Meine DC veel ist kaputt!! - Fixed!

[Franco]

I got a new DC wheel and pedal set a few weeks ago and it had been performing brilliantly until last night. I was having a Metro Street Racer session and I must have been a bit to forcefull (though I don't think I was being particually rough) because when I went to slide into a corner, PING, something broke and part of the wheel went flying across the room.



Upon closer inspection of the wheel it seems that the mounting boss sheard off where is is connected to the spindle with a cap screw.



Normally it would have been game over (excuse the pun) for the wheel but luckily I work in engineering and so I should be able to resurrect it.

My plan at the moment is to fabricate a 1/8" thick or so steel plate the same profile as the flange part of the boss and drill some relief holes in the same posistion as the current ones. Im also going to turn a steel sleeve to the same dimensions as the part that sheard off. I will then get the two pieces welded togther and grind the broken part of the sleeve down to the plastic flange before gluing the new steel assembly to it. You can see on the picture above that there is a slit in the boss which I cut with a rotary tool so I could slide it out over the wires to avoid taking the whole wheel apart, I will also have to have a slit in the new assembly so i can slide it back into position before screwing the whole thing back together.

I thought I would post my idea to see if you guys have any input on the plan in case you can think of a better idea. Can anyone recommend a type of adhesive to stick the steel to the plastic? Normally the glued section would be the weak, and potentially failing, point of the new assembly but I think that there is a large enough bonding area for the boss to be strong, hopefully stronger than it was originally.

[Franco]

Just had a thought.

It may be a better idea to drill some holes between the screw holes in the plastic and the new plate. I could then bolt the two pieces togther.

Hmmm.........

[SNAAKE]

Welcome to teh club buddy 

[versapak]

Ouch

I guess should be glad I moved on from my MC2 to the Speedster III and Driving Force Pro.


Not that either of those do anything for my DC.


Good luck with the fix.

I always liked the MC2. It always seemed a pretty good wheel for a non ff one.

[Franco]

Welcome to teh club buddy

SNAAKE I feel your pain

[versapak]

Thanks. Yeah I like the MC2, there are a few nice touches like the lighted pedal force display and the pull out grips that wrap round your legs that set it apart from the other wheels  I have used. It only cost me

[Franco]

I looked up the driving force pro and that is the one, awesome wheel!

I got my apprentice to set up my CNC lathe for me today to give me some time to get on with repairing my wheel and I managed to get a fair bit done. I scrounged some stainless plate from the fabrication shop and made the flange plate of my proposed remedy.>



Since getting back from work I roto-tooled the broken part of the plastic  boss flat which seemed to take forever but I am pleased with the (semi) final result so far.



All of the holes and slot, etc match up so it seems my marking out was fairly accurate. Phew!



Ive programmed the sleeve part of the new boss section and after its turned I just need to get it welded and glue/bolt the steel and plastic sections together and I should be good to go!

[Franco]

Ive not had alot of time recently as my priorities have laid elsewhere (namely with my new PSP) but I have finally had chance to finsish fixing the wheel.

I turned the steel collar, drilled the hole for the capscrew and slotted it before getting it welded to the flange.



It was a bit fiddly screwing the whole thing together as there was pretty much no slack in the wires but it just went back together. All done!!



I must say it works like a charm. I'm just waiting for the next weakest link in the wheel to break now!

[versapak]

Excellent


One question though...

In one post you mentioned how all the holes matched up, and then now, in the final, you seem to have quite a few extras.


What happened there?

[mmmPeanutButter]

I wish I could weld.   


amazing job.

I have a problem with things that people buy.  About 98% of it can never be fixed.  If it breaks, it's trash.  Good work keeping it out of the landfill!

[Franco]

Excellent


One question though...

In one post you mentioned how all the holes matched up, and then now, in the final, you seem to have quite a few extras.


What happened there?

Ha ha, thought you had got me there didn't ya!!   

If you look at the pic below, the holes with the green arrow are so I can actually screw the assembly onto the backside of the wheel using the original fixings. The red arrow shows some slot headed bolts. These bolt the fabricated section I made to the original plastic flange (there are some nuts 'araldited' on the reverse side of the plastic flange.) I was going to just glue the two parts together but I didn't really fancy my chances of the bond being strong enough.

Hope that clears it up 

[Franco]

I wish I could weld.   


amazing job.

I have a problem with things that people buy.  About 98% of it can never be fixed.  If it breaks, it's trash.  Good work keeping it out of the landfill!

Thanks. I had only had the wheel for a few weeks and so I wasn't going to give up on it just yet! I can't claim credit for the welding though, a bloke in the pipe shop did it for me. 'Home orders' are one of the very few perks of my job, its amazing what some people make in company time.