Urgent- cannot complete calibration autorun, too little on Y

Hi all and happy new year.

I am on an assignment for a motion simulator running X-sim, so it will be appreciated if I can get a reply to this asap as it's quite urgent.

For my setup, It's a 2 axis pitch(Y-axis) and roll (X-axis) simulator with 10k Ohm rotational POT inputs. I am using a Velleman K8055 directly connected to the valve solenoid and 2 POT to the A1 & A2 analog inputs. The roll cylinders are cylinders with 160mm travel, while the pitch runs on cylinders with 200mm travel. So technically the range of motion is different, one with 40 degrees of motion, while the other have 45 degrees of motion, I have to use different cylinder stroke sizes due to frame and space constraints.

The thing with rotational POT is that, it can turn a total of about 270 degrees in total, but the most I use is 45 degrees. I have to calibrate the simulator each time I run X-sim, but on the calibration it always say not enough Y-value calibration canceled. After that, only the X-axis is calibrated (i.e when I rock the chair left and right, the red dot moves end-to-end on the black graph box in force profiler. The Y-axis does not respond at all.

So my questions are:

It's it possible to make any adjustments on the force profiler to cater for the difference in degrees (40 and 45 degrees)? for the 2 POTs? and also to by pass the Y-axis not enough error?

Do both POT have to have the same rotational degree?

If I were to swap the Rotational POT for a Linear slider type, do I have to use the full length of slider travel? But because both my cylidners are different length when extended, does this mean that the Y and X values will be different and will get the cannot be calibrated, Y - not enough value again?

Would be awaiting your kind reply, thank you!

Hi Shaunzer,

Welcome!

Ok, I'll try to answer your question as soon as possible, as demanded

The max sim movement per axis can be setted up here:

But this has no effect to the calibration error message.

You have to ensure that both pots run the full travel!
45° in a 270° pot does not provide enough resolution in positioning anyway.
Thats why you get the error message! As long both axes could not be calibrated properly, the Profiler quits calibration!

You should gear the pots to enusure (nearly) full travel, or use slider pots.
Or try to set up the calibration values in the registry manually.
Key:HKlocalMachine/Software/X-sim/Force-Profiler, K8055y/xmax/min
But full travel is recommended anyway. I'd recommend you slider pots in that case, as the full travel can be adjustec easily by changing the position of some connected control rods.

Btw, connectiong the pots to the analog inputs of the velleman does not give you a clear signal. You should solder them to the PIC (But take the PIC out of the socket while soldering) and remove IC1 permanently.



I hope we'll see your project in the DIY simulators section with some pics soon

regards
ego

Thank you! A few more questions...

Thank you for your great and prompt replies!

Based on my registry values, these are the ones

Currently on my, rotational POTs
K8055XMAX- 122
K8055XMIN - 87
K8055YMAX - 120
K8055YMIN -102

X- movement range ~35, Y ~ 18
End result - Y- too little movement (calibration canceled)

But when I try to manually turn the POTs about 50 degrees each by hand on the autorun.

K8055XMAX- 146
K8055XMIN - 62
K8055YMAX - 158
K8055YMIN -70

X have a difference of about 84 points and Y about 88, calibration accepted (no error message).

Following Questions

With that I have a few more questions:

Are the X and Y axis calibration independent? Or they have to be the same values for the autorun calibration to be successful?

If the first is true, then ultimately it does not matter even if the X have a great travel than the Y right? All I need is just to have to use the full range of travel to get a large range of values (in this case >80?) to force profiler when it moves end-to-end on the axis to accept?

I see that if the difference is >80 force profiler will accept, may I ask what is the minimum range value difference required? sirnoname mentioned 255 is that possible?

I am particularly concerned about having different full range values for X and Y as my motion range for X axis (as mentioned 45 degrees for both left and right) is greater than Y (40 degrees up and down). As raised in my project background, this is because my X have a shorter cylinder stroke than the Y.

Therefore, will it always say Y-not enough even if I use full full travel of the POTS? (as they are always different?)

I am currently leaning more towards using linear slider pots as they have a more clear indication of travel. I might be using 10KOhm 20cm slider POTS each for both my 16cm and 20cm cylinder strokes, will it be OK?


Sure thing. I will post a full preview and pics of my simulator in the DIY Simulator Projects section when I am done with the project in about 1 weeks time, in the mean time Its just a big rush to get problems settled!

Hi,

Putting my hands on the linear pots with metal shell on has some strange effects as well.
Are your pots conntected to A1 and A2 still? They have to be connected as like I have shown you in the pics above, to provide a clear signal.

They are independent. Just to tell you why X-Sim outputs that error message. The Profiler1 works currently with 8bit (256) resolution in positioning. That means ~ -127/+127 positions.
If your pot outputs just 18 steps, your simulator is just able to move to 18 positions, instead of 255 per axis. Movements will be too rough with 18steps.

Afaik, yes

Nearly full range, yes.

Its a little less than 255. Try to get max travel without destroying the pots
Get some linear pots, and connect them via control rods to the frame. Place the control rods in a way to ensure nearly full pot travel. You’ll get the best results this way, instead of working with 18 positions^^

The Profiler only cares about pot values. If both pots are connected that way to provide nearly full travel, the Profiler does not care if one cylinder has a longer stroke.

Yes, that’s ok. The 20cm pots could be connected directly to the cylinders. But you could use 6-10cm pots as well, if you place them on the frame via some control rods. Like the RnR.
But perhaps you should prefer the 20cm ones, if you get some for a fair price.

Hurry up, we are curious

Btw what for a valve setup do you use?