DIY Hydraulic Pedals

[Psydfx]

Hey all ,

I started sim racing around 16 months ago , it was after 6 odd months that i started getting some trouble from my CSP's , that i decided to explore the prospect of building something of my own . So with the help of a friend of mine (he has electronics knowledge, i have none ) i set about what you see below ...

So here we go ....

I have to say a big thankyou before anything else to Phil Berry for all his help and words of encouragement !

Like any project its the slow and painful process of acquiring bit on a parts by parts basis .....

So this is what i have managed to receive thus far :

Magnets for the Hall Sensors

These being the Hall Sensors ( tiny little things)

Pressure transducer for the clutch

Measpec transducer for the brake

Pull slaves

I have 2 types of valve springs that i will be using on the pull slave , depending on how hard or soft you want the effect to be

The pedal assembly (pièce de résistance in my opinion)

Master for the clutch pedal

Masters for the brakes

Load cell amp (many thanks to derek speare)

Thats all i have for now , so as i accumulate more gear and finally begin the construction i will post more pics ...

 

[3ller]

as you can see in the video this pivot system what actually do is pulling from load cell as my system look at the end of the video the LC separates from the metal ground the black joint is pulling from it, in my way the pull is direct (no pivot), will do the same movement, will flex the same way, it should work if im not mistaken

 

[gorzasty]

Yes U are right. It should work, but still you want to use pull-cylinder. Look at my idea with push-cylinder and with high customizable spring/dumper tension. I think I'll try with something like this. I wish I could be better painter

 

[3ller]

you can always replicate the pivot system from the video but instead your foot force doing the pivot work put the pull cylinder pulling against the black bracket is another solution

 

[3ller]

maybe i didnt understand you draw well but i think the cylinder is just compressing the load cell and you need to measure the load to make it flex at the center, im an horrible painter too ahahahaha dont worry about that.

 

[gorzasty]

Right 3ller. So now is time for practise lesson I'll make my homework past Christmas ;/

 

[JeanYves Samson]

After taking a bit of time to get used to my pedals , i decided that it was now time to start playing around with spring rates ...
Luckily for me i have a number of friends that race Pro Stock and Doorslammer , so i leaned on a couple of them for some springs that werent ideal for racing anymore.
I got a few different types of springs , but the standouts were the 'slammer/alky springs ... As you can see the differences between the springs is rather large ...


You can see here that i now have fitted a 'triple' spring to the clutch .... giving me a very linear feel , the 'slipping' point is now around 1/3rd of the pedal travel and pretty much in the middle of it !

I also changed to a heavier spring for the brake ...

Really is amazing the difference in feel and immersion these small changes give you ....
Cheers

Hi! Psydfx...Your pedal are awesome man, and I start to build mine... I nead some info about the dimension, rating psi of the spring valve you used for your brake cylinder please! Thank you and have a good day... JeanYves

P.S. Sorry for my bad English!

 

[Chris_I]

Very nice project! I'm thinking also of building my own pedals. I don't have my own race rig yet, but had a few goes at an logitech and fanatec rig which some friends have.
I race myself (rallycross) and I'm trying to find a good and realistic feeling. That made me look into the higher class of pedals (DSD, H-engineering, ...) but building them myself would also be a good options.

@Psydfx can you give some more details about the transducers you used? What kind of pressure levels and so on. Then I can try to locate some transducers with the same specs at some local stores which could save me a lot of shipping cost.
And like the post above, which kind of (valve) springs did you use on the brakes and clutch?

When looking into the pedals of h-engineering, I saw that they use a load cell for the throttle as well. Anyone any experience with that?

Many thanks in advance!

 

[Psydfx]

Hi! Psydfx...Your pedal are awesome man, and I start to build mine... I nead some info about the dimension, rating psi of the spring valve you used for your brake cylinder please! Thank you and have a good day... JeanYves

P.S. Sorry for my bad English!

Hey Jean Yves ,

Thankyou !

Valve springs are from a Top Alcohol motor ( drag racing ) they are rated at around 1000 lbs

 

[Psydfx]

Very nice project! I'm thinking also of building my own pedals. I don't have my own race rig yet, but had a few goes at an logitech and fanatec rig which some friends have.
I race myself (rallycross) and I'm trying to find a good and realistic feeling. That made me look into the higher class of pedals (DSD, H-engineering, ...) but building them myself would also be a good options.

@Psydfx can you give some more details about the transducers you used? What kind of pressure levels and so on. Then I can try to locate some transducers with the same specs at some local stores which could save me a lot of shipping cost.
And like the post above, which kind of (valve) springs did you use on the brakes and clutch?

When looking into the pedals of h-engineering, I saw that they use a load cell for the throttle as well. Anyone any experience with that?

Many thanks in advance!

Hey Chris ,

This is the PT i used for the brake pedal :

http://www.digikey.com/product-search/en?vendor=0&keywords=MSP6895-ND

the other one on the clutch pedal was just one from ebay .... such as this one

http://www.ebay.com/itm/500PSI-Pres...Parts_Accessories&hash=item27cd7ebac3&vxp=mtr

Cheers

 

[Chris_I]

@Psydfx Many thanks for your reply!

 

[JeanYves Samson]

Hey Jean Yves ,

Thankyou !

