably would never use again!

This is where I got now. Realizing it is a bit high, but for now.. better too high then too low.. I rather reuse the parts and cut them instead of having to search for new..

only problem I have is the mount of the lever with the motor axel.. It is threaded M6 so I got the bolt in .. but I guess I need to drill a hole through and through to put a split pen in? Am I correct?!?!

Should I drill a hole through for a split pen .. Wise or not!!!!
Up high..
playseat mounted sharing bolts with the pivot

So the raw build is nearing completion.. but not all happy as I found 5mm of rotational play in the pivot, that I didn't notice before, but now the extra weight shows it.. But I'll finish this so I rebuild with lessons learned during this progress..

Looks good man. Yes its part of learning.

I think it may struggle a bit with motors connecting that low and I know from experience. Erwan is using 50:1 boxes to give more torque to overcome a lower mounting position. You may need to do the same or mount motors to connect a lot higher on the frame.
with the motor shaft through the motor, tighten the crap out of the bolt , then toss a 5mm grub screw through the motor housing tube and the motor bolt to hold it tight as well.
5mm of play in a cv shaft is normal, hence why we use uni joints. Make up some drag links to hold the frame steady to overcome this.

Thanks.. I'll try it this way first as I have 50:1 boxes on them..
I will see what I can do about the grub screw option..
I have a screw tapping set somewhere!


Next time I will lower the seat so you nearly sit on the pivot point
I see some options .. So I can lower the seat for almost 30cm.. and have the pivot point between the top plate and seat.. So the balance should be different and easier to throw around.. even with the lower mounting of the lever rods..
But fist I finish it as it is right now.. so I can do all the electronics work.. I have to take it apart anyway for painting and decoration.. so that would be the moment to cut a hole and lower all the parts!!
Thanks again..

Ok. This is much better.. I managed to drill a hole and tab it for M5.. No it is tight!!!!

I don't understand drag link?? can you explain this more.. probably something lost in translation here

I managed to find me some cooling fins, cut a piece from an old graphics card cooling block.. So that is nicely attached.

But now the main question remains for me, which firmware for the Arduino is the best option?

And I need to start up my printer for some gears and brackets to mount the pot to the shaft!
That's something for the upcoming week

So no more racing now as I have a halfbuild sim perhaps I can support it with a pilar so I don't fall off and then I still can race

Edit: With some extra cutting and drilling I can manage to lower it all a 13cm.. This will cause the pivot to be above the upper plate, so that's good!!!.. Next up is to think about the mounting points of the lever rods.. (only need some extra board to be directly underneath the seat, some long bolts and some steel bars for structural integrity, as I have to cut the bar under the seat.. as the pivot will be in the way.. Need a Y structure to keep the board from failing on me, I think)

The issue with no backlash is the intera build up in direction change is massive when considering we are can change direction up to 5 times a sec and travel our full degree of movement in that time (well Jrk can) , tight gearing will wear them very quickly unless built out of the right product. But to be used on the pots , cool will work perfectly.

Ard code, Prilad or RufusDufus are the easiest to use and setup, but others say RacingMats works too. Im a Jrk person still have not seen one match them yet.
But the Ard guys seem pretty happy with theirs which is cool.

Hmm.. I have taken down the build as it is right now.. I have decided that I will lower it first.. will come down about 12cm.. so the pivot is above the board ..
Then I'll decide what to do with the pot.. direct mount or geared.. I guess I will find that out when I start the Ard stuff

Thanks!!

Yep, pivot right up under the seat will help for sure.

Ok done the conversion and the pivot is up higher.. feels a lot lighter to move by hand with a person on top.. So I guess the balance is still ok .
Next up is to shorten the lever rods..

I decided that the lever arms are to fragile so I made a drawing to let somebody build/weld it for me..
As my shaft has a slid in it I can have this type of construction on it.. The part goes around the shaft .. bolt a M8 through the part into the axle and have a M5 bolt from above into the slide of axle..
Should be impossible to move this part ..


This will take me of the project for about a week but after printing this part in plastic, just to test fit and hand it off as an example to be build.
I decided I would go for temporary solution so I can get my rig started.. I printed me some beefier version and damn.. that part is heavy and solid!!!!
I guess I will try it on and start the build of the electronics part!!!

Will post a picture later..
For now I decide to have the pot direct mounted to the shaft instead of gearing.. But will eventually go for gearing as I want the full range of the pot.. but first I need to now how much I need in gearratio..
So first I print me 2 of these..

I did something like that of which you are proposing on a set of 50:1 boxes with solid shafts as well. I found a bit of steel box that would fit sort of snug on the shaft, welded a lever on it, and yes, drilled through both to run a m8 bolt through it and a 5mm bolt on one end to steady it.
So you are on the right track.

Thanks for confirming and looking at the image, I am on the same track !! Cool ...

Just a though, I know you have a 3d printer, but a short piece of plastic pipe and maybe a thin bit of board would get the same idea, in less time done as well.

I am printing already a real beefy version of it.. even too much .. but for now ok I think!!
as all torque comes together here I guess it needs to be massive in plastic


It just takes 4 hours per piece lol

Wicked , can I have your printer, very very handy.
Like your idea of connecting with the blue bit, should allow a little flex, any radial strain on the pot shaft will shorten its life.
As for levers I use this.

A bit of 25x5mm flat bar.
Bolt in the end is used to mount a gear or pulley on. At present using different ones with pots connected directly to shaft.