COCKPIT Alex Open Sim Wheel and rig project (work in progress)

Woho! My suggestion of forum part came alive!

I'm building an OSW and the nice people here have shown some interest to it. So here's the thread about with with pictures, most are very bad quality but they are real.

#1 First update with some pictures...

The GT Wheel along with some carbon fiber porn from f1 cars



The first set of Ascher Racing paddles.


Some group photos of the wheels, pedals, motor, quick release, display and rotary encoders.


MiGE Servo motor.


Heusingveld Engineering Pro Pedals.


The 2 "first wheels". There will be more...

And the small but oh so important bits.

And a final overview.

And a picture of the button plate I'm designing for the GT Wheel, if anyone is interested in buying one, get in touch with me and I'll explain more. Sorry about the horrible picture quality.


End of update number one, now deliver some feedback chaps. ;-)

#2 Update Number 2.

Just got my sequential shifter, will have to do some work to get the "pop" feeling I want out of it, but it's nice overall.



End of this small update.

-------------------------------------
#3 New update!

I have finally got some shit done to the rig and the seat.
For the seat i ripped all the padding out and will throw that away and make my own seat mould like they do in f1 and most gt cars nower days so my poor old body (almost 20!) can handle all the long sim racing stints. I also cut some of the seat away so my elbows can go free without hitting the seat, next up with that is re-strengthening up the seat again while the elbows will go free.
For the rig I've started to make the main plane, or bottom frame and point welded some crossmembers and seat bracket bars into place. Next up is making the bars for the pedal mount fitting and weld those and the lower crossmember into place.
I just have to say, for those who doubt a home made steel rig can be any good, when we cross-measured the base rig, the whole thing differd 2MM from each other, I can bet any aluminium profile rig will differ at least as much, it's all about planning and patient and think 10 times before welding everything into place.
Goal for next week is to get a 12 mill aluminium plate which is where the pedals will be mounted to aswell as some other small stuff around the rig.
Also waiting for some nice stuff for the whole thing, can't wait until I can unveil that!
Oh and about the steering wheel! I have got my drivelock for the MiGE and manufactured an adapter from the 6x35 to 6x70 pcd for the quick release, which by the way will be a new one aswell. I also got my mount for the MiGE servo, straight from my friend Martin Ascher at Ascher Racing, check his page out, he just released some new stuff.
Apologies for some of the pictures this time, forgot my "good" z3 workphone at home so had to use my Samsung Galaxy S4 with camera troubles, it dosen't like to focus, but now to the photos!

Lets start with the MiGE stuff.
The adapter, which I'm very pleased about.




adapter with a temporary wheel just to see how it looks





Now to the seat.

Ejoying the sun.....



Sanding down and flatting out all the rough edges of the seat before the mould is made so it dosen't destroy the mould when it's done.


Some of the sanding done.


The cut out on the seat, apologies for the bad picture, camera focus trouble.


Half the seat sanded and washed with water.


Now to the frame.

Spacer/washer for the seat mount, made out of areospace/f1 grade aluminium, as you do.


From the underside so you see how its done. It's a snug fit.


The baseframe along with some crossmembers as it's taking shape.


And one with the frame from the rear where you see the washers without the seat. There will be some more bars to the bottom frame to ensure there will be zero flex when it's completed.


Thats it for now. Now I want some bloody feedback from more people otherwise its no fun putting all the effort into it!


Update #4

Progress has been made!
Since last update the whole pedal plate has been straightend up, machined and I even gave it the brushed aluminium look. The frame for the pedalplate has also been pointwelded into place. I also sorted myself out with a TIG-welding machine so I can make some strong and good looking welds. Aswell as a quick release as I showed later in the thread. the Ioni, Ionicube 1X and SMV2 has arrived from Granite devices. Now I need a PSU and some other small stuff before kicking off the electronics. I also threaded myself with a new welding helmet.
For the techincal bits of the build, which is the pedalplate now. Instead of having bolts on the underside of the plate I made a bracket, which of course has been made of f1/aeroplane type aluminium.... so I don't need nuts and washers on the underside which makes adjustements very very simple. We made some slots instead of only holes in the pedalplate due to the pedals having so big tolerances on them it wouldn't be possible to do only holes, but I belive this was an even better solution. I almost forgot, I also orderd a handbrake because.. Mostly because I can, probably not gonna have alot of use for it, but hey, another DIY project!
Now there will be alot of pictures!

