Main > Driving & Racing Cabinets
My new project - 'Transformer' Standup/Sit down driver cab
Fursphere:
Well, when I crank my cabinet up it thumps pretty good, and you can hear it loud and clear outside of the garage... :)
Cretster:
Plenty good enough for me then. Don't want a beast, just enough that if I want to crank it up on occasion a bit louder than TV levels that it won't horribly distort/clip.
Cretster:
Hard to really see what's what from these pics but here's a couple of pics showing the monitor and control section in raised and lowered position. There's approx 13" difference in height between the two, which seems just about right for the difference between a standup and sit down cab depending of course on the seat height.
I don't like the way in this top pic (cab in lower position) that the top edges of the side panels stick up above the control panel level. I might have to do something about the shape or taper of the front panel to address this, as while I'm a thug when it comes to making things look good, I'm not keen on how this would affect the end result.
Here you can see the sliders and linear bearing blocks that it moves on. Yes I know it all looks horrible and rough currently....
My main concern at present is whether the ram will be able to make it lift smoothly and evenly. The linear bearings/rails are meant to facilitate this, but I think it might be easier said than done, and I don't want it to jerk and wobble around as it raises/lowers. What I might therefore need to do is to fabricate a big metal bracket so that the top and bottom of the ram are pretty rigid, meaning it doesn't allow it to push anything other than perfectly straight up & down. Sounds kind of obvious but the rails ought to prevent a lot of the need for that in theory so I was hoping not to have to.
Cretster:
Ok, some progress now, but I think I need a bit of help at this point maybe with some ideas.
I've fitted the main lifting ram/actuator, and it has no trouble whatsoever lifting the top module up & down. It stops automatically when it gets to the end of its travel so no worries there. It's even relatively smooth, and I suspect that once it's full of stuff like the monitor and other electronics (ie extra weight) it'll be smoother.
The problem I've realised at this point is that it's when at the top position it's susceptible to quite a lot of wobble, and this needs to be resolved. I don't mind if it can move a tiny tiny amount since any mechanical device would have some element of play/backlash, but it's not stable enough at present.
Here's a couple of pics of it with the ram fitted, extended to the up position:
Now in an ideal theoretical world the metal bar I've fitted across where the ran attaches, might stop the top section from wobbling, but with this gauge of metal, the weight and leverage & general physics etc involved there's not a hope of that.
You can see how it works though - the ram raises & lowers and the slider rail at each side smoothes & guides the cabinet to move up & down.
The issue with that is it's a lot of potential leverage on those rods and their mount points, plus there's nothing to guarantee that they both move up & down by equal amounts constantly other than the theory of the ram being in the mid point and being balanced (as best as is possible).
So it works, but not well enough.
So ideas are requested here on how to ensure the sides of the top module to not either have the freedom to rock/tilt forwards & backwards, or effectively rotate from side to side (ie one rod being lower than the other etc).
I wondered if adding some drawer runners (assuming they're decent ones that don't have lots of play) would do the job, but they need at least 13" travel. I think they would prevent it from tilting forwards/backwards, but not from side to side, unless perhaps I fit a second pair on the back of the cab?
I'm all ears anyway guys. Itching to do more but don't want to until I resolve this as it's a fundamental thing that it has to be steady when raised (when it's lowered it sits on its lowest 'stop' points and cannot really move so that's not really an issue).
Thanks for any ideas!!!
Cretster:
These are the sort of things I'm thinking of - say one on each side to complement the existing rods/bearings, and one pair on the rear of the cab. Given the construction/nature of these, there shouldn't be a lot of room for them to bend across their width (not thickness - if that makes any sense), so hopefully by covering 3 sides it'd keep it all pretty solid, but smooth with the bearings in them?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Double-Fully-Extension-Ball-Bearing-Drawer-Slide-Runners-Heavy-Duty-45kg-Runner-/330695818115?pt=UK_Home_Garden_Kitchen_KitchenFurniture_EH&var=&hash=item4cff01bb83
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