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

[RCHeliguy]

Not bad....

I'll have the right bolts for it tomorrow.
I need to drop it about 3-4mm, so I'll make the holes slots. Otherwise this is SILENT even with obscene tactile feedback!

Add, slots, a bit of finish work, and then I'll print all 4 of them together

 

[LeeHetherington]

Strong enough even with max pedal pressure? I’m curious because not experienced with 3D printing. Do you feel the plate shift at all with brake pressure?

Interesting.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Strong enough even with max pedal pressure? I’m curious because not experienced with 3D printing. Do you feel the plate shift at all with brake pressure?

Interesting.

I have inverted pedals and the VAST majority of my foot pressure is directly on the pedal not on the plate, but I have ordered some PETG which is stronger and I will likely end up going that route. PLA can be brittle and doesn't have much flex.

Also I do have the center front of my foot plate HARD bolted to a corner brace off of a support piece of profile as shown below.
When I'm braking my heel is pretty close to that bolt. The ends vibrate, but the center front is solid.

 

[Kieran527]

How do you get such good surface finish so consistently in your prints!
Please pass your secret settings on

 

[RCHeliguy]

How do you get such good surface finish so consistently in your prints!
Please pass your secret settings on

You are going to be sorely disappointed.

I haven't changed one setting since I assembled my Prusa printer. I only use Prusament filament.

I export the STL part from Fusion 360. I import it into Prusaslicer, I only decide how much support it needs if any. This last print has no supports. Otherwise I'm using stock Prusa profiles.

I got piles of advice on how I could tweak my printer, but I didn't use any of it. I've spent all my time in Fusion 360 designing things. I stick the SD card in the printer and let it rip. In fact I don't even watch it anymore. It sits alone in the basement and I pick up my prints when it says the prints will be done. So far it's estimates have been extremely accurate.

I know that people can get great results from many printers, but I keep coming back to this. I just had a friend warning me about all the things that can go wrong with PETG prints and all the tweaking to get it right.

My expectation is I'll go through the same process I do right now, but only using a Prusa PETG profile.

 

[Kieran527]

You are going to be sorely disappointed.

I haven't changed one setting since I assembled my Prusa printer. I only use Prusament filament.

I export the STL part from Fusion 360. I import it into Prusaslicer, I only decide how much support it needs if any. This last print has no supports. Otherwise I'm using stock Prusa profiles.

I got piles of advice on how I could tweak my printer, but I didn't use any of it. I've spent all my time in Fusion 360 designing things. I stick the SD card in the printer and let it rip. In fact I don't even watch it anymore. It sits alone in the basement and I pick up my prints when it says the prints will be done. So far it's estimates have been extremely accurate.

I know that people can get great results from many printers, but I keep coming back to this. I just had a friend warning me about all the things that can go wrong with PETG prints and all the tweaking to get it right.

My expectation is I'll go through the same process I do right now, but only using a Prusa PETG profile.

Well at least it worked out the box for you, cant be disappointed at that!

Alas, ill continue to play with my settings and hopefully stumble across the right things.
I'll look at the Prusament filament, as well, does anyone know of good UK supplier, i can only find it for about £50 a roll!

 

[RCHeliguy]

The 2 x new mounts finished printing early this morning and I just got them mounted. I'm happy with them and printing another pair.

Foot Plate Transducer Isolator by RCHeliGuy

Edit: 6/12/21 Added a shorter left and right plate support that can be used when vertical clearance is an issue for the taller supports This is an isolation system that allows a sim racing foot plate to move well isolated from the rest of the rig. This captures the Sorbothane so it doesn't...

www.thingiverse.com

This is the layout.

