Starting my first 2DOF DIY motion rig

Update!!

Hi guys, a pandemic weekend later I made some progress!

First of all, LFS still isn't delivering any Telemetry data which is killing me but as I am a console player (PS4), testing LFS from Laptop was only planned as minor milestone which should be easier to achive than starting with a network connection to PS4.

As LFS is still making trouble I decided to test the connectivity of my PS4 with Project Cars 2. Therefore I used @vthinsel Plugin https://www.xsimulator.net/communit...ew-udp-format-manual-plugin-start.197/updates.

I unplugged PS4 LAN cable, inserted a network switch and connected Laptop with SimTools and PS4 to the switch. What should I say... IT WORKS!!

Project Cars on Console delivered Telemetry data and I could see a lot moving bars in the virtual axis testing tag in game engine.

This made me enthusiastic and I started completing mechanical work the very next day as there where no pedal and wheel support until this moment. I was focusing on design from @Halloween2go which is shown in this thread https://www.xsimulator.net/community/threads/full-frame-2-dof-traction-loss-new-build.14740/

Unfortunatly I was so motivated that I forgot to take picture during the day, but I will make them when I unmount the rig for painting and add them later. Here is a picture of the completed rig after the day:





After remounting everything I was able to get my first impressions how the movement feels by testing it by driving --> very much fun!
So I started with setting up Axis Assignments in SimTools and found that I wasn't able to eliminate motor struggeling and down movemenet behavior (as mentioned in a previous post the motor is going down with lower speed than up) which I expected to be adjustable by modifying K values in SCMutils but it wasn't.

So i started suspecting the MotoMonster as, let's say as questionable. So I ordered 2 IBTs and removed the MotoMonster. Result: Left side --> GOOD , right side --> no movement , but found a wiring fault by myself and after fixing this (and parameter change in SMCutils) both motors move smooth and with same speed up and down. So I would add mysels to tzhe long list of people in this forum who have doubts with the MotoMonster Shield, so if you want to stay more cheap than with the sabertooth I'd recommend the IBT2s instead of the MotoMonster .


I also made 2 or 3 steps to modify the pot mounting to the motor to the actual version with a coupling which seems to perform well.


Now I have something like a working motiom rig as you can see here in the video:



to all the supporters here in the forum to get me to this point. Now I can start debugging, optimization and so on.

BR
Chris

Dang! That Look friggin AWESOME! How is it handling? Looks great !

Thanks @Halloween2go,

i was mainly following your build as you can find some similarities to your frame. This forum with its users was a huge help.

However I already did some hours of testing and finetuning simtools, so for Project Cars 2 i think I have setup with a quite good movement of the rig. Last weekend I had the chance to test it with a more heavyweight driver and therefore was able to look at the "technique" while it's acting. So I found that the pot mounting "opposite" of the motor is not good for my actual setup as the motor kind of moves its holding fixture while moving the lever and the couple to the pot is twisted which occurs position loss of the lever and after some minutes one of the couples was gone completly, so i decided to put the pot on the same base than the motor and connect it via gears. This also offers the possibility to set a ratio as the pot is able to move 270° and the lever less than 180°, so I designed and printed the gears in 1,5:1 to get a better resolution of the pot.

After this modification I already drove some hours (nearly 2h continously) and everything works fine.

I also cleaned up the electronics work as I mounted all of the parts in a seperate box with cables including connectors to motors and pots.

What has to be mentioned are the motors I used, after the period of testing I feel they are little bit too slow and maybe also little big to weak.
60W, 60rpm, 50:1 wormgear motor

So I decided to change them before optimizing and finalizing the "moving" holding fixtures. Again I followed @Halloween2go and ordered the crab pot puller motors in 50:1 with 280W and ~80rpm, hope this will be a significant improvement.

I'm going to share pics of the new pot setup and the electronics later.

BR
Chris

Looking griabig mate.
Congrats!

