Mobile Driving/Flying Cockpit with Motion and Tactile ( Build )

[Tom_Hampton]

I could be absolutely wrong, but I don't expect it to fail immediately. I believe it would likely be something that happens over time so I'm trying to see how durable this is and I like to know where it would tend to fail first so I know what area would benefit from additional reinforcement.

Yes, I completely agree. That was precisely my point regarding the definition of work/fail. The question would be better phrased by taking a pool on the number of duty cycles it takes before a caster fails.

PLA is surprisingly strong with a tensile strength of ~7000psi. It just has a very short transition from elastic deformation, to plastic, to failure. IE, its brittle. I'd take a wild guess and say its in the 100s of cycles before something might happen. But, that's just a wild guess without knowing the actual load on each part, in order to get an idea of what region you're operating in.

From your rendering I can't tell how thin the material is in the caster mounting pocket. But, my money is on a failure around those lower 3 M6 bolts. The plastic material is taking all the tensile load there through the counterbores....with no support from any of the surrounding aluminum structures (either as compression or friction).

Still, I think it will take more than 100 cycles to see one fail. Not 1, 2, 5 or 10.

 

[Killg0reNL]

Whoops! Impulse buy!

And in stock! Woo Hoo!

View attachment 449125

So what triggered this???

DCS announced they are working on an AH-64D ( Apache Attack Helicopter )

I've got the DCS Huey already, but it never really excited me.

This announcement ticked a box and suddenly I felt like I absolutely needed a real helicopter Collective/Throttle stick!!!!!!

Howly smokes thats nice, and quite expensive.

I am also looking forward to the AH64 module

 

[RCHeliguy]

It all fit together properly.

I gave it 10 duty cycles up and down and dragged it around on the floor between cycles.

There is a slight bowing so it is very slightly dragging that corner. I may want to add another external bolt and support at the slot just above the lower caster bolts on each side for good measure and then crank it up to 60% infill for good measure.

 

[Tom_Hampton]

I hope you uttered the immortal words of men everywhere when fastening something...

"That's not going anywhere!"

Everytime I ratchet something down to the trailer or truck bed...I catch myself muttering that under my breath.

Usually, I'm right...but, not always.

 

[RCHeliguy]

As far as how solid it is. I torqued the Beveled M6 bolts and locknuts pretty hard without issue. I cranked one M8 down enough that I heard a small cracking noise, but it didn't seem to be an issue.

I bumped the wall thickness to 6 layer, went to 60% infill and most importantly added an additional reinforcement bolt on each side where the max stress is.

I think this will be solid.

I just realized that I flipped the plate the wrong way and that is why it was dragging. It's working perfectly fine now, but I need to redesign this just a bit.

 

[RedBull48]

@RCHeliguy Just finished my first small project using the prusament galaxy black pla. I made a wheel mounted dash data display using a nextion 4.3 screen. I am pretty happy with how it turned out. In retrospect if I print again I would re space the edge screws on my model but it's perfectly functional. Thanks again for the recommendation!

 

[RCHeliguy]

I made a few more changes. I think this should be pretty beefy. Once again I'm only printing it at 30% infill just to see if it gives in any area. I aborted the print above before the first layer was complete and I have the version below printing now.

I've had my rig supported on the left side overnight by only the PETG mounted caster with the left rear retracted and it hasn't bowed out any more and appears to be holding well.

Another reason not to use PLA is that over time PLA tends to conform and I think in this application it would start to warp especially if it gets hot in the house.

 

[RCHeliguy]

This will work! Looks solid, no discernable flex anywhere.
I won't be using it personally, but it it out for the masses.

Heavy Duty Profile Caster Mount (M8 , M6 bolts) by RCHeliGuy

This mount is specifically for a profile rig with 160x40 40series frame. This will work for a P1 with 3/4 feet as is. For the P1-X using the wide feet higher off the ground you can add a couple corner braces to the bottom of your frame for each mount to gain another 40mm of height. It is also...

www.thingiverse.com

I also got some heavier duty bungee cords today, so I'm going to make a second attempt on the seatbelt tensioner.

 

[Tom_Hampton]

I like that much better than the "ears" design that you aborted.

 

[RCHeliguy]

I ordered some stock 3/8" heavy duty bungee cords and managed to reuse my existing bungee attachment points.

I had a friend with some very heavy duty 1/2" bungee cord, but thought it might be better to use off the shelf cord for this.

My initial reaction is that this is much better. I'll need to play more with this.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Unfortunately I've got planters fasciitis on my right foot for the first time in my life. I got some good inserts and I'm being careful not to bare down on that heel. It was extremely painful for a little while and it's getting better, but just not enough that I feel like driving in my rig.

 

[MarkModdy]

Unfortunately I've got planters fasciitis on my right foot for the first time in my life. I got some good inserts and I'm being careful not to bare down on that heel. It was extremely painful for a little while and it's getting better, but just not enough that I feel like driving in my rig.

Try rolling a baked bean (unopened) can or a tennis ball in the arch of your foot, always work for me when mine start hurting (shortened tendons due to too much cycling in the past.