First off the handbrake.


Electronics
IONICUBE 1X




IONI, the board that manages the wheel.


SimpleMotionV2, SMV2.


Holger Buschfink Q1R Quick Release.



Pedalplate machined and ready. Alot of slots.


The bracket that will make adjustments easy peasy.


All 3 pedals mounted, exitement wasn't even close to what I felt!


Drytesting them with the shoes I will be using.


Update #5
Small update. Lots of thinking and planning done this weekend so not so much working with the hands. But started working on where we should put the servo to suit me, which apparently is a true pain in the arse because I'm used to having the wheel very close to me and if we would mount the wheel pillars straight under the servo I would not get into the rig. However we have worked around that problem and started cutting and machining the pieces. Yes, we do machine each and every end of all the tubes to get a straight cut aswell as getting the correct length. We usally have about 0.1-0.3 mm tolerances on the tubes and the rig has very tight tolerances aswell. I also got myself 2 gifts (thank you, myself ) with another two wheels.. This is a never ending circle!!
Also put in the last tubes on the bottom frame on the rig, they are not welded in yet, but it will be strong as f**k when it's all welded up. Now to the pics.

The fitment, and straight angles.


What the bottom of the rig will look like when it's completed. Will be solid. (Picture taken from the pedal side, so you'll the get reference)


Machining machining machining. Old but gold manual milling machine.


The smaller 285mm Formula wheel, will be doing some DIY work to that poor thing aswell


And the true beauty, a wheel I have wanted for a loong time now, finally got my wallet out and got one, super pleased with it. It's a Sparco P310, they are commonly used in V8 Supercars.

Mounted with servo and Q1R quick release.



Trying servo position, maybe a little bit to low


Last picture with the wheel, better suited position for the wheel!



Update #6 is here!
As you all know by now, I was testing out a Leo Bodnar Sim Steering 2 system this weekend, but that's not why I went there, well not the only reason at least! The main reason was to pick up 3 pieces of BenQ XL2411Z 24" 144hz screens. Probably one of the best deals I've done. They should do the job for now.

Taking them home, in a Mini Cooper, saftey first!


And what they look like.



Today I worked some on the rig. Whole bottom frame is completely welded up now.

The workbench, height adjustable....


Work in progress.


Final touches.


Bottomplate completely done.


Next up is to put the whole wheel stand part together and put it on the rig.

Ok fellas. New update. #6 I think (?)

Base of the wheelstand and some crossmembers are manufactured. Also got my Antek PS-8N48 PSU for the beast today, that is a bloody massive piece of kit. No long words today, so bloody tired after setting my alaram 00.55 tonight to be able to watch Bathurst 1000 live. What a race by the way, even tho I fell asleep and missed the first 40 or 60 laps....


Pictures
Saturday

What I start with.


Basic frame together and measuring for supports.


Close up of a weld.


One corner done.


A bit more.


All ready


Mounted...ish. Took some tape just to see how it looks. This is what the basic thing will look like. Then there will be alot of support brackets around the thing.


Sunday
Didn't manage too much, was tired after Bathurst...

Machining some corners aswell as some drilling




Machining and drilling done. Will do inserts into the holes with m6 thread to mount the plate for the servo on next week.


Some pics of the PSU. It's massive. See my phone (Galaxy s4) for size comparison.





11/8-15
Update number alot.

Evening fellas! Been working all weekend on the rig and some very nice (at least mental) progress has been made! servo plate has been machined and the whole servo base thingy has been sort of put together to get a feel for it. Will need to lower the whole mount slighly but just to get a feel for it is great! Also machined some inserts for the servo mount so I don't need to have bolts on the back of the servo, didn't get any pics of that but I'll show that next time. Makes for very easy spannering, which is the whole goal of the rig. Now onto the pics.

Servoplate crossmember mount, same pricinples as for the pedal crossmember.


Servo plate machined, just some threads for the Servo mount left.


mounted to the crossmember bars, fits like a dream.


Crossmembers welded into place and plate mounted.


Plate mounted (notice the really badass pink zip ties.)


Servo mounted, tight fit between servo bolts and crossmember bolts, just as it should be.


Overview.


And a few overview pictures.





It's starting to take shape fellas... We're getting there, slow but steady.