Thanks mate,

racing with motion is definetly fun!!! I'd never expect that movement of the rig makes it feeling that different. In the meantime I was playing araound with the tuning of motion profile in Simtools and think I found quite good setings for PC2. This weekend I tried to do the same for AC but unfotunately I have ACC which seems to be not working with @vthinsel plugin for AC.

So it seems that doing simracing with motion rig and PS4 for me is just Project Cars 2 .

Lucky me there was Black Friday last week and spontanously I invested in a Gaming PC setup. My G29 seems to work with PC as well and I really like the option with the 3 monitor setup but first it has to arrive.

By the way, what is the most common racing sim for PC or which one has the biggest community? I prefer GT class racing and rally from time to time, so can anyone advice some games, thanks.

BR Chris

Servus Chris,

here I send you some links for Steam Sales - great PC Racing AND you can do it in flat or VR. Check it out I hope you like what you see. I think those prices end tonite so better look quick.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/...ne/?curator_clanid=4777282&utm_source=SteamDB

https://store.steampowered.com/app/244210/Assetto_Corsa/?curator_clanid=4777282&utm_source=SteamDB

https://store.steampowered.com/app/690790/DiRT_Rally_20/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/378860/Project_CARS_2/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1066890/Automobilista_2/


I personally like RaceRoomRacing Experience most when it comes to VR Sim Racing .... matter of taste
During the year it is unaffordable expensive but today the Bfriday Sale is still on

http://game.raceroom.com/store/

There is also a free Demo if you like to test before.

Ahh .... and all the mentioned games work with SimTools and your MoSiRig

By the way I would sell my PSVR with some of the best VR Titles

Let me know if you or anybody is interested.

Cheers, ART FLY

Sers Chris,

are you using sway or roll - use sway as main force for the turning experience ... I think the direction you show in your vid is set the wrong way. In the right corner your Sim should tilt to the left and vice versa. Just invert the axis direction in AxisSetup in Game Engine.

If what I say is correct you will enjoy racing g-forces even more.

Here is some stuff to read for you

https://www.xsimulator.net/community/threads/why-pitch-and-roll-rather-than-surge-and-yaw.8631/

https://www.xsimulator.net/communit...run-in-first-person-mode-before-patching.345/

https://www.xsimulator.net/community/faq/snappy-gear-change-motion.121/

Cheers,
Yours
ART FLY

Hey Guys,

my PC setup is going to arrive soon . Will it be possible to transfer my SimTools licence to my new PC as it is actually installed on an old laptop, just as interface between PS4 and Rig. I beleive with the new setup there won't be a reason for the laptop anymore so I have to reinstall SimTools on the new system.

Any advice?

Christian

Great news, thanks. As i made only one installation up to now, this should be fine.

Hi fellows,

after some minor optimizations on my rig and some hours of racing I had to determine that my chosen motors are junk . These chinese worm gear motors I bought from china (via ebay) are too slow and a bit too weak but mainly the fact is they started getting leeway which makes the movement always bumpy.

So finally the decision was made to make an upgrade on motor side. I found a set of used wheelchair motors on ebay which is 140rpm instead of 60 before and 240W instead of 60 before . Little topic: they are 24V which also makes an upgrade on PSU necessary, So I bought a second HP server PSU, so now I have 2 times 1200W HP 12V PSU which I connected following this tutorial: https://blog.seidel-philipp.de/hp-dps-1200fb-netzteil-umbauen-fuer-ein-lipo-ladegeraet/.

When the motors arrived I was some kind of shocked because of the wheight and the size .


To take them to the rig I welded mounts that should be stiff enough to fix them sufficient.


Actually I rebuilding the electronics with new PSU and designed mounts for the pots, they are already on their way on my 3D printer.

I will update my progress soon as I'm hoping to get the rig back to work within this week.

BR
Chris

A little bit off topic, in the meantime I built a usb (only digital) handbrake (mainly for Dirt 2.0).

I found a youtube tutorial and decided to copy this, what should I say, really easy and it works.