I get it when I wear flat bottomed addidas training shoes that have no arch support, I can feel it coming on as I walk... so I now wear running shoes for longer walks as these are air cushioned and have really great arch support....

Unless you have had you would never believe how painful it is... as I sure you have found... people think what’s he moaning about it can’t be that painful can it?!

 

[Wmacky]

Correct it is not. Komodo has a 6-8 week backlog, uses 3D printed parts and I read just enough reviews to make me think it was not worth twice the cost of what I purchased.

I ordered the Bell 206 Jet Ranger stick because the Huey looks too bulky, plus the Bell 206 is in stock. I did receive an email stating it would ship within 2 weeks.

This also looks like it will be easier to mount than the Komodo which has a few weird things about it's base. The Komodo does have 2 mount points for the stick, but I can already think of a number of ways that I could angle the mount for this to put the stick where ever I want it.

OE-XAM

Helicopter Simulator Heli Hubschrauber Helikopter Bell 206 Jetranger Jez Ranger FSX Flugsimulator Kollektiv Collective Pedale Pedals Stick Panel

oe-xam-simulators.blogspot.com

I'm quite certain I can find a nice mount to my seat bracket that is easy to remove when I'm driving, but I'll figure that out when it arrives.

As a (former) RC Heli junkie who has spent more time in the DCS Huey than any other aircraft, this presses a button for me and understanding how a collective stick and throttle work on a helicopter, I'm quite sure it will be much better ergonomically to control a heli like this than with a split airplane throttle.

Plus Apache!!!! It may be a while before they release it, but I'll get reacquainted with the Huey and put some time on this control.

Who knows, this may fire me up to get my RC helis in the air again.

Nice! Did you find a way to get VAT removed? I'm not seeing it?

 

[Tom_Hampton]

Unfortunately I've got planters fasciitis on my right foot for the first time in my life. I got some good inserts and I'm being careful not to bare down on that heel. It was extremely painful for a little while and it's getting better, but just not enough that I feel like driving in my rig.

In my other life I'm a rather serious runner and a triathlete. I've had PF numerous times in the last 30 years.

Happy to help. If you have questions feel free to reach out.

 

[RCHeliguy]

If it matters, I used to race bicycles competitively, but these days my wife and I mostly hike. We get the road bikes and mountain bikes out occasionally. I recently got some less supportive hiking boots and I noticed a bit of pain despite the fact that I thought they were comfortable. The final straw was when I was kicking dirt off the sole of my boots. That was a bad idea.

After staying off my foot for a little while I started using a pair of shoes with high arch Planter Fasciitis inserts and they seemed to feel pretty good.

After about 2 weeks I went back to my previous hiking boots which which aren't quite gone. I pulled out the original inserts and replaced them with high arch inserts like those in my shoes. I've managed to do a couple short hikes with my wife carefully yesterday and the day before. I can still feel some discomfort in my heel, but it isn't bad, and I can't stand being sedentary and not getting out at all.

I'm still lifting weights 3 days a week, but I've been careful with the leg press. I still can't get on my the rowing machine. I have a Keiser spin bike that I could use until I'm OK with the rowing machine, but for some reason my wife is much happier on the spin bike than I am.

Between exercising with proper support and occasional stretching I'm hoping to get things tip top again.

I'm trying to strike a balance between getting a bit of exercise and letting it heal.

This will be my last post on this subject, I'm sure it is of nearly zero interest to most people in this forum.

Mark and Tom, thanks for reaching out.

 

[RCHeliguy]

I've been meaning to revisit my fan mounts some day purely for aesthetics.
It seems this morning was that day.

I started by creating a corner cover that fit the corners well.

Then I extended to the cover to the existing fan mount and flattened the side so I could print from that orientation.

If this fits well, I may add a shallow shroud. Otherwise I'll just mirror this side and print the other side.

 

[RCHeliguy]

I think the fan mount with cover is a pretty big improvement and finishes the fan off nicely.

The left side is printing now. I'll be happy with this while I think of a cool way to integrate a short shroud. This takes it from rough to clean looking. The next step will be to add some cool factor as well as be functional.

I merged the cover with the existing mount, so this is an incremental design.

I may extend this further with a 4 part fan shroud that bolts to these parts.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Not bad. It still needs a clip on top to cover the seam, but otherwise it's a bit bland for something that is front and center like this is.

I added 1.5mm to close up the gap and made an interlock at the top.
After adding a shallow 15mm shroud, I put some angles on it to make it more interesting to look at.

I think this may be a keeper.

 

[RedBull48]

@RCHeliguy Another 3d print question for you. I see you have a fantasic finish on your 3d printed pieces. I am sure a lot of this comes from your high quality prusa printer. What sort of layer height do you usually print at? Also do you perform any post print finishing to your pieces? I have recently started experimenting with wet sanding and polishing prusa galaxy black filament and I have gotten some what I would consider impressive results on smaller tests.

 

[RCHeliguy]

I use the stock Prusa Quality Profile for Prusament PLA. It has a 0.15 layer height.

I've done ZERO post processing.