11/11-15

Well, today my new pedals arrived. Full on hydralic pedals based on a AP Racing pedal box. These cost me a fortune. Hope the work out nicely. These pedalboxes are used in a wide range of racing cars, Ford & VW world rally cars, old gen. DTM cars, all BTCC cars, Ken Blocks Ford Escort mk2, some WTCC cars. They are very popular for sure. Machinced out of high quality aluminium blocks, very nicely made.





Single AP Racing master cylinder.


High quality braided lines and connectors


Willwood pull cylinder.


I unscrew all electronics so no pics of that. But this is what I have been so exited about lately.

Update. 11/16-15

Hello guys.

Today, I can announce what true love is. In words, it's called AP Racing and it's in a pedalbox. After inspecting these beautis closer they are even more amazing. Now thats put aside, yesterday I machined the pedalplate for the AP's instead. Now I can call my pedal plate a hybrid. That was all I did for the weekend. Now the plate can be moved 30mm sideways, the pedalbox can be moved 20mm forward or back and then 3 steps 25mm each. I hope to find something that suits me around that. Now to the pictures.

Overall view again, first time with both pedals and servo on. Looks quite good I think.


From drivers POV, I thought it was a cool looking pic.


Pedalplate completed. The slightly wider slots are for the AP's.


First time screwed down.


Underside.

72 and 73mm between the holes, just to make it this little extra complicated....


Mounted top view.



2 edited photos (!).

Played around with the focus, the contrast of a blurred rig and focus on the pedals made for a very cool picture I think, and of course, the pink zip ties.


The holy light...


And just to round off, a contrast of the space a rig build takes. 99% of the things in this corner are sim racing stuff. When I start thinking about the dollars lying around it's all getting slightly out of proportion of what should be called normal, but I still enjoy it.


12/21-15 Update no.?
It's been a while. I have been putting down alot of time into the pedals lately aswell as working on a little secret project where parts should arrive after new year so rig has been put aside for a while. Well, now the whole servo basemount is completely welded into place, next thing is to put that onto the rest of the rig, exiting times. Here's some pictures.

Start of pointing everything into place, had to put it on a flat surface first which is why it's on a machine table.


And here's the coffee table ready (at least looks like that


With the servo plate on.


Things are tagging along. Starting to see the end of the tunnel with the rig. Pedals are more of a pain in the rear atm.

Last update of 2015, 12/30.
Hello everyone.
Since I have christmas holidays from work I have been working my arse of this week and made some great progress on the rig, not very noticeable, but still alot of things carried out which takes time.
I also got a late christmas present from a friend who builds a real rallycar, but thats for later on.

First of all, welded the wheel plate part onto the rig, and holy mother of god it's solid, its insanely solid. There is no need to add any support to it, but I will do so anyways just to be safe, better safe then sorry..


Everything mounted to have a test to see how it feels.

Then came santa in a few days late and gave me this, a Sparco Evo 2 Plus seat. This seat is 100 times better in every way and very very comfy. And the best part, it was free! I must have been a good boy or something this year.... Super pleased about it.


I had to manufacture new seatmounts and spacers because this seat is wider then the old one tho, took some time but totally worth it in the end. A 19.8mm washer on each side of the back of the seat did the job, aswell as a new rail mount but I don't have any pictures of that.


Then I had to head out and find more material, why? Because banana race no racecar.... .
No, in all seriousness, when I pushed the brake pedal, the whole rig (exept the part where the wheelbase is mounted to) bent like a bloody banana, and thats not what you want going 250 kph at the end of the straight. So what I did was picking up some material from our small garage, this will not be enough, but it did help ALOT with the strength, 2 more bars like these and it will be no flex what so ever.


I did not weld it all the way because the posibiltiy that the material will bend because of the heat is quite big, this will keep it solid and straight.

Here's an overview.


I have also cut up a few more parts that will be welded into place next year (this sounds so wierd) aswell as picking up some more steel from the steelshop.

Happy new year everyone!

01-16-16 (lots of 16 in 2016....)

