Joyrider

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Joyrider

Postby value1 » Fri 13. Jul 2012, 22:59

Joyrider

The early stages of my sim can be found here.

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My Joyrider Project Comes to a Life
by value1 on 12.11.2011, 22:38

Finally – after gone through hydraulics, servo and AC motors, actuators, real life measurements, 3DoF, 2DoF, welding course, etc. – my sim is coming to a life.
Platform Hardware


Re: My Joyrider Project Comes to a Life
by value1 on 21.12.2011, 23:35


Today I kicked out the wipers. They stalled at 9V/18A I mounted a winch (Arwin TRC9202) instead. Man is it noisy and screams for a good headphone
But it has the power! It easily moves my 25 kg sandbag up and down
This is the Christmas present for me.
Winch/Chain Drive


Re: My Joyrider Project Comes to a Life
by value1 on 28.01.2012, 22:12


Today for the first time I drove up the Klausenpass with my 1DoF sim
It finally moves back and forth with me in the seat and the 40" screen in front. What a feeling! Still needs some tweaking of the settings – and the roll axis…
The 12V winch works great in combination with the Jrk. The bicycle chain drive probably needs changing at a later stage.
I will post some pictures later.

Re: My Joyrider Project Comes to a Life
by value1 on 31.01.2012, 21:29


Here some video footage.
At this stage the joyrider is very much a proof of concept. The Jrk is fantastic easy, all the components work nicely together, the winch can handle the ±36° up and down easily (18-20 A consumption max. so far)!
Several things will need adjustment:
• The gear ratio of the drive must be lower, i.e. the movements are too slow.
• The backlash is hilarious. The bicycle chain is not the most efficient way to drive this platform. A timing belt might be better.
• The computer needs an upgrade. The poor little Pentium®4 @ 3 GHz with rFactor @ 1920x1080, x-sim Sender and Profiler running is by far overloaded
• The second axis must be constructed. A 1DoF is not worth the effort – although it's quite impressive how much more you feel like driving with the movement.
• Tidy up the cables and paint the rosty steel…
More to come…
Overview
Bicycle Chain Winch Drive


Re: My Joyrider Project Comes to a Life
by value1 on 11.03.2012, 00:05


Some update on my project.
I have installed the second axis (roll). Instead of a chain drive I (remember the hilarious backlash ) I designed a lever drive.
Roll axis
(The steel cable is a bandaid to limit the roll to less than 36°.)
Unfortunately the combination of weight (180 kg including the pilot), centre of gravity (above the axes) and the power of the winch is not good enough to allow to move the joyrider sufficiently and it even stalls in the end positions (left and right)
It looks like the backlash of the lever drive is not any better than the chain drive. And the backlash even grows as the gears wear (really soft steel of the winch gear!).
At least the design allows a nice placement of the potentiometers in the axis of rotation rather than somewhere on the winch. This should allow me better control of the movement – in theory.
Potentiometer
536Pitch axis

Thanks to the hint of pippo978 to SketchyPhysics, I have drawn a dynamic model of my sim.
SimPlatform %28Google Sketchup skp file%29.zip
(1.55 MiB) Downloaded 649 times

You'll need Google Sketchup and SketchyPhysics to display and move the sim.
I'll have to resolve the issue with the lack movement – probably go back to the drawing board...

Re: My Joyrider Project Comes to a Life
by value1 on 18.03.2012, 20:42


Not that it would necessarily matter to you but still it was big fun: I had a ride on a ForceDynamics 401 today at the Geneva Motor Show and it was fabulous.
Force Dynamics 401



Re: My Joyrider Project Comes to a Life
by value1 on 14.04.2012, 17:51


Sometimes I wonder, how the eff you guys have ever completed your sims!
Tonight after the whole day in the workshop I realise that with the new low-axes-construction (→ add the extra tubes, move the drives, replace the sensors, etc. etc. etc.) my racing seat, that fitted nicely on the platform before, is now too wide (or the platform too narrow of course).
So I will have to cut the sim in half and broaden it a few cm.
Goodness!
(Still big fun anyway )

Re: My Joyrider Project Comes to a Life
by value1 on 19.05.2012, 22:19



bsft wrote:Nice design there, I still suggest lowering the middle frame to improve centre of gravity though, that may help increase movement.
Yes, I did some basic FE calculation of my original design and the outcome was that by no means I would be able to move the platform more than a few degrees with the winch motors. So I decided to follow the advice of several of you and go through a redesign. The axes now pass through the centre of gravity rather than below it. It meant that I had to add tubes all over.
Comparison old vs new version
Overview new design
With this much more balanced design the forces of the winches are matching the load of the platform
I have uploaded two videos:
One on the famous great Klausenpass
,
the other on my favourite Dirt2 Croatia track..
The roll axis in curves feels great! The acceleration/deceleration didn't convince me yet. One thing I noticed: there is hardly any shaking when driving over uneven ground.
Someone has a sugestion how to improve this?
(I probably should start reading the x-sim manual )

Re: My Joyrider Project Comes to a Life
by value1 on 22.05.2012, 23:29


Here some comparison date of the telemetry extracted from rFactor, the output of x-Sim² and the actual reaction of my sim (measured with a 6DOF sensor).
Acceleration
449

The measured values match the x-sim² data nicely for the two controlled axes (X and Y axis). Obviously the maximum acceleration is not yet reached as I have not fully calibrated the platform. I should be able to reach 0.6 g with maximum displacement.
The vertical accelerations don't match yet - looks like random data. The x-sim² output is much more dynamic than the actual movement of the sim.
450
One actually misses the feeling of the cobblestone pavement in the first two curves of Klausenpass.