The switch is connected to a spare pcb out of an old USB keyboard. I removed the pcb, connectet it to my computer, opened a texteditor and used a piece of wire to shortcut pins from block 1 and block 2 of the pcb connector. After I found a connection that delivers a letter (in my case its j) I soldered the switch to these 2 pins. So now it's a USB handbrake .

After some testing and found it's good I designed a housing for 3D printer to make it look a bit less tinker look.


BR Chris

Good decision mate. It will work out fine. Looking forward to hear your news.

Later & Servus,
Yours ART FLY

P.S. things over here are quite frustrating as my Frankintosh seems to have died - I will find out this week if it is the psu or the logic board or the backboard

Yeah, thats the tutorial I followed. Thanks for adding the link.

BR
Chris

It's always the worst time when you expect to have fun and then nothing works right ... Happened to me this weekend. I think I need powered USB hub.. More T/S needed. Really like the idea of the handbrake, Planning on taking a look at this today. DMAX

Some progress with the handbrake .

Unfortunately the motors still are out of order. I modified my electronics box with new power supply (chosen 2x HP DPS-1200FB server psu) and after testing the setup with SMC3 evrything looked good. Started testing with AC and after some minutes one of the psu was switching of. Now it starts when plugged and after some seconds the Power LED turns off.

I imagine the fan of the psu was not working correctly. I bought the 2 psu seperatly and found that I got 1x DPS-1200FB-1 A and 1x DPS-1200FB A. The one that is not working anymore was with some additional contacts inside the socket for the main power supply,

the other one seems to be "normal".

I guess modifying the psu with resistor to simulate its placed inside a rack is not enough for getting the fan to work. The information to be found in the internet is not that clear on that point.

I ordered a second one with the "normal" socket to give it a try.

However the first (very short) try with the new motors was very promising .

BR
Chris

Need some Help!!

After a lot pf Ups and Downs in the last few weeks, I finalized the rebuild with wheelchair motors. What have I done:
- switched from the china wormgear motors (12V/60W) to german wheelchair (wormgear as well) motors (24V/240W)
- switched from 12V/360W LED PSU to 2x HP 1200W server PSUs and again to 2x 24V/360W LED PSUs (modified server PSUs caused a highly flickering PWM signal which leads to stuttering motors in groundposition
- switched from 10k china pots to 10k pots with unlimited turns and 270°

I still use the Arduino Uno and the 2x IBT2 H-Bridges from the former setup. What is the problem now:

I can setup a smooth movement in SMC3 and let the motors run in Sine minutes, even Motion is doing well most of the time. From time to time during motion one of the motors (it happens to both) stops moving with the target line within the limits. Nothing strange happened before, motor just stops and it needs a restart of SMC3 to put it back to motion.

Starting SimTools similar bahaviour. It starts, centers the rig. I have setup a new profile for AC with less movement and the rig is moving like expected until, again, one of the motors stops moving. If so only closing SimTools and starting SMC3 or closing SimTools und unplugging USB can reset the Rig and bring it back to work. My feeling tells me that the motors (again, it happens to motor one or motor two) stop moving after more aggressive moves (like bumps or curbs).

Is it possible that both IBT2 are defect? As explained they worked with the old setup but had to drive 5 amps max. Now they have to drive 10 amps but should be no problem as they can drive up to 42 amps, right?

I tried a lot but as the errors can be reset by restarting Arduino it has to be caused by the electronics. I think PSUs can be eliminated as it is the same with the 2 modified server PSUs.

I would also eliminate the pots as in SMC3 you can see clearly the motors stop moving within the Clipping lines, so the pots are still delivering voltage within the limits.

Someone got an idea?

BR
Chris

Not yet, but sounds comprehensible. But the problem wasn't present with tho old motors and old PSU. I will give it a try this evening.
The USB is connected via a USB Hub, I'll try to use direct connection and maybe also different port or cable, lets see.

Thanks and regards
Chris