DIY Ferrari 2011 Wheel

[William Geuze]

At this point in time I'm in the research phase for my future DIY project. I have never done anything like this, and I'm certainly no handy man. You think this sounds weird? Wait till you read what I want to do...

In short, this is what I want to build:

Features:
Leo Bodnar SLI-Pro
Shifter paddles
Clutch paddles
Hall effect sensors for clutch (Allegro A1302)
Microswitches for shifters (???)
12 rotary switches
3 regular switches
10 (knitter) pushbuttons (only if I can strike a deal)
Quick release
2 layers of Carbon fibre shell
glass fibre cast
rubber grips

I will create my own CAD drawings, guestimating measurements, with the help from some known sizes, and my own 3d model made for my 3D portfolio.

Estimated cost: €450,-

Yes, this might seem way out of my league for someone who has no experience with this stuff at all. Because it is. But I'm a stubborn bastard and I would love to do this. There isn't a single product on the market which suits me for an affordable price. Buying a Thrustmaster and adjusting that still sucks, since thats costs about 500 without the SLI-Pro and buttons added, and it basically is a plastic toy still..

For now, I have the following questions:
- According to Bodnars' website, the hall effect sensor can be connected directly to the SLI-pro, is this true?
- Is it expensive to have moulds routed/cnc-ed?
- Which microswitches for the shifters? What about the mounting, no idea how just yet.
- Is the quick release worth my money?
- Is it possible to route all wires through the steering wheel/colum into the steering wheel base?
- I will be in the market for a new steering wheel base, Im still using an old Momo Racing. second hand g27?

Any feedback, opinion, help etc, is much appreciated.


edit:
Before I forget, any plans, templates, files I create, will be free to use by the community Im just not responsible for any mistakes in them

 

[William Geuze]

Thanks guys
Hopefully next month I will be able to bolt on the prototypes I'm having manufactured. Those are simplified version of the clutch and shift levers, as well as the clutch mount. This has been done to cut costs, and they are only meant to do functional testing. I know this works on a technical level, thanks to my old Meccano set as posted before, but now I'm testing assembly of the unit, and it gives me a platform to test spring tension for the clutch. The shift levers have been changed since their last prototype, the 3d print posted earlier. All parts are now conform the actual wheel

Because you guys seems to get a kick out of these drawings, here are the parts I sent off to someone to be manufactured. He's doing this in his spare time (lunchbreaks) so it can take a while. I also expect it be rough around the edges ;P
(not 100% up to date)

 

[William Geuze]

First of a new series prototypes has been manufactured, the shifter plate.

This part will be fitted between the rear panel and quickrelease, to supply a platform for the shifters' pivot, and springs to have larger pressure area. (so far my backwards engineering stuff)

Parts posted above will be coming in the coming weeks. Position, function, spring strengths are crucial to get right.

edit:
Just received an email, apparently the shift paddle is finished as well!

 

[belldanndy]

Looks great, just keep up the good work!

 

[William Geuze]

When I got home, a new surprise awaited me
All the knobs have arrived and seem to fit quite good. (The smaller ones are
a tad too big not high enough, but they will very much do )

 

[scorpioracer]

Who speaks Italian and can translate the stuff from 8 minutes onward?

I do see the part where the tumble switches are in my model is too shallow, sucks! I'n not going to have another mold milled though, too expensive, I'll deal with this one. There's already some filler in place anyway*. I will fix it in my designs and mold files, so if I screw this one up horrible, it is going to be improved. Maybe when we get a router at work I can take 5mm off or something who knows

* I'm using filler in the 90 degree angles to smooth those out to avoid airpockets when making the mold and subsequent castings. (Picked that up from an instruction video )

William
There's is now on youtube an English version of his video. Here's the link:

 

[scorpioracer]

Manufacturing the levers is still a pain, not a single company can be bothered. DIY cnc guys only want to route out simple flat shapes because that's easy to do...

On a brighter note, the first paypal donation came in today! With it I can pay the custom knobs I'm having 3d printed, I hope to receive the first prototype next week for review If I like it, I'll order two sets of knobs and reinforce them later with epoxy, weighing them down and making them more sturdy, resistant to use and smooth finished.

As for any leads of having parts manufactured, either local or foreign, are much appreciated!

The donation page can be found here: www.wgeuze.nl/f1wheel

William
I am more of an airplane cockpit builder, with a genuine interest in F1. I have been following your thread since the beginning and there's a member of one of the building sites who might be able to help you. His name is Gwyn, in Australia and his website is www.aerosimsolutions.com.au. This gentleman is amazingly skillfull and he builds cockpit parts for builders. I don't think he's taking any orders right now, but I suggest to fire off an email to him and see where he might be able to help you with your project. He has built a whole throttle quadrant for a commercial airplane home simulator, so if anyone can, he certainly will be able to produce the gear and clutch paddles.

