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

I was thinking about registration for multi-color decals when you showed your Ferrari decal. I assume that you just build the decal from the bottom up until you finally put the whole thing under transfer tape.

Partially yes. The horse and SF lettering are just black overtop of a solid yellow shield. But the top section (green, red) are separate pieces. You can layer to some degree but it can get too thick (especially higher quality vinyl which is usually thicker), and difficult then to get it to adhere without creases/wrinkles on a surface that isn't perfectly flat. In some cases you need to also watch that the underlying colour can result in a distortion of the top colour (like if there was a blue/green/red under yellow or white, it might be that it shows through a bit, or changes the colouring slightly)

Here's another one. It's zoomed in a lot, since it's quite small and you can see some of the imperfections easily (I made as a sort of centre cap for my Sparco wheel, but to the eye looks good and I'm reasonably proud of it). This one is basically a silver shield underneath. Then the yellow, black scorpion, and red are all separate pieces directly on the silver, and not on top of each other. So there is intentionally a gap, not because they didn't fit right, but so the silver shows through on the edges. You can see that I didn't get some of the pieces laid in perfect, but I'm sure I could do much better if I did it again. At the top, the green, white, red strips are all separate pieces laid on the silver. Again the silver boarder around is intentional. Then there is a black piece, and the white lettering layered on top of the black (so here the letters are on top, not cut out of the black).

There is a way to use registration marks to align the layers as you apply them. So far I just go by eye and careful placement. This is an example where I used the baking paper trick. It is quite translucent so you can use it as a layer between the vinyls so you can get the placement perfect. The vinyl doesn't really stick to the baking paper, or very, very little. The transfer tape is what holds the pattern together. Then you slide out some of the baking paper, tack down an edge, adjust a bit more, then keep pulling out the baking paper. Remove the transfer tape at the end.


IMG_1618.jpg
 
Thanks for the additional tips. I have wax paper, but no baking paper at the moment. When I come up with an idea requiring multiple layers of vinyl, I'll get some backing paper and give that a go. I've used registration marks for other applications, but I'm feeling vinyl'd out at the moment.

I removed my test decal from the right of my seat, but need to get a bit more excited about going through that weeding process again to make another clean vinyl decal. That is some very fiddly little work to deal with.

My new surge/outlet tower arrived and I think that helped clean up the power cord situation pretty well.

The remote power switches are working perfectly. The remote in the picture below has 3 x On and 3 x Off buttons. Now rather than reaching around to the bottom of the base of the outlet tower and on the floor in the back corner of my room, I just press the 1 and 2 "On" buttons powering up my base stations, DSP's amplifiers and computer. I put the 3rd remote switch on my 4,000W subwoofer in the back corner of the room.

Each of the remote power switches also has a manual switch, in case I misplace the remote.

I haven't put much testing on them, but initially it doesn't seem anything is causing them to switch on and off. I know my SC2 Pro, NLRv3, and G-Belt are supposed to be pretty well EMI shielded and since these switches are programable I don't expect them to receive stray signals to turn on and off. However they do share the same power circuit.

Remotes_7918.jpg
 
Last edited:
I have wax paper, but no baking paper at the moment
Likely it is the same. As long as you can kinda see through it, and the vinyl doesn't stick so much, it will work the same.

need to get a bit more excited about going through that weeding process again to make another clean vinyl decal. That is some very fiddly little work to deal with.

Yes. I was quite motivated to make many decals a while ago. But the weeding wears off after a while. you make a couple decals, feel proud of yourself, and then realize you lost the whole day to do that...... Usually the print software can make some additional cut lines to make it a bit easier to break up larger or more complex pieces, but it still takes time and attention. Nothing worse than realizing you removed the piece that was supposed to stay, and then have to recut and start over.

I like to do little things like making a 'Porsche' lettering/font to cover various 'Fanatec' labels on wheels, etc..... Just silly stuff like that.

