R-Pod MkII Racing Simulator: Now VR Enabled

[shrunkenmaster]

Thanks my man, keep up the good work!

[emphatic]

 

[SpaceHedgehog]

Thanks for the encouragement - it's like an injection of a couple of thousand calories!

A few pictures of the rather awkward and challenging assembly process. It's still a long way off yet. I want to dry assemble to make sure it all lines up first. I'll then glue most of the panels together.

My house has a tendency to turn into a right tip at this point in the project process. Everything gets left where it falls. This makes taking decent pictures a bit difficult as well. I'll give the place a good clean at the weekend once this phase is complete.







This is with the outside panel just leaning on the rest of the structure:



The batons in the middle will be where the shifter shelf will be attached. This should add further to he stability too.

[PL1]

Year of Star Wars!  Come to the Dark Side.  Build a Tie Fighter sphere thing to fly against Maximus Rebel Cockpit.

Maybe a Tie Fighter or Han Solo in Carbonite Pedestal build.   

 


Scott

[Generic Eric]

Year of Star Wars!  Come to the Dark Side.  Build a Tie Fighter sphere thing to fly against Maximus Rebel Cockpit.

Maybe a Tie Fighter or Han Solo in Carbonite Pedestal build.   

Scott

Ok, maybe I should have kept that for a PM

[PL1]

Year of Star Wars!  Come to the Dark Side.  Build a Tie Fighter sphere thing to fly against Maximus Rebel Cockpit.

Maybe a Tie Fighter or Han Solo in Carbonite Pedestal build.   

Scott

Ok, maybe I should have kept that for a PM

Nah.  It's more fun joking around in the threads.   

Who knows, someone else might even get inspired to try a scaled-up cockpit version of the Darth Vader Tie fighter where a door on the front of the ball holds the CP and LCD monitor -- you open the door, climb into the seat and close/latch the door.




Scott

[SpaceHedgehog]

Who knows, someone else might even get inspired to try a scaled-up cockpit version of the Darth Vader Tie fighter where a door on the front of the ball holds the CP and LCD monitor -- you open the door, climb into the seat and close/latch the door.

And that person could be me 

With the glue having dried overnight, I've started the assembly this morning. I need to access all the screws from the inside, ensure that any gaps are minimised and the panels sit flush against the batons.

I'll need to wait until the neighborhood wakes up before cutting the final few pieces (shifter shelf, shifter base and a couple of additional blanking plates so remove any view of the interior visible through the finger access gap).

[EssexMame]

Love it!

[SpaceHedgehog]

Thanks EssexMame 

Very nearly there now. Just the blanking plates to complete. I haven't spent too much time on the finish for these pieces as they will be hidden.

Shifter Shelf:



Shifter Block:



In-place (the block is now screwed to the shelf):

[SpaceHedgehog]

As mentioned previously ,I wanted to make some blanking plates to hide any view of the inside of the shifter pod. Just the tips of these show and have been hot glued in-place.



The thing is finally finished aside from a few minor tweaks which need to be done once the whole R-Pod is built. I reckon it's taken about 50 or so hours to get this done so excuse me while I get a little self indulgent and post a whole load of pictures!

A fire extinguisher has been attached to the back face of the pod for a bit of fun.

















The last picture shows that the top panel is not quite true. I will sort that out.

I will also need to raise the shifter itself by a few mm. I wanted to set it this low initially to give myself some options later.

[rCadeGaming]

 

[Superfrog]

it's so refreshing to see something special 

Can't wait to see the rest of the build. 
 

[BadMouth]

I hope you never need the fire extinguisher. 

[SpaceHedgehog]

Thanks! I'm feeling fairly experimental with this build.

[SpaceHedgehog]

So I couldn't let today pass without making some progress. I figured I'd spend some time on the base, the boring bit. I wanted to tidy up the board that sits underneath the seat base. It's exposed so I needed to cover it.