Valve springs are from a Top Alcohol motor ( drag racing ) they are rated at around 1000 lbs

Thanks man!

 

[Leemstradamus]

Awesome thread! I'm hoping to build a set in a year or two. Thanks for sharing the amazing work you have done!

 

[Maurie King]

An extremely cost effective version of this can be achieved with a bicycle hydraulic brake and having "force sensor" pads placed between the pads , the whole lot can be mounted inside your existing G25/G27 pedal base too if you want.

Something like this http://www.tekscan.com/flexible-force-sensors is what I am refering too.

 

[JeanYves Samson]

An extremely cost effective version of this can be achieved with a bicycle hydraulic brake and having "force sensor" pads placed between the pads , the whole lot can be mounted inside your existing G25/G27 pedal base too if you want.

Something like this http://www.tekscan.com/flexible-force-sensors is what I am refering too.

Hi! Do you have some pics of your installation.. Thanks!

 

[Maurie King]

No as I have not actually built it as yet, I came up with the idea when I was repairing my son's bike. I already have a Force Sensor brake (Basically it is a pressure pedal rather than a Position/Pot ) .
While I was cleaning my pedals to get the dirt and much that gets in there out I placed the force sensor between the brake pads with some silicone rubber strip as cushioning. Then in game I noticed that the brake application was very smooth, and like my car required little force to achieve good braking, so in the next month or so as time allows I will mod my existing pedals with this idea and post here.

 

[Daniel Green]

Hii Psy thats cool does that mean ur clutch has a bite point now then

 

[Psydfx]

Hii Psy thats cool does that mean ur clutch has a bite point now then

Hi Dan ,

That it does , can even slip it too !

 

[Euster]

Hi Psydfx,
at the Moment I'm building my own hydraulic pedals. I also use two brake cylinders and have the same connected. I currently have only one problem. If I release the brake pedal again , I pump my hydraulic oil from one Reservoir into the other reservoir.

I think you don´t have the same problem. Why?

I just think of a solution. Do you have the brake balance exactly 0? This could be my mistake, isn´t it?

Maybe you have another solution.

I´m glad to hearing from you.

Kind regards

Martin

Sorry for my English. I´m from Germany.

 

[Psydfx]

Hi Psydfx,
at the Moment I'm building my own hydraulic pedals. I also use two brake cylinders and have the same connected. I currently have only one problem. If I release the brake pedal again , I pump my hydraulic oil from one Reservoir into the other reservoir.

I think you don´t have the same problem. Why?

I just think of a solution. Do you have the brake balance exactly 0? This could be my mistake, isn´t it?

Maybe you have another solution.

I´m glad to hearing from you.

Kind regards

Martin

Sorry for my English. I´m from Germany.

Hi Martin ,

It sounds like your bias bar isn't centered correctly , what this does is 'activates' 1 cylinder before the other . So in effect it pumps the fluid across to the slower or later moving cylinder . To balance you need to tune bias bar so they are both compressing at an equal rate .

Hope this helps

 

[iigator]

Hi there ,

Those pedals , i'm sure will be perfect for what you need ! When you order them specify that you would like the 3/4" bore master cylinders . The same diameter should be used for the pull slaves too ( i notice that they are the larger 7/8" ).

The pressure transducer i used for the brake was :

http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/M3421-000006-01KPG/MSP6895-ND/726355

and i also used a pressure transducer on the clutch pedal ..
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pressure-tr...si-for-oil-fuel-air-/250957430320?refid=store

the above is 1000psi , which is probably overkill for the clutch . This one below would be more than sufficient ..

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pressure-tr...si-for-oil-fuel-air-/250988155990?refid=store

As you noted i am using the DSD board with load cell amp.. Below is how to wire the transducers .... the Measpec is the transducer with 4 wires (brakes)

Stick to -3AN fittings , small and neat !


Magnets are these ..

http://apexmagnets.com/cylinders-c-4/1-2-x-1-cylinders-p-145

And i used this hall sensor ..

http://shop.moderndevice.com/products/a1324-hall-effect-sensor

If i have missed anything please let me know or ask away , ill help with what and where i can

Hi psydfx....nice pedals...could you say me

Hi there ,

Those pedals , i'm sure will be perfect for what you need ! When you order them specify that you would like the 3/4" bore master cylinders . The same diameter should be used for the pull slaves too ( i notice that they are the larger 7/8" ).

The pressure transducer i used for the brake was :

http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/M3421-000006-01KPG/MSP6895-ND/726355

and i also used a pressure transducer on the clutch pedal ..
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pressure-tr...si-for-oil-fuel-air-/250957430320?refid=store

the above is 1000psi , which is probably overkill for the clutch . This one below would be more than sufficient ..

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pressure-tr...si-for-oil-fuel-air-/250988155990?refid=store

As you noted i am using the DSD board with load cell amp.. Below is how to wire the transducers .... the Measpec is the transducer with 4 wires (brakes)

Stick to -3AN fittings , small and neat !


Magnets are these ..

http://apexmagnets.com/cylinders-c-4/1-2-x-1-cylinders-p-145

And i used this hall sensor ..

http://shop.moderndevice.com/products/a1324-hall-effect-sensor

If i have missed anything please let me know or ask away , ill help with what and where i can

Hi psydfx...nice pedals..