To be very honest, I'm not making many decals/cuts lately. But I do still use vinyl a lot to cover various things. With the heat gun, it is amazing how you can get it to stretch and conform to compound surfaces. As a silly example, I've been using it in strips to trap/seal wires running along a flat surface so things look a bit cleaner (I will add eventually some exciters to my seat, and I will then cover the wires with vinyl so they are not so obvious). I've covered my desk, heel rest on the sim-rig, even covered my ProSim H-Shifter in black for my preference. I'm still working on various button-box prototypes, but it is a lot easier to cover it with black vinyl, than to paint. It's handy that it can also be removed without damaging the item. If you end up with bit of adhesive, some alcohol will dissolve/clean it up really quick. Lots of applications and for many of these things, the heat-gun is your friend.

Good luck.
 
I'd like to see the results of the of vinyl wrap on the Pro-Sim.
It’s somewhere on this forum. Will try to find it. Here it is from a while ago.


I should really redo it. One of my earlier projects and only using a hair dryer. I could do much better now with a proper heat gun and some experience. But it still looks ok to me.

If anything I might put a really dim led inside just to light up the mechanism a bit at night. Should be quite easy to do.
 
Last edited:
If anything I might put a really dim led inside just to light up the mechanism a bit at night. Should be quite easy to do.
Looks great! I'm impressed the vinyl formed over the embossed Pro-Sim Quaife lettering. Did you have to slice the vinyl in that area to release the air bubbles?

And great minds think alike. I added some accent lighting on mine.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0935.jpg
    IMG_0935.jpg
    374.4 KB · Views: 88
Looks great! I'm impressed the vinyl formed over the embossed Pro-Sim Quaife lettering. Did you have to slice the vinyl in that area to release the air bubbles?

There are two answers for this....

1. If i redid it now, with a proper heat gun and cleaning of the surface, yeah I think you could get it to snug up quite nicely. Sometimes a little pinhole is inevitable, but they are pretty easy to hide in less obvious areas, and then camouflage it with a sharpie

2. What is in the photos actually has the raised lettering cut out, so that the silver casting is showing through. The photo shows some distortion in the black colouring around the edges of the letters. To the eye you don't see it, but I think it's just the area that had more 'work' and the camera/reflection picks it up better than the eye does. So I put on the vinyl, and then cut the lettering out so the silver shows through. This is tough to do accurately on a surface like that because the vinyl stretches and contracts a bit over time and you end up with gaps in places you didn't think you had. A bit of flat black touch up paint is usually needed (easily comes off with a bit of alcohol later, if needed).

What was much harder and took much more time, was to cover the red coloured areas on the inside area where the mechanism is. (that is also black vinyl on mine, my target was to make all the red go-away) I guess if you disassembled it, it would be easier. But I did it by making templates, test fitting, and a lot of bloody time and do-overs.
 
Having my old gaming computer's i9-9900K in my devbox is finally showing me what it can do. I'm rendering 4K video down to HD and it is flying :)

I'm actually hearing my fans right now, which makes sense.
Just pegged at 100%!

1644602241435.png

I have a 26min YouTube video coming. It's very loosely scripted in that I have a list of things to cover on a note pad, but it's all just a stream of consciousness.
 
Last edited:
what you think
Thanks for making the effort, well worth watching IMO.
Better organized and production values than many paid videos out there..
If I had not already read this thread (some parts several times),
there are moments where captions would have usefully supplemented audio for my old ears, at least.
Specs and links in the description could help those who are poor at taking dictation.
 
Thanks. I need to learn to slow down my speech. I know this, but maybe I need a sign in front of me the whole time that says take a breath and slow down.

I'm sure Scripting would help, but I'm not a monetized YouTuber and I don't have the time.

I do need to add links to the video.
 
there are moments where captions would have usefully supplemented audio for my old ears, at least.
I specified the spoken language for automatic Closed Captioning. Hopefully it will now autogenerate the text, but I'm not sure how long that will take. I'll check in the morning.

Edit: It worked :) There is now auto generated closed captioning.
 