Slot cut on each end for T Molding:



I then applied some of my DIY laminate to each end using blackboard vinyl:



The T molding was then fitted:



This was then screwed back onto the frame:



I also worked on the side panels of the base, beveling some of the edges, cutting a slot in case I wanted to use T Molding there too and also applying some vinyl inside and out:

[emphatic]

Love the safety measures.

[SpaceHedgehog]

Thanks emphatic 

I will probably start on the pedal system next. The pedals themselves will need to be mounted at a bit of an incline to give them a more realistic position.



I've also bought  2 extra Buttkicker mini LFE's, one of which will be mounted to the pedal system and will provide simulated vibration/feedback. This will sit on some seat runners / rails to allow them to be adjustable too:

[mpm32]

So this is a most likely a thread-jack but looking at this build, I figure you might know;

My son (9) played Forza 5 on xbox one in the mall, he loves racing games and asked us to get him the xbox one for his b-day - so we did. I probably should've hooked him up with some racing SIM games on a PC but it's too late for that.

I would like to get him a steering wheel controller but there are only a couple out there and they're all around $399, which is crazy.

Is it a matter of waiting for others to come out because the xbox one is so new or am I destined to pay a crazy amount for a wheel? He would love for me to build him a pod like you're building by the way.

Sorry for the threadjack...

[SpaceHedgehog]

No problem mpm32, it's a sensible place to ask a question. My view is that the XBOX One is unlikely to be that well served for steering wheels unfortunately. As you have suggested, there's also likely to be a bit of a premium involved when purchasing one. The Thrustmaster looks to have reliability issues and the pending MadCatz wheel looks a little suspect in the quality department. The best bet imho is to hold fire at the moment and hope that Logitech releases a reasonably priced compatible wheel or wait until Thrustmaster resolve the quality issues and take the hit on price. Other Thrustmaster PC compatible wheels do get good reviews so all hope is not lost.

That's just my view, someone more in the know with XBOX One specifics may be able to help more.

Edit: Looks like Thrustmaster is releasing a budget wheel also - you're probably aware of it though:

http://www.amazon.com/Thrustmaster-Ferrari-458-Spider-Racing-Wheel/dp/B00IVHQ0KI


Two more LFEs arrived today:



One will be placed in the shifter pod:



The other will be positioned on the pedal system. MDF isn't the greatest at transmitting vibration but this could work to my advantage; I will initially be running all 4 LFEs from a single amp and- I don't want overpowering effects on either the shifter of the pedals. I will look to purchase separate amps for each of these at some point in the future to be better able to fine tune the effects. Funds don't permit to do that at present unfortunately - this build is becoming expensive!

[mpm32]

Thanks, I did not see the cheaper Thrustmaster wheel.  That looks fine for him until he graduates to something like you're building.

Continue on and more pics of your project please.  ;-)

Thread jack - off  (tee hee)

[Namco]

One will be placed in the shifter pod:

The other will be positioned on the pedal system.

I thought the Clubsport pedals already had force feedback on them. "Vibration motor to simulate ABS and indicate locking tires. Compatible to all games" (from the fanatec website)

Won't a buttkicker too close to the pedals interfere with the motor on the pedals? I figured a better configuration would be to put one buttkicker on each corner of the rig where the tires meet the rumblestrips as it were.

[SpaceHedgehog]

Yes, the CSPs do come with force feedback but it's a bit of a gimmick tbh. Using a Buttkicker allows you to feel all the other simulated effects such as the road texture, gear shift, engine revs as you would in a real car. This is much more immersive. Simvibe does allow you to run in extensions (effects sent to the seat, pedals and shifter) and chassis (effects sent to the four corners of the rig). Running with both modes is an ultimate objective but requires 7 separate channels of amplification and 2 soundcards. I only have a single channel amp at the moment so this is what I feel will give the best experience for the time being.

[SpaceHedgehog]

Continue on and more pics of your project please.  ;-)

There's no chance of that not happening!

[mattgold]

Fackin' aye. 

Beautiful.