Hello those who are reading. New year, new visions, new stupidness I guess!
Just came back from a few excellent days at the Autosport International - The Racing Show, where I got to pick up my completed Sparco P310 from the guys at Sim Racing Hardware. They really went the extra mile (litterally) to deliver my wheel to the hotel we where staying at. (Thanks Bill and Brian). So.. a Sparco p310 wheel, now with an Leo Bodnar SLI display and a couple of buttons, rotary encoders and toggle switches, and on the back a set of Ascher Racing paddles. Very pleased with the result. It looks a little bit bulky, part is that the paddles and part is because it is, but in this case it's actully function before form, because it's as I wanted it, every button is easily reachable. I also picked up a Leo Bodnar BU0836X board from John at the show (thanks John) which I will connect Pedals, handbrake, shifter and a few other things to I think. Got to play at the Pro-Sim simulator they had there with a Sim Steering 2 system and Pro-Sims pedals which was good fun. Then me and John had a 1 and a half hour long chat about sim racing stuff which was so much fun I missed lunch with an hour Also had a play with a Simxperience Stage 5 sim with accuforce and that was the most unimpressive thing I have ever experienced, completely wrong setup, it was more like driving a rally car. Also had a play at the VERY COOL Cranfield Motorsport Simulations F1 simulator, also that running a SS2 system with a set of HPP pedals and a Leo B GP2/Gp3 wheel. Sadly I was slightly to fat to really be able to enjoy the sim and get the feel but I wasn't more then 1 sec off the best time regardless which has to be seem reasonable. Now I'm done with all the bla bla bla stuff now it's all down to pictures and links.

The new buttonplate from SRH.





Here's 2 pictures of the Pro-Sim/Sim Steering stand stolen from their facebook page.


The wheel was a AIM Motorsport GT wheel ran via canbus, very impressive stuff.

Here's a video to the Cranfield Simulator to get an understanding of the whole thing.


Then we have the other stuff at the show, I'll put that in a spoiler. Sorry I forgot to take pictures of all the simulators.

Spoiler: General autosport show

few pictures from the Cosworth PI Electronics stand.









Williams FW14B, the coolest F1 car ever. The only f1 car with active suspension, aswell as having traction control, launch control and a heap of other fancy gimmicks. Driven 1993, was banned to the 94 season. This was for god sake before windows 95 was relased!


The new Ford GT GTE car, looks like an absolute beast.


The #19 Le Mans winning Porsche 918. Not even cleaned! These cars are insanely small in real life compared to what they look like on teli or pictures.



A Tillett Racing billet aluminium seat mount, I want!



One of many displays, Ole Buhl Racing/Stack display.


A real showstopper, a Brembo reversed pedalbox, or an absolute piece of aluminium porn!
I think I need to ditch the AP box for one of these... oh I wish!



And here's the mastercylinders, Im pretty certain these go for 1500 euro each easily but they where a real pretty piece of kit.


A little brembo brake kit, I think the disc was 400mm in diameter, braking with this could get you a trip to a plastic surgeon...


Mclaren Electronics stand, what a place... Here's their piece of display, also used in the MP4-30 also refered to as the "GP2 engine" car


Some ECU's and PDM's along with the display.


Sensors...


Greaves Motorsport LMP2 steering wheel.


Backside, cable management and military spec connectors, so beautiful.


Now some historic-ish stuff... Millington 2.5 Diamond engine, same as used in Ken Blocks Mk2 Escort...


Simpson Race Exhaust, what a masterpiece.


Mercedes V10 f1 engine.


F1 clutch, just to get a rough idea of the size, it's smaller then my hand in diameter.


SBD Motorsport had a very nice little display mounted to a Momo Mod 27C.


And just to top it off.... A marketing side inside the men's restroom at a motorway service station, wierd feeling while having the willy out looking at this but gave me a real good laugh!

Final words... Great fun at the show and now I want to get the funding to develop a proper rig... So many visions, so little time and even smaller budget!

Update 02-08-16

Well, since last time I have started on the shifter which includes a new shifter arm, a custom made gearknob and mounting it. Also picked up another new steering wheel today (hence why I didn't update yesterday). Well why talk about the boring stuff when I can show pictures? So here we go.

Shifter arm and knob




All shifters and shifter arms, the all black one in the background is my old DimSim one, the new one is an Fi-Tech Prototype which is getting heavily modified to work and fit my rig.


Shifter arm connected to shifter base.


Yesterday I testet it on the rig and I've figured out how to mount it to get all adjustibility
I want.

Machined a special nut to get the right thread (m14x1.5) and get it compact.
http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z451/alexjonsonmotorsport/DSC_0612_zpsaegeauoe.jpg

Now some testing pics, looks quite cool I have to say.




