So I am finally doing it.... (making my own F1 wheel)

[Lenard Schaeffler]

and I no longer have a wife around anymore to try and talk me out of it. I have been wanting to build a full fledged F1 wheel for my G-27 since I got the thing. Turmoil in my life among many other things have put the whole racing thing, and especially building hardware for said racing so far back on the burner I am pretty sure it is not even on the cooktop anymore.

That being said, today I downloaded SLIEMU which is essentially Leo Bodnar's SLI package, emulated onto a smart phone, after a few hours getting it to work, then a few more attaching it in such a way as to not harm the phone and not destroy the wheel I think at $7, its a real bargain, but it made the bug bite me. So I have a really complex computer case I am builidng now, the project after that will be my new wheel.

Before that, in what we would call the pre planning stage, I was hoping for a knowledge dump, what is the recommended material, any tricks I should know about along the way? Where does one find those little connectors logitech uses for the buttons on the wheel? Basically, anything, if you have something to put forth, say its your dream wheel, where do you go with it? What do you do?

 

[William Geuze]

Join the club!

As far as materiasl go, a user (Gary Jibb) who is also going to build his own wheel spoke of using polyethyleen to have the wheel milled*. As far as electronics go, thats pretty much a mystery for me too. For my technical drawings, I used Knitter MPE 106 D buttons for reference, but since they are quite expensive, I will probably go with cheaper ones. I just have to find out which those need to be

I know atleast one other person, the guy who posted the SLI-F1 images, who is going to create an F1 steering wheel. I hope we can all share knowledge

*
I personally had the crazy idea of going carbon fibre all the way, but looking at construction and price, there is no way I can pull that off unfortunately..

 

[Gary Jibb]

Hi!
F1 wheel eh? Quite an interesting club to join. How much work do you want to put into it? How much $$ do you want to spend? Too many techniques to even start talking about. Too many different options for what your want to do, plus all the endless ones you've probably never seen before.
Have you checked out simracnwheels.com or zroso.com first, get a feel of a few things available to straight up purchase?

I'd recommend making a wheel that has a standard size connection (70mm) and getting an adaptor, so that later down the road when you consider updating your wheel base your not stuck with a wheel that has silly 54mm holes (I don't know if that's the actual size, I just guessed). G27 adapters are easy to get, and a Fanatec one is in the works.

Too many questions to answer before people can give you good answers.

 

[William Geuze]

Not scared off already are you?

@Gary Allen
A mounting adaptor sounds like a good idea, I'm even thinking double
1 Adaptor to fit the wheel, so you can choose whichever way of mounting, and another one to fit the base of the wheel. Connect the two together for a normal mount, put a quick release in between and you're done. I clearly haven't given it much thought yet but I might draw something up the coming weeks.

 

[simracn]

Have not visited here in quite some time, and yes there can be quite a lot involved in making an F1 wheel. A lot depends on how intricate you want it to be, or how close to the real deal. can take me anywhere from about 16 to 30 hours to finish a wheel. one piece to 3 piece wheels, with levels, insets, and all. I cut it out on a machine, but the rest is all hand work.

Here is one of the recent ones have done, maybe give you some inspiration

 

[Erik Hafner]

Have not visited here in quite some time, and yes there can be quite a lot involved in making an F1 wheel. A lot depends on how intricate you want it to be, or how close to the real deal. can take me anywhere from about 16 to 30 hours to finish a wheel. one piece to 3 piece wheels, with levels, insets, and all. I cut it out on a machine, but the rest is all hand work.

Here is one of the recent ones have done, maybe give you some inspiration

hi there how do u get the grip around the wheel? looks quite nice!
thx

Erik

 

[simracn]

Hello Erik, Thank you for the compliment My wife sews them. And we should have alcantara available shortly. Have found a supplier, just waiting for it to arrive. It is suede on the wheel in the picture.

 

[belldanndy]

Wow! Seems many talented people around, I like the MGP style look. Will there be a Carbon Fiber version too?

 

[simracn]

Adapters and quick releases (QR's) Normally if thinking of using a QR, you will need an adapter to go from the QR to the wheel system. You may not on the rim itself if you put a 70mm pattern in it.. 2 reasons.... 1 you could attach it with 70mm bolt pattern to the QR or attach it to the adapter.

On the MGP, can do either 3d vinyl CF or could do the raised sections in 2x2 twill and attach, but would have small flathead screws visible, which is not much different than the real wheels, so if someone ordered one with the CF, it could be done. But as far as having the top section autoclaved.... that can get a bit pricey!

 

[simracn]

Buttons, can use knitters, (as mentioned, expensive) apems or boat horn buttons are another choice, They need a .520" hole so the shoulder will sit flush with the top of the wheel. For just about any button, encoder or switch, you will want to leave about .100" of material so that there are enough threads for the nut. There are a lot of places that sell various buttons. allelectronics.com also has momentary toggles, (on) off with wires soldered onto the pins.