• M8 x 55mm Socket head bolt
  • 3D Printed Cover
    • Sorbothane Vibration Isolation Washer 30 Duro (0.5" ID - 1.5" OD - 0.5" Thick)
      • Rubber Washer, 3/8 x 1-1/4", Black, 8
        • Silicone Tubing 8mm ID X 11mm OD Silicone Rubber
        • 1/4 Aluminum Plate
      • Rubber Washer, 3/8 x 1-1/4", Black, 8
    • Sorbothane Vibration Isolation Washer 30 Duro (0.5" ID - 1.5" OD - 0.5" Thick)
  • 3D Printed Base
• Metric M8-1.25 Hex Nut

2x M8 x 16mm socket head bolts and T-nuts

The M8 nuts are 6.5mm thick and 13mm flat edge to flat edge and slide right in.

From the side view I can see that I still need to adjust the front mount to be more vertical, but they fit well even thought they are still using beveled bolts instead of socket head bolts.

They will definitely look better with socket head bolts that arrive today.

This textured surface is the result of printing this face down the Prusa textured magnetic print plate.

They second pair should be ready about the time that my bolts arrive today.

I don't need glue stick on the smooth plate, but I do on the textured plate below. This plate is supposed to be good for PETG. I have some PETG in Antracite Grey and Galaxy Black ordered and a couple more rolls of Galaxy Black PLA. I'm not close to running out of anything yet, but decided with my current momentum it would be better to error on the side having more on hand.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Well at least it worked out the box for you, cant be disappointed at that!

Alas, ill continue to play with my settings and hopefully stumble across the right things.
I'll look at the Prusament filament, as well, does anyone know of good UK supplier, i can only find it for about £50 a roll!

Just buy it directly from Prusa. It's even on sale right now. It makes sense for me to buy directly from Prusa even in the US with the shipping cost around $8 a roll in pairs. Before VAT it's $23.74 USD a roll for PLA, and $28.49 a roll for PETG. ( normally 24.99 and 29.99)

Prusament PLA Prusa Galaxy Black 1kg - Prusa Research

Prusament PLA is our in-house made filament. The manufacturing process is closely monitored and tested - we guarantee ±0.02mm precision and consistent colors.

shop.prusa3d.com

 

[RCHeliguy]

I've been testing these and they are working much better than I expected.

1. They are very quiet at much higher amplitude than my previous mount ( as hard as I dare push them )
2. They have much better plate holding than my previous mount.

Because these new mounts hold the plate in place more securely in the horizontal plane, I removed the front center support. The end result is improved lower frequencies and more amplitude because the entire length of the plate can vibrate easier. Since i have two Aura's through bolted side by side under the plate, they are acting as a rigid support members. I believe this is why I'm seeing very little plate deflection even under heavy braking. Although under heavy braking my heel tends to lift rather than bear down.

I ran these Aura's well past their rated capacity with my NX4-6000 and they ran well. It was more than I wanted to feel. With my heels on the plate, I only hear the transducers minimally. There are no additional noises. If I took my heels off the plate I could hear the transducers more loudly, but very little vibration appeared to reach the rest of my rig. At some frequencies I could hear my fan mount buzz a tiny bit. I suspect this is because the surgical rubber between the plate and bolt is still tight. Over time that should wear a bit and loosen up. So that is allowing some vibration to pass.

Obviously I lost any stereo separation I had before, but realistically I could only feel that separation in testing. I never felt it in game as @Mr Latte had suggested would be the case. What I may do is run different effects through the two transducers. I'll need to experiment a bit. I will need to retune the effects now because the dynamics have changed.

I will mention that Sorbothane is a damping material that absorbs vibration. It is not elastic like rubber and doesn't store energy that rebounds back. Rubber isolators would be more lively however they would also keep the plate in motion after an effect has passed and they would pass more stress into the mounts.

I did have someone suggest that I could 3D print my own dampening rings using TPU and adjust the hardness with infill %. Maybe another day. For now, this is working very well and I'm feeling good about my rig again

 

[RCHeliguy]

As a quick aside. An earlier comment was made about my looking for excuses not to use my rig. The irony is that I was feeling pretty good about my rig and running a race last Saturday, but my old transducer mounts were making noise and I found that I couldn't tighten or loose the bolts in a way that got rid of the noise and things like that drive me crazy and cause me to start projects like these new isolator mounts. Now I'm feeling good about my rig again.

