Leo Bodnar SLI-F1 Advice

James Robertson · Jan 1, 2016

I am currently building myself an F1 wheel and I would like some advice on my button configuration.

One thing that confuses me is the difference between a rotary encoder and a rotary switch, and how and they should be utilised. At the moment I have used 6 rotary switches on the front of the wheel but Im not sure if these supply the correct functionality or not.

I have 6 Rotary Switches, 2 Rotary Encoders, 2 Potentiometers, 14 Puch Buttons & 3 Toggle Switches in my design and I just wanted to check this was feasible. Am I correct in using potentiometers for the clutch paddles?

Leo Bodnars site states the following about the SLI-F1 : "Up to a possible 36 inputs - 32 for push buttons and/or rotary encoders (encoders use 2 inputs) and 4 inputs for hatswitch. 14 inputs may also be used as analogue inputs (8 Max) - ie rotary switches, potentiometers hall sensors etc"

Any advice would be appreciated

Wheel 1 by jamesscotland73, on Flickr

Wheel 3 by jamesscotland73, on Flickr

Alexj · Jan 1, 2016

Hey James.

I think that you can have up to 36 inputs through matrix wireing. I also noticed that Leo has diffrent softwares for diffrent applications.
I also think that you need to have a single ground wire to all the rest to be able to use all inputs.
I can't say this is 100 percent correct, but I think I'm not far off.

Good luck and a happy new year.

James Robertson · Feb 10, 2016

IMG_3588 by jamesscotland73, on Flickr

View my full photostream for more pictures.

Project is nearly complete

RichardHessels · Feb 10, 2016

Wow, such a awesome job. What is the total weight of the complete steeringwheel?

James Robertson · Feb 10, 2016

Richard Hessels said:
Wow, such a awesome job. What is the total weight of the complete steeringwheel?

Thanks Richard , im not sure of the weight and don't have a scales in the house, it's not heavy at all though. I had it mounted on a fanatec Xbox universal hub and it was no heavier than the wheel that came with that.

I'm not that happy with the grips , i need to work out a way of giving them some kind of rubber or suede coating. I have ordered a tin of plasti dip paint so hopefully it will improve the feel.

Moxley6969 · Feb 11, 2016

Sweet lookin wheel James, Some Faux Suede should be somewhat Easy to Stitch into a tube and make some grips. I would also Advise against Aerosol Fabric glue for this purpose as both the Cheap cheap Stuff and the somewhat cheap stuff had "Bleed through" issues when i tried to adhere it to another piece of fabric, What i ended up settling on was Shoe Goo around the outside perimiter, It stuck to the Suede and the Other material I was covering VERY well. here's what i was covering for example, so a High wear area and so far no sign's of peeling or wear yet.

James Robertson · Feb 13, 2016

Moxley6969 said:
Sweet lookin wheel James, Some Faux Suede should be somewhat Easy to Stitch into a tube and make some grips. I would also Advise against Aerosol Fabric glue for this purpose as both the Cheap cheap Stuff and the somewhat cheap stuff had "Bleed through" issues when i tried to adhere it to another piece of fabric, What i ended up settling on was Shoe Goo around the outside perimiter, It stuck to the Suede and the Other material I was covering VERY well. here's what i was covering for example, so a High wear area and so far no sign's of peeling or wear yet.

Thanks for the advice

Alex72 · Feb 16, 2016

Wow this is really neat. If you dont mind me asking, what is the material cost to create such a Wheel excluding the cost of the 3D printer?

Cant really help you with your question, but i will surely check your progress.

3D Printing is such an excellent tool when you do a bit of DIY.

PS. Dont know why my Win10/IE puts capital letters willy nilly lol...

James Robertson · Feb 16, 2016

Alex72 said:
Wow this is really neat. If you dont mind me asking, what is the material cost to create such a Wheel excluding the cost of the 3D printer?

Cant really help you with your question, but i will surely check your progress. 3D Printing is such an excellent tool when you do a bit of DIY.

PS. Dont know why my Win10/IE puts capital letters willy nilly lol...

A single roll of Colorfabb PLA is about £30 and I would say the wheel would use about 3/4 of a roll, maybe less.

Psicolizzard · Mar 20, 2016

Man its possible give or sell me the Project? Amazing work.