Now onto the interesting stuff... The new wheel! It's as simple as it's one of the very first (I think it's the 5th in total) Rexing F1 Wheel (www.rexing.eu) I made a special order which was a full carbon body (otherwise it's hard plastic on the inside and CF on the outside) aswell as picking up their special offer they have now. Obviously using the Q1R quick release.
I have to say, it's possibly one of the best wheels I have ever felt and the tacticle paddle shifters are just second to none. Well... done with all the talking, now onto the pictures.. here she is in all her glory!






Over and out.

Update 02/04-16

Evening fellas.

Made some "great" progress (depends on who I'll ask) this weekend, sorted out the potentiometer mount for the throttle pedal now aswell so now it's just refining small things.. which probably will take loads of time as per usual, but hey, progress as progress...
I also made a mount for my shifter which should be working alright. Also brought the new steeringwheel down to mount it to the rig and try it out, not only does it look pretty fkn badass, but it also feels pretty fkn good! Heading to Gothenburg next week so no sim rig work during the week, how's this gonna work out?! Anyways, now to the pix.

The plate is machined out 3.5mm on the side to make it slightly sink in into the pedals on the bottom, then the big round hole on the top is where the bearing sits in so the potentiometer don't take any stress and breaks in the middle of the race because that would make me absolutely furious.




(Hello from the) other side.



Then it was all flat out work to get it to fit and work and some final pix. But, on the inside of the "arm" for the potentiometer there is like a custom made washer that sits on the face of the bearings inner metal part and then onto the arm to make the bearing that any load instead of the potentiometer, this is really a neccecery step if you're using these pots otherwise they will break down really quick. Here's a zoomed in picture so everyone can see what I mean.



Now some overview pictures.






For the final solution there will be proper spacers and washers and no screws that are 4 miles too long, I promise! But now I think it's time to put some cables in and try to see if it will work with the Bodnar BU0936X board... Interesting times ahead!

Now onto the shifter mounted. Quite a simple solution really, but it works. The very long screws are so I can put spacers under the shifter to make it go further up if I'd like.



Starting to look quite racey I think...






Then I mounted the Rexing wheel, I just sat in the rig for half and hour imagine myself driving.








Thats all for this time...

02-22-16

Hello friends and enemys...

Happy to say pedal are tested and working as supposed. Or well, at least clutch and throttle. This weekend I machined new potentiometer arms which are left/right threaded on each end so I can shorten or extend the potentiometer so I never bump into the rotantional stop for the pot because they will wear out very quick then.

Here's some pictures of the new pot arms, possibly the most overkill ever, but thats how I roll! Ps: Ignore the too long screws and ugly spacers. They will be aluminium for the final version.









Today I got myself a usb cable for my Bodnar BU0836X board and went down to the garage for the final test of resolution on the clutch and throttle. I also got very nice readouts aswell!
The throttle pot (which is the most important one) I had a reading from start 128/3.13% on raw data to 4005/97.80%. And another very pleasing part, there was zero play, absolutely zero.
I also got the last piece of pedalfaces for the pedals from KH Motorsport today which is a very small clutch pedal face featured on mainly WRC cars.

Here's the new latest pedalface. I now have the complete set of what AP is offering.



The testing corner.



Readouts.



A final picture of testing corner with the new pedalface mounted.



Regardless to say I'm very pleased with the results. Now I will rip the pedals down and machine away some parts to make them look more neat before final assembly aswell as doing some stuff around the pedals aswell. Next time you see these, I hope it will be as a completed finalized product. Sadly I don't think I will manage to hit my timeline of march but perfection takes time and I think it's worth it.




AJ out.


03-13-16

Good afternoon everyone. Long time since last update. I have since then done the final things on the pedals so now they are waiting for andonizing before I will reveal the completed product
I have also managed to sell my BenQ screens and got myself a set of 27" screens instead. Those are Acer 27" Predator XB270H 144hz gaming screens. No G-sync but otherwise they seem really nice. Also got a tripple screen mount in the same trip, GT Omega V3 tripple stand. Only reason I got it was because it was dirt cheap. Otherwise I would have gotten a aluminium profile stand. There's obviously sagging in it so I will have to modify that aswell. Also changed chassis on my pc to a Fractial Design R5 (amazing to build in, highly recomend it) aswell as putting in an SSD disc and the 980 card I got before xmas.
Today I managed to do the last things on the shifter and test the feeling of it and it feels absolutely amazing. Better then I ever anticipated. First I had to make a new bushing for the axle to "steer" straight onto the ball springs, then I had to drill new holes with a new center from the old holes and make a adapter for the ballsprings. All in all its easy to adjust and feels great, probably even better then the Manu Factory shifter I tried when I picked up my screens. No need to point out that I'm super pleased.