 

[belldanndy]

Wow! Serious stuff!!

 

[William Geuze]

William
There's is now on youtube an English version of his video. Here's the link:
video

Thanks! Very usefull
Ah the unmistakable Italian accent
In closeup, my smaller knobs are too big, and the main big know is a tad too small, how ironic..

About Gwyn, thanks for the tip and I'll definately try contacting him when I'm out of options! Right now, together with someone else who is willing to help me out in that department, we're looking at having the clutch paddle water- or lasercut and milling out the rest on a regular milling machine. What the prices are, well, thats the hard part..

For now a decision has been made to build the shifter paddles out of carbon fibre, with an inlay of some kind to reinforce the shape where the spring presses onto the unit. As with all decisions so far, nothing is final yet. I'll probably post a picture of the mold when it's here, Im hoping to have the mold 3d printed directly instead of manufacturing the actual paddle itself first

To again outline all the help I'm getting, in almost every area I managed to find someone who has more experience in the field willing to help me out. One of these blokes is Charlie from simracnwheels for example, we shared quite some ideas about producing parts and going back and forth about drawings and methods of production. Also, all prototypes which will be coming in the next 2 weeks, and which came in last week and this week, all have been made possible thanks to generous donations to the project. I'm very stoked to see people actually supporting me this way, thanks for that

edit:
I also have new insights in the steering wheel, and I see some things going on which I don't know I can pull off, but will try.

For instance, the wet and burnout switches, those will override settings on the wheel with predefined settings specific to a wet condition, and a setup used to heat up the tired during an installation or outlap. There's also the overtake button which overrides the Rev switch with a predetermined value.

It would be so nice if there was a way to run the SLI- Emulator without actually owning an SLI myself. To me, that would be a great purpose of having that emulator in the first place. Does anyone have experience with getting this to work?

edit2:
mold design for the shifter

 

[William Geuze]

Got quite a surprise again, sooner than expected, the clutch prototype has been manufactured

(Observe how the lever is installed the wrong way, it's pointing in the wrong direction )

 

[belldanndy]

Wow! It looks promising!
I really can't wait the prototype to finish!

 

[William Geuze]

hehe it's getting serious now, can't wait to install it and try it's operation

 

[Maximvs]

what material do you use for the parts?

 

[William Geuze]

That is difficult to answer right now, as nothing is considered final yet.
What I'm currently planning is the following:

- carbon fibre shell, filled up with inner layers of glass fibre (insides)
- aluminum wheel frame where shells and quick release bolt onto
- optional part, aluminium block to avoid flex between frame and quickrelease for high torque wheels
- clutch mount assembly, aluminium
- clutch paddle, black POM or anodized Aluminum
- shift paddle, carbon fibre with a POM inlay of sorts
- knobs and switches, 3dprint reinforced with multiple thin coats of expoy (to also improve the finish)

Think I have everything covered now, the display and quick release will be of-the-shelf units

edit:
When I'm finished with the prototype, I am going to re-assemble the wheel entirely in Inventor, to try and see if everything still fits together. I already noticed along the way one of the holes for a switch was misaligned somehow. After that is done, a nice exploded view of all the (major?) components would be cool to make

 

[Maximvs]

aluminum is 2mm or 3mm?...is strong enough to withstand the pressures? i mean the wheel frame aluminum and the paddles.

 

[William Geuze]

I think the frame is 4 or 5mm thick. The clutch paddle will be 2,5. It's quite easy, when you need to pull the clutch that hard that the aluminum bends, you're either very strong, or the spring is waaaaaay too strong to be of any use

Try working the pedals on your pedal set with your hands, it's quite strange how stiff those feel with just your hand instead your leg and foot.

Pressure will be something I'll have to test, I just can't calculate that and have it right without feeling it

 

[Maximvs]

yes i know that.The feeling is quite different between legs and hands...Logitech wheel is from brushed metal,so i wander about the stiffness of the wheel...but i think that 4mm aluminum will be ok.

 

[William Geuze]

Yeah that should be enough, even more so with the optional part added, where there is just a direct, solid connection between the wheel shaft, quickrelease and frame

I really hope I can post an image with the prototypes installed on my ugly and crude test platform, complete with modelling clay grips

 

[William Geuze]

Really exited about this
It feels really quite good and I have to say, the tension for the clutch is spot on. It's only the dimensions of the spring which are a bit off.

I have to admit, I mis-labeled the Clutch mount. This is the left version instead of the right! Luckily the design works both ways

 

[Kai Lohmann]

Looks promissing.
I would like to "feel" it,,,is it a good response?

 

[William Geuze]

Yeah I really like it, it's not too heavy to pull comfortably, but it does provide enough resistence that you can keep it at 50% input without going back forth trying to keep it there.

Also, if I find other springs which fit, I can experiment with other ones, stronger or weaker