[SpaceHedgehog]

Thanks very much mattgold 

I've started the adjustable pedal system this weekend. This is managed by seat runners:



These were very stiff when they arrived so time for some lubrication:



The pedal base plate is 1 cm narrower than the base of the pod to allow a bit of give. The adjustment mechanism on the runners meant that I had to cut 2 pieces to fit on that side:



Threaded inserts were used to attach the runner to the pedal base. The same approach will be used to mount this to the pod base:

[SpaceHedgehog]

Some more progress with the pedal system:

Sides complete:



Top section cut:



T-Molding applied to the top and bottom of the top section with a slight overlap to integrate with the rubber sheet:



I will need to cut out areas of the rubber sheet to fit the pedals:



Pedals attached:

[Superfrog]

  What a great MACHINE 

[SpaceHedgehog]

Thanks Superfrog, it will be when it's firing on all cylinders!

Just fitted the Buttkicker to the pedal base:



I took it for a test drive to check the feedback. Not bad, although not as good as the seat; probably about what I was expecting. All the effects can be felt so I'm happy with the setup.

[SpaceHedgehog]

The runners have now been hard mounted to the base and use risers. This will give the appropriate clearance to ensure the runners don't interfere with/catch the carpet when that is fitted:





Everything looks to be lining up correctly (i.e. the base won't interfere with the sides once those are on) and the pedal base is surprisingly easy to move. Must be that special Castrol grease I used!

Unfortunately the pictures are a bit poor due to the lighting in the room.

[SpaceHedgehog]

More work on the pedal assembly. The rubber backing needed to be cut to allow the pedals to sit flat. Good old grease proof / baking paper was use to trace out the position:



Applied to the pedal base (this will need to be glued down once everything on this phase is complete:



I've always found myself wanting a foot rest so I figured that this time I would make one:



This needs to be secure as it's likely to take a bit of a kicking. A couple of 50mm screws are holding it in place but I wanted to make sure it didn't flex. I constructed an adjustable bolt mechanism to ensure that it fits tightly. I'm still working on the piece behind the main foot rest. This will need to be finished cleanly:





I'll need to cut a hole in the rubber matting to get a good finish.

[SpaceHedgehog]

So I spent a little time figuring out how I wanted the foot rest to look. It needs to blend in with the rest of the build, be functional and not look like an afterthought. I coated the whole thing in car body filler and sanded it back to harden it and get rid of the grain. This will be painted black. Small strips of rounded rubber have been cut and will be glued to the front face:





I chose to have 3 sections for a bit of variety.

[SpaceHedgehog]

Probably the last thing I do this weekend. I've cut the carpet for the base:



Just testing out the LEDs. I may fit some of these under the pedal base as well to shine light into the cockpit:



The light shows up the dust nicely on a laminate floor.

[emphatic]

Dear lord, that is sexy.

[Generic Eric]

How ambidextrous is this?  Could you replicate the experience for an " international" driver?  (Could you put the shifter on the left?) 

Just a point of curiosity. 

[SpaceHedgehog]

Dear lord, that is sexy.

Thanks emphatic 

How ambidextrous is this?  Could you replicate the experience for an " international" driver?  (Could you put the shifter on the left?) 

Just a point of curiosity. 

I had to decide on which side to mount the shifter from the outset and go with that (I chose what I was comfortable with and use in real life - shifter on the left). I would have loved to have made something which could have mounted to either side but would have had to compromise on the aesthetics. Decisions, decisions!

[BobA]

Very impressive thread and top notch build.  Better quality than any professional unit that I have seen.  A prize winner for sure.   

[SpaceHedgehog]

Thanks for the positive comments BobA    I'm trying to do something other than another 'run-of-the-mill sim rig'.

Weekdays are great for those little pieces that still require a bit of time, smaller pieces of wood, painting/varnishing, polishing and suchlike.

Completed the retaining piece for the footrest, finished filling and sanding and then applied a coat of flat black so it's ready for some polyurethane varnish tomorrow:

[SpaceHedgehog]

Been eyeing up one of these tow hooks for the front of the pod. Couldn't resist any longer. Buy it now. Click.

[SpaceHedgehog]

Tow hook arrived. I've created a tow graphic to go with it (will likely print out on vinyl):

[HaRuMaN]

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