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It's a mixture of all different kinds of thoughts I leverage from the forum here. Thank you all, guys, for your help and your projects shared!
After all I plan now to use 2 wiper motors driven by jrk's (too lazy/busy/scared for Tronic's AMC motor motion-controller with pwm/servo output)
The screen shall be attached to the inner frame as well as the seat. The theoretical pitch angle is 30°, which is 0.5g. Let's see what the motors can stem.
The motors shall pull 2 steel cables connected to the inner and outer frame. Geometric details still to be worked out.
I will keep you posted about the progress.
Thomas


Here some pics of the metal frame.
Base frame
Outer Frame, side acceleration (roll), 18.4 kg
Inner Frame, acceleration, braking (pitch), 16.7 kg
Assembled frames
Axis with integrated cogwheel
Fixture of potentiometer (pitch)
Screen Frame, 14.4 kg
Seat (6.7 kg) and pedals (5.3 kg) on OSB (Oriented Strand Board, 14.2 kg)
I'm finishing the assembly and the wiring. Next will be the electrics and electronis.
Last edited by value1 on Wed 28. Nov 2012, 14:04, edited 16 times in total.
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Re: Joyrider

Postby tronicgr » Sat 14. Jul 2012, 03:26

This is very nice!! I like the metal frame!!! And the custom caster links with space for potentiometers!!! Well done!! ;)
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Re: Joyrider

Postby motiondave » Sat 14. Jul 2012, 05:03

Yeah, looking good!
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Re: Joyrider

Postby value1 » Sat 14. Jul 2012, 16:40

For today just another picture. The sim is moving again :D after being disassembled for refurbishment for several weeks!
I haven't any video footage as 1/ I didn't have time and 2/ even if I had had time I I'm not yet satisfied with the movements. In Dirt 2 it was semi-ok, in rFactor just crap. The tripplescreen is fantastic!
Overview all assembled (and moving)

The white box right to the steering wheel is my emergency stop. It just cuts off the 12 V power from the jrks. The grey box on the left on the floor is the two jrks with a blower. And yes, the cables need clean up ;)
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Re: Joyrider

Postby tronicgr » Sat 14. Jul 2012, 16:58

I love this triple-screen projector!!! I bet its more lightweight and cheaper than using three LCD screens!!!
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Re: Joyrider

Postby shanothegreat » Sat 15. Sep 2012, 16:22

I'm very interested in how your joyrider performs, I want to do a similar design utilising aluminium for the moving parts to eliminate/minimise the inertial weight. How have you found the balance, was it a major issue?
In my design I'm also considering warpalizer or nthusim and a curved screen, parabolic or similar.
Good work, from what I've seen on this forum the joyrider type of 2dof platform is a smoother ride and coupled with some bass transducers would give good tactile feedback through the chassis.
Shane
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Re: Joyrider

Postby value1 » Sun 16. Sep 2012, 18:01

tronicgr wrote:I love this triple-screen projector!!! I bet its more lightweight and cheaper than using three LCD screens!!!
I love it too. It makes a big difference for the game immersion when driving!
• The previous 40" monitor was 13.3 kg, the monitor holding frame 7.2 kg. For a tripplescreen this would be around 60 kg!
• Now the whole frame for the tripplescreen is 14.4 kg + 4.2 kg for the three white PVC boards. Some of this weight is offset by the 1.2 kg (3x400gr) for the projectors behind the seat. Cost wise both options are about the same.
Shane wrote:I'm very interested in how your joyrider performs
The lateral movement (left, right in curves) is fantastic and increases the game immersion drastically. You can virtually feel the curves and have physical feedback about how far you can go. I have improved my driving via this feedback :)
The longitudinal movement is not so satisfactory yet. Too much backlash and therefore seesaw. I will change the chain drive with some lever drive I guess. Also because there is normally no rotation while accelerating or braking, it doesn't feel so "right" (and probably never will).
How have you found the balance, was it a major issue?
I calculated the 3D balance point numerically. And included some additional mounting points in case I wanted to higher or lower the axes.
Good work,
Thanks!
from what I've seen on this forum the joyrider type of 2dof platform is a smoother ride and coupled with some bass transducers would give good tactile feedback through the chassis.
Indeed, at some point I will also add a bass shaker for the finer movements like when driving over roadkill ;)
BTW: The joyrider design allows you normally to have much wider tilt angles than the other designs.
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Re: Joyrider

Postby value1 » Fri 19. Oct 2012, 23:00

Finally some footage
.
The video is so dark because I'm using these projectors and therefore must run the sim in the dark.
Also if you dont see the walls moving the game immersion is much better.

One of the jrks tends to disconnect (error on comport) despite the threshold setting of Dave.
Probably someone has an idea?
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Re: Joyrider

Postby motiondave » Fri 19. Oct 2012, 23:33

with jrk disconnect, try, in utility input tab, bottom left hand corner, tick box " never sleep usb ignore suspend".
In PID, change feedback deadzone from 0 up to 2.
Give that a go, it may stop some errors.
Oh and that looks like a great ride there!
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Re: Joyrider

Postby Turn » Sat 20. Oct 2012, 23:04

value1 - wow, good job on v2. Nice work. Cool idea about using SketchyPhysics - thanks for uploading that. I'm going to give it a try.

How did you do your FE analysis? Manually, or what s/w do you use? I assume by FE you don't mean finite element, but rather force/dynamics calcs? And those gyroscope output vs. X-Sim input graphs are extremely interesting. Are you doing that to tweak any settings (and if so, what), or just to see what's going on out of curiosity? Either way, very cool. These kinds of graphs are where I started my simulator design work (long, long ago...), so I find it cool someone else has an eye on such things too.
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