Spacer for T300 steering wheel?

Elaphe · Sep 30, 2017

I'd like to install a small monitor with a dashboard for my T300 Alcantara Edition and I would need that the wheel is far away from the base so that the monitor is not so close and have more room for controlling the wheel. Any options on the market? Any ideas?

Mark_McQ · Sep 30, 2017

OSR make a screen mount that works with the stock wheel.

https://www.opensimrigs.com/collections/wheel-display/products/5-dispaly-enclosure

Elaphe · Sep 30, 2017

Mark_McQ said:
OSR make a screen mount that works with the stock wheel.

https://www.opensimrigs.com/collections/wheel-display/products/5-dispaly-enclosure

I can make my own screen mount. The problem is that the room between the steering wheel and the base front is limited, so I could sometimes touch accidentally my 5" monitor when racing and I don't want that. I would need at least 3 cm of more free space.

welshy46 · Oct 1, 2017

You can't easily fit an extension to bring the wheel further away from the base. As the connector plug for buttons and paddles wouldn't connect to the base without soldering in some longer wires to extend the plug. You can buy a boss to convert the Thrustmaster to a car steering wheel, if you get one with a deep enough dish but again you lose use of the buttons and paddles.

If you do come up with a solution I'd be interested to know what you did.

Mark_McQ · Oct 1, 2017

I used the one from SimRacingHardware to mount a dished rim. Had to make my own extenders to keep the paddles though.

Elaphe · Oct 2, 2017

I've been thinking a lot how to make a piece to work as a spacer in between the button box and the thread on the base, but it would be much much easier just to add the spacer between the wheel and the button box. I would cut one or two circular pieces on 1,9 mm DM, for instance, with drilled holes and longer screws. The buttons would stay a bit further await from my reach, but I don't mind.

If I decided to buy a real wheel (would a 35 cm wheel be too much for a T300?) I would buy the adapter and use a disher rim, which is also a fantastic idea.

welshy46 · Oct 2, 2017

Putting a spacer between the rim and button box should be fairly simple. I had my 599 wheel apart at the weekend and came to a similar conclusion. You can pick up off cuts of acetal pretty cheap on ebay or get a plastics supply place to cut you some disks. although I was thinking of using acetal sheet. Then cut it to the shape of the spokes as there is also a screw in the back of each horizontal spoke to help with rigidity.

Using a car wheel and an adaptor as @Mark_McQ has would be the easy fix.

Mark_McQ · Oct 2, 2017

Elaphe said:
If I decided to buy a real wheel (would a 35 cm wheel be too much for a T300?)

That's the size I'm using. Not had any issues so far, and it feels a lot better than the dinky little stock TM wheel.

Elaphe · Oct 2, 2017

I'll try first with spacers. I've found a web that has hundreds of models for the size, shape and lenght you want. The problem with the idea of putting the spacers between the wheel and the buttom box is that it looks a bit ugly. I will do tests when I have the spacers here. First I'll try with 3,5 cm, (http://es.farnell.com/ettinger/05-13-351/separador-m3x35-vzk/dp/1466837) placed between the buttom box and the thread on the base. If they feel not sturdy enough, I'll go for an adaptor and a dished steering wheel.

Elaphe · Oct 12, 2017

I'm still waiting for my 3,5 cm long spacers to arrive home, as well as a 32 cm dished rim I ordered to the USA. I'm not sure if any of them will be a good solution because I'm scared that the spacers may get loose over time or damage the screws threads on the base, and, on the other hand, maybe the wheel I ordered is too heavy and will make force feedback sluggish. So, meanwhile, I'm testing my monitor holder prototype in case I decided to leave the stock alcantara rim. I've been able to find the solution to place the monitor as further away as possible. Take a look at the attached design and photos. The back of the monitor touching the base, with the round plastic cover removed and with no backplate at all to save space. 1 cm thick spacers are necessary for the holder to be paralel to the base. There's a half back plate (not in the photos) that covers the bottom, for aesthetics to prevent some dust from going inside the base. The shape of this cover makes it not interfere with the monitor holder. The result is 5 cm of free space between the monitor and the wheel rim.

Elaphe · Oct 18, 2017

I've installed my new deep dish 32 cm steering wheel. I'm very happy. It feels great. The dashboard view is fantastic too (the holder is still a prototype).