More on a personal level this but I signed up for a new apartment, which means I will have my own gaming room when I'm moving there. Can't wait for that!


Now onto the pics.

Here's the connectors I spoke about earlier. Binder 711 and Binder 712 combined.


While I popped by to get my screens I had a play in this. Bodnar SS2 and Piez Sim motion. Great fun! Motion felt better then it ever had before but I still feel like there's something missing.



Here's the new adapter/spacer/washer, threaded for the ballspring which makes the mechanical feel and works great. I will disassemble it and let someone paint it before it's completed.



And here she is in all her glory. Still some small things to do but overall it's completed.




Over and out.

Update 04-09-16

Good day

It's been a while since last update, about 3 weeks. Have been very busy with work during weeks so I have not had any time to get stuff made other then weekends. But I had managed to get the whole handbrake assembly completed during this time. I also got my iFlag/FiFlag (for iRacing) deliverd from Carsten at Fi-tech, he wanted me to mention how brilliant he is, so here it is, please don't ever buy a single thing from him its all utter rubbish. (Take this ironicly, he does some pretty good stuff.)
Now onto pictures.

Here's the base frame for the handbrake, I built the frame too small for this so there where some compromise made to made it work as I wish.


Here's with the arm that will hold the handbrake itself and the bottomplate.



And now onto the mount itself, here's what I started with.


And here's what I ended up with, after about 40 hours of thinking, milling and some lathe:ing aswell.




Here's how it sits on the rig.



And some overview pics.



The handbrake is a dissapointment for me. It does not feel like a rally handbrake should. Its way to linear and not a proper stop when the pads hit the disc of the car, but it will do for sim racing, for now at least.

Now onto the FiFlag, 3d printed enclousure and a carbon frontplate.



Over and out.

2016-05-01.

There has been some developments done. I tried my tripple screen mount GT Omega V3 last weekend and after 2 days of development work to make it not flex as much as it does, I was so frustrated I almost got the big hammer out and destroyed the whole thing because it's a genuine piece of utter f**king JUNK! So I ended up ordering a Quad stand from Richard at www.sim-lab.eu (Richard is by the way a great guy to deal with!) This weekend I have been working on my buttonboxes and such which I haven't completed yet but will do this week hopefully depending on how busy I'm with work. Also got my Rexing F1 wheel back from a firmware update aswell as small hardware update with new encoders and encoder knobs.

Here's the Sim-Lab quad monitor stand.


Here is the buttonbox mount a friend of mine helped me to do the plate for.



And boxes mounted to them. Will obviously be screwed down with 8 screws on final assembly.
But I have to say, this turned out better then I ever expected.



First box ready. Toggles are Apem ones, 4 euro a piece, rotary encoders are Bodnar/CTS ones, 4.50 euro a piece. Buttons are ebay ones, about 1 euro a piece. It's fair to say quality comes at a price, but at least encoders and toggles will have a long lifespan.
To this there will be a DSD TrackZilla 64 digital input board. I think I calculated I will have 48 inputs on the first box, and somewhere around there for the 2nd box aswell. Close to 100 inputs overall, should be enough for everything.
Here's a pic of the first box, encoder knobs are arriving the coming week from Carsten at Fi-tech.



These small things take a whole lot of time with designing and planning. I did not use any computer to plan before so I just took the pen out and draw on the box to make up my mind.

Update hopefully later this week again!

Over and out.

2016-09-16
Just a tiny, but also big, milestone update

I haven't had alot of time to spend on the rig recently. Been moving during late may early june into a new, bigger apartment, finally having a simroom! I did a mount for my buttonboxes last weekend and another one today (sunday). Company party on friday so quite hung over yesterday so no work done then. I have also ripped my rexing wheel apart to modify it and apparently rexing and the gang down there wasn't too pleased about it, haven't had a response from them since I asked a few uncomfortable questions...
Regarding the milestone the project has reached today, the rig has been deliverd for powdercoating! This means the chassis is essentially complete. Lots of work around it but just the fact that the base is done feels great. Colour will be a secret until it arrives back, hopefully it will be up to my standards.