Last edited:
Table of Contents Page: (In progress)

NLRv3 Installation

My first day using my NLRv3 in Dirt Rally (YouTube video)

Derek Speares Button box:

ProSim H pattern shift: June 19, 2019

Dead Pedal

Initial Sliding Pedal plate: Aug 22. 2019

Initial Mouse and HE handbrake mount Aug 31, 2019

My first SC2 wheel hangar: Sep 15, 2019

Precision Sim Engineering GT3 wheel: Sep 26, 2019

Homebrew button box rev1 : Oct 20, 2019

NRG Prisma Seat installation: Nov 7, 2019

Flight control mount iteration: Nov 24, 2019

Inverted Pedal Setup: Feb 4, 2020

Behringer NX4-6000: Feb 29. 2020

Foot plate Auras moved underneath: Mar 6, 2020

Build mount plate for Pro Sim H-pattern shift: May 5, 2020

Metal mouse mount: May 6, 2020

Prusa i3 mk3S arrives Aug 20, 2020

BK-CT for seat Aug 21, 2020

Cooling fan prototype: Aug 22, 2020

Raceseng Contour knob for Pro Sim: Aug 27, 2020

First 3D printed project to be shared on Thingaverse: Sept 16, 2020

3D printed SC2 cover plate: Sep 25, 2020

Quiet fan mod for NX4-6000: Oct 4, 2020

Very beginnings of the 3D printed button box: Nov 8, 2020

First Fusion 360 drawings approximating final design: Dec 16, 2020

Button Box finally assembled: Jan 1, 2021

Virpil stick and base (flight) Jan 11, 2021

Faux Exhausts: Jan 29, 2021:

Grab Handles: Jan 30, 2021

Trackball mouse mounts: Feb 4, 2021

Glove holder: Feb 7, 2021

Upgraded Heavy duty casters aluminum and 3D printed fairings: Feb 13, 2021

Helicopter Collective ordered: Feb 26, 2021

3D printable heavy duty caster mount: March 5, 2021

Updated 3D printed 200mm fan mount: March 12, 2021

Collective mount: March 26, 2021

3D printed flight pedal mount: April, 7 2021

HRS Pedal faces: April 15, 2021

3D printed flight stick parts: April 19, 2021

Maglock flight stick quick release: April 25, 2021

Seat Bracket as a mount point (YouTube video): May 21, 2021

Aluminum Flight pedal mount: June 10, 2021

G-Belt Installation: June 19, 2021

G-Belt Quick Look video: July 27, 2021

TST-329 seat mount: Aug 14, 2021

Initial aluminum Foot plate with TST and BK: Aug 31, 2021

Wiring for EPQ-304 and exciters: Sept 13, 2021

Setup DSP's labeled etc.. : Sept 19, 2021

Designing Race Bass mounts for my NLRv3: Sept 27, 2021

RaceBass mounts on foot plate: Oct 14, 2021

RaceBass mounts on seat: Oct 16, 2021

Seat Back Exciters mounted: Oct 17, 2021

Joined KnoxMakers: Nov 5, 2021

Crow 6 point harness arrived: Nov 9, 2021

Fractal Torrent case and i9-12900 upgrade: Nov 16, 2021

Setup Computer with Soundblaster X4: Nov 28, 2021

3D printed Valve Index holder: Dec 16, 2021

Building my welded steel tactile footplate: Dec 30, 2021

Welded steel footplate completed: Jan 1, 2022

3D print 3 Axis Tourbillon Clock: Jan 24, 2022

Updated Front foot plate to TST-429: Feb 2, 2022

Create Vinyl decals for rig: Feb 9, 2022

Power Usage Video: Feb 18, 2022

Mill solid aluminum sequential shift mount: Feb 26, 2022

Adding StreamDeck XL : April 26, 2022

New OMP KS-2 Driving Shoes: April 29, 2022

Create isolated Pedal Deck with linear bearing support May 6, 2022

Install HE Ultimate Pedals May 26, 2022

Install Race Base Tactile Plate remove NLRv3

Prepare for D-Box, secure cables, etc...

