UK 6 DOF AC Motion Build

Hi All

This platforms been in development for some time but I finally got things up and running recently after nearly a year of stalling due to EMI issues from the Inverters used in these AC builds.

Anyway I guess some of you have seen the build log on motionsims forums but now I finally have things up and running I thought id post a tidied up log of the build here and a new video after some initial tuning.

This was my first sim and I id never welded, done any cad work and just about knew how to wire a plug before starting all this so big learning curve but has been great learning all these new skills.

Also a big thank you to "Speedy" here who was very helpfully recently in helping with the EMI issues, top bloke.

First the Motors
1.1kw 1400 Rpm with 60:1 gearbox (090's) so about 23-24rpm at the lever.



for the rod ends 3/4" bore and high misalignment spacers providing about 30 degree angle. Threaded bung is welded into a 4mm mild steel tube. I actually paid for someone to Tig weld these in for me as I was worried about screwing them up with my limited Stick welding skills and I didn't have spares.

Bought a cheap stick welder and used 3mm mild steel for the top and bottom platforms.



Had a guy in china machine the levers for me, cost about £260 for all 6. 22mm steel (forget the grade now)



For the control cabinet I decided to make life easier and bought a server cabinet, about £90 off ebay.
Did a layout in auto cad for a steel plate to go in cabinet to house the VFD's, brake resistors, consumer unit and other bits.



The dining room made a nice place for the sim (who the heck needs a dining room right??)



Bottom and top Base going together, used a wooden jog to line everything up.



Thought about mounting existing rig on top of base but I wanted to keep things light and balanced so that was not going to work, so in the end went for a custom design.



Added bracing frames to the lower platform to tighten everything up. Braces also added to the top connections.



After numerous attemps at different mounting options I bought a 3d printer, learned adobe inventor and settled with these for the bournes pots. The AMC1280 just got updated to use SSI digital sensors (which finally got my sim up and running as there much more resistant to emi) so I made new mounts.



For the control cab I ended up housing the AMC in a proper emi enclosure.



Some other 3d printed parts for the cockpit included a joystick quick release mount and gearshift mount.


And finally this is about how things stand at the minute. Still lots of details and other ideas to add but finally I have a moving platform.



a year and a half of man many many hours of learning and hard work in one quick thread, easy huh now looking forward to many more.

Wowo look at the size of those rose joints !!

Nice work matey looks great.

Got any videos of it going yet ?

Cheers dude, and yes! finally the first vid of the damn thing running lots of tuning still to do of course.

One thing I was really worried about after spending all this time and money is that the sim would be a slow lumbering thing and would not translate road bumps etc etc very well.
Well glad to say that so far its looking really promising, the motions much snappier and detailed than I thought.

In this vid things are smoothed and dialled down quite allot so it will go allot faster if needed.

One thing I found interesting is many of you guys have surge going back on breaking but I found it felt really odd that way so changed it back to forward and down on breaking which feels allot more like breaking in a real car to me, so not sure about whats going on there.

I'm your first Subscriber !!!

Looks brill matey A long time in the making at least you have got there in the end and now the tweaking never ends lol

Hah at least you think the same as me I always had mine that way until I was told it was the other way.

Have a quick glance through this I was certain I was right but once you do have it set up right it does feel right the way its suppose to be

https://www.xsimulator.net/communit...y-awesome-ac-6dof-but-profile-all-wrong.7354/

I'm always wrong lol

Thanks for the tip craig, had a read of that thread and ill have to revisit that and try inverting again.

Will get a pro license for simtools 2 soon also but because of my setup and higher COG it really needs a 6 dof math plugin. I could pull it all apart and drop the cog but i think
Ill just get some fun out of it first before i pull it all apart again!.

You can Play with the Axis% for each DOF and change the COG within simtools to what ever you want, mine is setup pretty well now, well I think it is lol.

Groovy ...

@paulg100 ... What did you used for motors rear impellers ?

Hi speedy

no idea its what ever came with the motor, ive not paid much attention to it.

If you want me to take the rear guard off and take a picture then let me know.

https://www.xsimulator.net/communit...tor-with-ac-motors-finished.8349/#post-103445

OK interesting thanks for the heads up.

Have to be honest my motors have never been even barely warm although ive only run the sim for maybe an hour at a time max so far.

If I start getting problems with heat then ill be sure to take a look at adding different cooling.

Thanks

It might take a little convincing my wife!

Do you mind posting a link to your thread over at motionsim forum? I found it was extremely helpful. I would love to know how you wired your VFDs power. How do you split the power coming from the breaker/outlet, or did you use a breaker for each VFD? I'm googling, but hard to find an answer.

Hi Dude

Link:

http://motionsim.freeforums.net/thread/149/uk-ac-powered-6dof-project

I used an off the shelf 8 bay consumer unit. Each VFD is wired to its own 20amp MCB and unit has a 65 amp master RCD I think.
This then goes to a 45amp cooker switch on the wall which then goes off into my garage to another consumer unit and 40amp mcb.

So basically the whole thing will trip at 40amps.
Ive used 10mm twin and earth to cooker switch (this would of been fine with 6mm) and then 6mm to control cab consumer unit.
4mm to each VFD.

once your on the 3phase side of the VFD you need to start using shielded cable IE CY cable or purpose VFD cable, 3 core + earth.

Although the manual for my hitachi 0015sf sais should be a 30amp fuse each, ive never had any issues with tripping.

So my current wheel is a Thrustmaster T300 and honestly what a pile of junk it is.

Theres a common problem with them loosing calibration that you cant always fix with their calibration tool so my wheels already gone back to TM once for repair after very little use.
Now one of the shifters is missing presses all the time and still after relatively little use.

So had enough of these toy wheels, time to start something new and I think you might know where this is heading



Wheel was a bit more than I wanted to pay but I lurve me suede

O
S
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Thank you for taking the time to explain. I'm trying to visualize, because my head is getting dizzy hearing about all the breaker boxes. LOL My project keeps growing before it even starts.

@paulg100 ... too much MCBs .
My suggestion regarding your 1.5HP 5A max. rated for "Delta" connection motors and a 6 VFD's that you should've used a main 60A MCB for the hole simulator splitted after it into 2 lines ... one is for [Computer/monitors/speakers / ... ] ... and the other having another 40A MCB for supplying the VFDs and motors with power ... plus using a 40A/220v coil contactor controlled by a start/stop emergency switch located near your hand ...

for sockets this kind of aviation connectors is really helpful and comes cheap .


and for shielding the cables this Aluminum tape is worth to use ...
http://hollandshielding.com/330-Aluminum_tape

5amps is the 3phase side speedy, not the single phase.

Honestly having each motor on its own MCB was super useful when setting things up and testing, its really easy to work with one motor at a time and disconnect the others so more for convienience rather than power requirements. it did not not add to the cost or complexity of the system in any great deal so I would go that way again if I was to start over.

I started with aviation sockets on some of the connections but beause of the issues I had with glitches and bad connections I eliminated them as a possible cause of problems and went direct. Never throught making robust sound connections would be so difficult but even things like termination required a fair bit of reading and practice to do correctly.

Ive ordered more sockets to move back in that directions now I have a handle of things now.

I know and that's even better as these calculation based on the actual consumption of the motor ... I guess the single phase input will be lower than that ... look at the side label of the inverter I can't read it .