Now from the boring reading to some pictures instead. Should be more fun!

First the mods to the rexing wheel. New rotary knobs, milled aluminium units aswell as the labels from Brett Stiles at Hybrid Racing Simulators. Top bloke! Give him a like on his facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/HybridRacingSimulations/?fref=ts

These where not what people call cheap. But hell they are a piece of beauti.


Notice the keyboard mat he threw in the price, will look good on the rig!


Now onto the buttonbox mounts and such.

Up in the milling machine getting a flat base.


Looking like this.



And then welded into place, which I don't have any pics of, but this is how it sits.


And then the completed piece, rotateable in any way. Also moveable with another of these mounting thingys added further back on the rig.





And here is the last picture of the rig in it's raw element. Next time you'll see it it will be powdercoated and hopefully looking even better even though I like the raw look. A trusty (or rusty ) Volvo 945 always doing the job of delivering it.



I've also noticed the thread has almost had 8000 views and met followers elsewhere. Thanks for those who are following it. The end is near...

2016-12-11

Good evening for anyone who is still following my little project after quite a long break... (sorry about that )

Anyways, I'll go straight onto the stuff that has been happend. The rig has been painted, completed the shifter, bought a pair of sim shoes, went to see MotoGP in Valencia, finished the servo controller box (almost, E-stop left, but that's a quick fix.), started on the wireing harness for the rig and bought another pedalset. So, lets start from the beginning. I sent off the rig for powder coating and got it back, all fine. I went for a graphite grey colour, not sure it turned out very graphite, but at least it's grey. I thought that was better then black at least. I also considerd orange or red or maybe green, but went for graphite grey in the end. Turned out pretty OK I'd say.



I've also completed my shifter with the activatior switches. I used Knitter pushbutton switches as I know they are very good and have a long lifespan, and easy to change in case they break. The mounting looks a little bit awkward but it works very well.


Then onto the shoes. A pair of ferrari branded (gotta show the support after such a horrible season) Puma shoes. Very comfortable after a short while even.



Then I went to Valencia for the MotoGP finale. Incredible weekend, warm and sunny, lots of beer and lots of engine noise, and on the monday after the race we got some tickets from our friends at Öhlins suspension (they supply suspension & technical support for all MotoGP teams, except KTM.) for the monday, there was due to be a test day but it got postponed until tuesday so we couldn't see any of the test, but saw some bikes up close which was very cool to see.



And when we got home I have started working (and finishing) the controller box. It wasn't as easy as I first had thought but I had some great help from Ben Darley (thanks Ben!), also shoutout to their new sim racing parts company Dynamic Sim Racing (check them out on social media.) Anyway, this is how the box turned out, I really tried to keep it as open as possible for airflow.

Early stage.


Abit later into the build, getting all the wires into place.


I also did some custom connectors compared to everyone else, for the looks, but also for the convinience if needing to move the box or such, now it has proper screw connectors on both sides instead of a dsub connector and some other ugly power connector.





Here's the panel for all the connectors. 220 power switch is still left that is due to arrive next week. I also think I'll wrap it in some carbon fiber wrap or similar.



Here's the monster completed. I will have power to run 2x servos on that PSU I reckon!
Obviously rocking the awesome pink zipties, they are very good quality




Now the wireing harness for the rig, some people may ask why, I say why not. The intention behind this is to be able to run as much stuff as possible on as few USB ports as possible. So my Bodnar 0836X board will take on the job of controlling the analog input of the handbrake, the sequential shifter and the 3 analog inputs from the pedals (clutch, brake and throttle) plus some buttons for the buttonbox, the rest of the buttons will be mated to a DSD 64 input board.
I have gotten so far that I have measured up how long the cables for each thing needs to be, also solderd on the wires on the shifter knitters. Made a quick mock-up and taped the wires to the rig to see how it should be done. I love this kind of stuff....
Before you ask yourself "Why is he so stupid that he only uses 2 colours (white & white/blue)" these wires did I get for free (which is nice in itself) from a friend who works at a company that services aeroplanes, so this is aerospace spec cable, proper silver cable instead of normal copper cable, it's both lighter (weight reduction bro) and generally a better quality. I will colourcode the ends before making the final harness so I don't mess up the 3 wire analog stuff.
Here's what I've come up with so far.