James Robertson · Mar 21, 2016

Hi Psicolizzard
I will be launching a web site in the next few months where I will be selling the wheel in kit form. It will be sold as an addon for the Fanatec Universal Hub.
Check out my photostream for more pictures

IMG_3655 by jamesscotland73, on Flickr

eSEA One · Mar 22, 2016

Have you considered smoothing the surfaces, with the varies methods used in 3d printing?

http://blog.fictiv.com/posts/ultimate-guide-to-finishing-3d-printed-parts

James Robertson · Apr 3, 2016

Thanks eSEA One, I will maybe give that a try

Zizza17 · Apr 4, 2016

Awesome job James!!
be careful with the "PLA", it is a mighty bastard because it seem rigid but it flex a little, and with a bit of humidity it wear pretty fast.

James Robertson · Apr 4, 2016

Maybe I should give ABS a go, I'm just a bit worried about the smell bothering the neighbours.

Zizza17 · Apr 4, 2016

the very big problem of ABS is the adhesion on the build platform, i tested about all the solutions (abs juice, buildtak, glue...) but nothing changed... after some layer it bend with my "old" 3d printer. now i have a Zortrax M200 and with a perforated plate it stick very well.

I made a similiar project for a steering wheel (http://www.racedepartment.com/threads/replica-acura-arx02-a.95452/#post-1850469) with the old 3d printer but now i have restarted to print all the parts with the Zortrax M200 and the P-ZCABS (abs+policarbonate) which it seem to be a very stronger material than common ABS.

If could help i tested the Colorfabb XT-CF20 but i found only little improvement than the normal PLA

James Robertson · Apr 4, 2016

Loving your wheel Zizza

Thanks for the tips,

What did you use for the electronics on your project, I have a z1 sim display that I`m thinking of using in my next project (2016 f1 wheel) but I'm unsure what to use for the Led rev counter lights. I was thinking of removing the lights from a Leo bodnar Sli-F1 and wiring the LED`s to the board instead of they way they are mounted at the moment. This would allow me to place the LED`s around the top of the LCD Z1 display.

Zizza17 · Apr 5, 2016

yes i used this solution but with SIMR-F1 instead of sli-F1.

For the screen i bought directly from the producer that cost a bit less than z1, search the screen name on google and you will find it (usbd480).

Regarding your wheel i'd like to know why you have splitted the center parts in 2 pieces?

Be careful i see some parts are a little under extruded and/or the plate is not perfectly levelled.

for the slicer if you don't have tested yet, try "Simplify3d", for me is the best slicer on the market, with the old printer (Velleman k8200/3dRag) has improved the quality and the time (much less, in some case i saved about 6 hour) of my prints and has better support than "Cura"

James Robertson · Apr 5, 2016

Zizza17 said:
yes i used this solution but with SIMR-F1 instead of sli-F1.

For the screen i bought directly from the producer that cost a bit less than z1, search the screen name on google and you will find it (usbd480).

Regarding your wheel i'd like to know why you have splitted the center parts in 2 pieces?

Be careful i see some parts are a little under extruded and/or the plate is not perfectly levelled.

for the slicer if you don't have tested yet, try "Simplify3d", for me is the best slicer on the market, with the old printer (Velleman k8200/3dRag) has improved the quality and the time (much less, in some case i saved about 6 hour) of my prints and has better support than "Cura"

I had to split the front plate in two parts as it was too big to print out in one piece.

Which parts are under extruded, i would appreciate more info

, I have this weird problem sometimes where I get under extrusion at around 10mm in height into a print.

I have looked at Simplify 3d ...............6 hours is an amazing time saving.

I bought a Zortrax M200 yesterday so it should be arriving today, prints from it look really impressive. My wheel will need a redesign though as its build plate is even smaller than the Ultimaker.

Zizza17 · Apr 5, 2016

i see some under extrusion near the hole that are not always perfectly melted with the other parts, but this problem could come from the next problem, the leveling problem i seen on a handle, it seem the printer bed is a little lower in one point compared to the other. try doing a 2 or 3 layer of raft, this could solve this problem.

the ultimaker is a very good open source printer that is possible to improve a lot with some little modification
however the Zortrax is another world, isn't open source but the ecosystem behind this printer is exceptional, their software is studied to work with their filament and their printers, so with this system they can get very good prints always with less work to us to calibrate everything.