Install D-Box Gen 5 system

Add full size flight stick

USB Cable Organizer for stick-on rubber cable holders Oct 2, 2022

Slaw RH Rotor Flight pedals Oct 20, 2022

Virpil CM3 flight stick base Oct 22, 2022

Reverb G2 Nov 3, 2022

Quick Release Retractable caster solution Nov 11, 2022

RTX 4090 Nov 15, 2022

D-Box feet holders Nov 16, 2022

My Dirt Rally and iRacing G-Belt, D-Box, SimHub, Simucube settings
Nov 27, 2022

G-Belt Muffler Dec 1, 2022

Lift Aviator flight shoes Dec 2, 2022

New pedal deck brackets Dec 5, 2022

3D printed Virpil Collective quick release mount Dec 6, 2022

Virpil Collective Counter weight/cable support Dec 8, 2022

3D printed Quick Release for my Flight Throttle Dec 22, 2022

Ferrite Core for Aero (preemptive) Jan 30, 2023

Varjo Aero Feb 10, 2023

March 22, 2023
Initially got the Vive Tracker but didn't get it working

Oct 31, 2023
Shared Vive Tracker isolation mount for use with VR motion compensation.

November 27, 2023
Bigscreen Beyond Review

Dec 6, 2023
ASR Pro Wheelbase
Shared 3D printed Rulers for measuring height and telescoping amount

Jan 29, 2024
Bigscreen Beyond Audio Strap Review
 
Last edited:
I had someone mention that they had many bookmarks into this thread, so I created a Table of Contents with a link on the first page.

It's not every last thing, but at least it should help someone get close to something.
 
Finally got checked out on the Bridgeport Mill last night.
We covered basics last night.

Tramming the head and vice, changing the speed ranges using the belt.
Using the DRO with edge finder to find the edge and calculate the center.
Using a center bit, drilling, and threading.
Edging, surfacing, etc..
Covering the various end mills, slitter, fly cutter. They have some end mills that are for general use. They have a store for common end mills and a drawer for more expensive bits that require authorization to use.

It does have a variable speed dial and the belt is typically on the correct pullies for most operations. Normally it is in the range of about 1000-2200 rpm in High and I forget the exact Low range, but I think it was about 1/10th that.

The machining Czar there tries to keep it tip top. The left to right tramming looked perfect, as did the back edge of the vice. The front to back tramming was off by about .0005" , but we left it for the class. Left to right tramming is much easier then front to back because the weight of the head is on the pivot point.

Since I was there last time there is now a dedicated machine just for cutting threads and a degreasing station. I was surprised when he showed us the quick release fittings that "could" be used on this, but they are really for the upcoming CNC machine with auto tool changer.

The mill itself is very serviceable, but also has a few quirks. It is motorized on X,Y,Z. The spring loaded hand crank on Z requires constant pressure to stay engaged. The spindle brake mostly works, but it has 1.5 Hp motor that you can lock if necessary. Changing from high to low involved rotating the belt with your thumb a bit for the clutch to drop. They have updated the mill so it doesn't change directions when you change from low to high. Overall, just a few things to get used to.

trammingMill.jpg
RunningMill.jpg
 
Last edited:
I've decided it is finally time to rebuild my swiss cheese sliding brake and clutch plate that has been through many iterations now.

This time I will make a Fusion 360 drawing so that people could send it out to be fabricated and I will use the Mill at the Maker Space to make sure mine is precise. There will be two versions. One that allows the clutch to be mounted flat next to the brake, and one like I have that uses a wedge to rotate the clutch further and then position it back further so the pedal doesn't stick out.

Edit: Heusinkveld made a change to the bolt pattern of the mounts mid 2019 that widens the mounts by 3mm, so I will need to accommodate both. Mine are 57 and 67mm wide. The newer ones are 60 and 70mm wide.

The only change I'm making is to extend the brake side so I can move the lever arm holes a few millimeters to the side of the brake base. Currently I need narrow washers to get clearance which is not ideal. I'll also use smaller bolt holes for the M8 T-bolts so they don't move side to side as much which can catch inside the channel.

pedalPlate_7945.jpg
PedalPlate_7946.jpg
 
Last edited:

Latest News

What would make you race in our Club events

  • Special events

    Votes: 62 29.4%
  • More leagues

    Votes: 41 19.4%
  • Prizes

    Votes: 43 20.4%
  • Trophies

    Votes: 24 11.4%
  • Forum trophies

    Votes: 14 6.6%
  • Livestreams

    Votes: 32 15.2%
  • Easier access

    Votes: 116 55.0%
  • Other? post your reason

    Votes: 35 16.6%
Back
Top