Now to top this update off abit I just took the ownership of another (WTF) high end pedalset.
Some people might think I'm crazy, well most probably do, which is completely fair by the way. Anyway, I've gotten my hands on a set of HPP PRX 3 pedal pedalset. But WHY?! you may ask yourself, and to be completely honest I don't really understand it myself, but I got quite a good deal on these pedals from a mate of mine who is giving up on his sim racing career, so I'd thought I might aswell buy his set so I can try them out and see if they are any good. Initial impressions are more or less what I expected, they look very nice and all that, but they are not up to the level of the AP's, which would be incredible if they were as the AP's cost about twice as much. Well, done with the rant, now onto the pictures. (the wood plates and heelplate will go for something better when they get rigged up)




Thats a wrap for now. Over and out for this time.

2017-01-29 - It's a racing year!

Hello guys (and possibly girls aswell)

As the topic says - It's a racing year! - mean... THE RIG IS WORKING!!!

It has actully been working since like 3rd of January but I have been busy racing and doing other stuff so I've held on the update. I have really enjoyed my driving, had some break in issues and so on. I'll post a heap of pictures instead of what's what.

Mounting for the slave cylinder for the AP Brakes
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Starting on the wireing



More wireing....






All the way to the box where everything is controlled via 1 single box.



Pretty much done here. Minimal wires going everywhere.


And she is going home... first time



And she's home. Sorry for the dreadful quality of the pictures



It's up and running... first time



FIRST BREAKAGE

So... Breaking her in and breaking her went quite fast. Between the uniball and the red thing there should be a rod... It kind of snapped and broke the knitter button aswell.



Since the buttons broke I thought I might aswell change to a reed switch instead, so it's contactless and won't break if the new rod breaks.




After testing the AP's for a while, I decided to refine some stuff on them and go with the HPP pedals instead, and well, they are not as good as the AP's, but they are way better value for money! Really liking them aswell.


And just to wrap it up, I got my paddles from Ben, they are properly amazing aswell!





Also put it on my porsche wheel plate, will use them on another wheel tho.



Speaking of wheels.... I also got my hands on a 2nd hand Momo Mod101C 290mm.... Have some plans for it.



Also have other plans on updates for the rig which I'm not pleased about currently. But that's for later!

Alex

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All for now. Leave a comment!
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All photos are taken with my Sony Experia z3 and mostly no editing has been done, because I'm a man that work with my hands and way too lazy to do any editing.

Alex

 

I'd like to see what others use for their rigs... so show us all what you others are using!

 

Update with some pictures now online

 

I think it would, with a DSD adapter, I think the QR has 6x70 pcd (on both sides) but you would have to drill bigger holes in the DSD adapter. And some kind of spacer would be to prefer but some washers should do the job I think.
MiGE was bought from the MiGE factory via email with Lisa at MiGE.

http://www.derekspearedesigns.com/wheel-adapters.html

This is what the rear of the QR looks like.

 

The unit price of 130ST-M10010 servo motor with 3 meters cables weld cost US$235.
The total weight of the above goods is about 12kg and shipping to Sweden cost US$113.
Paypal fee cost US$16.
Therefore, total cost US$364.

Total total all in all is not calculated yet... and probably wont be

 

I think there's an import tax when you buy stuff outside of EU or something like that. alot of percent on the price of the thing.

 

Update number 2 now there, have a look at the original post.

 

I have considerd a handbrake, I have not decided if I shall do my own or buy one tho. I'm building a rig around the OSW. Still working on getting some parts together (Getting helicopter/aeroplane/military parts are not easy or cheap!) but I hope I will start on the rig soon.

 

I want to see you other people rigs aswell! Come on guys!

 

Hi Luchian. I think you would have to upload a picture of your rig, aswell as some of the other guys aswell ;-)
I can either send you a mastercam file with the stuff, if you have that program, possibly an autocad file. Or I could manufacture a few if more people are interested and sell them to you guys for a good price.

 

Great Stuff man!!! I like every pic you show... I tell you... if I have something like that carbon fiber part of F1, the first day I think I take them to the bed to sleep with them like a five years kid.

I will upload my rig... but I need to sit a super model in my cockpit to battle with you guys.