At the moment there is only one thing that I want to change and that is my perfectly functional button box. I has been a great first draft that has served me well for a year now. I keep coming up with ideas and I'm starting to move in a definite direction, but it hasn't fully crystalized yet and appears like it will require a number of mini projects and tests. So that process will take however long it takes. But the current button box is too bulky and I have ideas for a better control layout, shape and possibly finish, although I still may end up with 3D printed material covered in leather look black vinyl.

I do need to create better mounts for my flight controls and I think my 3D printer will help with that task as well, but I haven't been very itchy to fly lately so that is on the back burner until I get fired up again.

 

[RCHeliguy]

The covers work but look a bit boring, so I thought I would try to add a little something to make them a bit more interesting. I'm giving this ago in Galaxy Black. But I'd also like to see how Anthracite Grey looks when my PETG gets here.

I like the extra detail better. I don't like bland.
I added an extra 1mm height so the bolt head would pass the plane of the top and added some tiny chamfers. Printing a set of 4 right now.

Both of these look fantastic to the naked eye, but with a flash all the imperfections jump out.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Made a plug for the 8mm hole where I used to have it pinned solid. $.02 Slightly oversized. Hammer fit.

I think these look a lot better aesthetically.

I think they look much better overall with a color that closely matches the color of the Sorbothane.

The plug for the hole looks marginally better, but I can probably do better.

 

[Wmacky]

I see your having tons of fun with that printer. I know that like me, ( and probably most on this forum) you are a DIY project guy. It going to come in so handy for those parts you used to have to search the Ace hardware shelves for, hoping you could modify it to work! My first use was a UAV / FPV long range portable control center



.

 

[Mr Latte]

You could try a test...
Place a couple of shot glasses on the isolated footplate at left/right foot positions then place a couple more on the 8020 horizontal cross section and also try the mainframe supports . Stick them down with sticky 3M type material to help hold in place.

Fill these with some water and test vibrations
at typical volumes. See how the water reacts to the vibes on the plate and on 8020 sections of the rig after the isolation. By this you can also test stereo effects like bumps , wheelslip, lateral g and speed sensitive steering. To help determine how well or how ineffective those stereo effects operate on the users installation.

ideally those on the plate should show ripple activity. Those after the used isolation should show little or none.

Usually it takes more than what your doing here with a rather basic isolator and no other dampening or sound proofing materials to achieve better isolation or leakage of the energy. The more vibes that is maintained in the isolated surface the better the detail and feedback may be and with lower volumes.

We can have increased output activity if we have tactile energy coming from the pedal stem/plate and then energy from a secondary base plate unit. This as an approach can give the user much more control over what effect layers they use and work to combine into each foot going beyond the limitations of a single unit or single installation point.
Ideally 4 small exciters used in this method and combined with a single or dual BK unit for improved low bass . Such would be an approach worth testing and applying better mix of effects layers but certainly not one I have seen anyone attempt to do and with more substantial isolation.

 

[RCHeliguy]

@Mr Latte, I don't expect to have any stereo separation at this point. Which is why I was thinking of using the transducers under the foot plate for different effects rather than left and right.

My biggest win is that the plate moves well without creating additional noise. It moves much more freely than it did when I had it bolted to the fairly rigid rubber engine isolators a while back. The 30 durometer Sorbothane is very soft and I don't have tighten these mounts past touching.

I do have a spare transducer that I could mount above my pedals, however that would go into a rigid part of the frame and I would need amplification for it.

 

[RCHeliguy]

I see your having tons of fun with that printer. I know that like me, ( and probably most on this forum) you are a DIY project guy.

Yes, I can remember walking around Lowes or Home Depot just looking at various hardware I could repurpose.

I'm definitely enjoying the creative process allowed with a 3D printer.

When I get back to my flight control mounts, I expect to use a hybrid of aluminum and 3D printed parts for at least the pedal mounts.

 

[Mr Latte]

@Mr Latte, I don't expect to have any stereo separation at this point. Which is why I was thinking of using the transducers under the foot plate for different effects rather than left and right.

My biggest win is that the plate moves well without creating additional noise. It moves much more freely than it did when I had it bolted to the fairly rigid rubber engine isolators a while back. The 30 durometer Sorbothane is very soft and I don't have tighten these mounts past touching.

I do have a spare transducer that I could mount above my pedals, however that would go into a rigid part of the frame and I would need amplification for it.

Spoiler: Drivel that will most likely be ignored

I’m not sure what effects you use or settings as you have not shown but feel free to share if you want. Even if you don’t expect to get decent operational stereo working you can still do the test suggested to help see how the energy from each unit is transferring. Others reading this are also welcome to try such a test as it might surprise them.

Lots of people have CM based installations but they may not be getting much true stereo presence as really few builds try to be more creative with installations for pedals or indeed attempting to maintain stereo separation better. Bit of a pitty as we can do so much more now with effects than was possible before with Simvibe.

Looking beyond stereo positional effects, you definitely can get better engine and deceleration or braking sensations if you consider at some point going beyond placing all effects to a single transducer on one channel or installation position.
It depends how interested people are in trying to experiment but the exciter concept that has been shared on these forums for a seat can be incorporated into pedal regions as well.

 

[RCHeliguy]

I'm in the very early stages of prototyping my new and improved button box.

So far I've just been focusing on the section that hooks on to the Sim Lab vertical support in blue below. I've actually got that section printing out for a test fit and ergonomic verification of button placement. I need to see how everything falls to hand. That one section is $ 3.87 to print as it is now. I may drill and mess around with it a bit.

I expect this to end up being maybe 6-7 pieces total. The section I'm printing now just barely fits on my 3D printer's bed at an angle.

I'm not sure I'll need as much real estate as I used before, so this may shrink some. If you notice I've got a lot of buttons in a pretty small space, but there is also lots to key off of with your hand. I'm very curious how well this works in practice.

You can see below (upside down) that I've got this prototype setup to just hang on the vertical support and has supports that push against the face. I've pulled the surface away at an angle so it doesn't interfere with the wheel and has room for switches buttons and wiring. This is just for testing. I'll have a clamping mechanism that may even use a rubber gasket that clamps to the vertical wheelbase support.

Fortunately I have a number of switches and buttons left over that I can mount without touching my exiting button box.

And.... look what just arrived from Prusa

 

[RCHeliguy]

I wasn't expecting this, but 3mm of PLA creates a very solid surface for buttons. I thought this would be flimsy and require structural ribs for rigidity. I was just printing this to see how it fit.

The supports did no release well, so I will rethink that before my next print. I'm going to try to design it so it doesn't need supports and I have some ideas.

Otherwise the part hung on the vertical support well and fell to hand pretty well. I'm going to change a LOT before my next print.

Lots of 3D printed parts in this picture

From this angle you can see how the face of the button box is angled away from the wheelbase mount to make room for the buttons in back and the eventual wires.

 

[RCHeliguy]

I still have a lot going on with the button box, but it will take me a while to work through.

Meanwhile I suddenly decided that my SC 2 emergency cutoff switch box was ugly and would take away from the button box next to it. So I pulled my box apart, got the dimensions for the holes and interior space needed for the switch etc. and threw this replacement box together.

I think it will look much better. I'll find out in the morning. I decided to use 6mm bolts for a change. The existing box only had two 4mm bolts holding it in place, so this is still overkill. I just didn't see the point in using up more M8 hardware when I have a pile of M6 hardware sitting around.