Occam's Racer -- (Last Updated: 01-30-12) Finally complete.

[RyoriNoTetsujin]

So, I live in Manhattan and space is at a premium. However, I seriously miss my original cabinet, and I love having a project, so as soon as I finished school in April (I'm soon to be a licensed massage therapist in addition to my other pursuits) I got down to making this project happen.

The idea was to have a simple, flexible, multi-function base that I can play standard arcade games, as well as racing and flight sim games, while taking up a minimum of space. I wasn't looking for commercial arcade cab quality (you'll see cables aren't all hidden away yet, the paintjob isn't crazy "Ond-level" layers etc.)  I just wanted a nice enough, clean design for a place to play.  Hence the (kind of joke) name; "Occam's Racer."







I spent a lot of time (several months, sitting around at my day-job) just toying with the design in Sketchup before I did any actual work. Yes, the skp doesn't match the final design, especially the monitor mount, which was going to be much more complicated and curvy before I significantly simplified it (i.e. when it came time to actually BUILD it.)  

I prototyped with my old desk and my office chair's frame, for ergonomics:



About 2 months ago, I borrowed a van from my work, and bought a couple of sheets of fir A/C plywood from Dykes Lumber...





and about one month ago, I started cuts...



Here's the deal.  I know most folks here really like build pics/threads. I apologize again for the cell phone pics, and the general lack of them. I don't have a better camera. This pic above explains the biggest challenge of my build. That's my living room.  That's a piece of plywood, sitting on my kitchen table and a second, smaller table... in my living room. I'm not gonna lie. This first day... was a big mistake.  I cleaned for many more hours than I worked that day.  The rest of the work was done, on borrowed saw horses, in the alley behind my building. Yes. So, needless to say, I was more concerned with getting it done than taking pictures of the process.

That said, the build itself is nothing special: 3/4" plywood, a circular saw borrowed from my propshop (THANK GOODNESS for the sawboard thread!), an old Sears router, a B&D jigsaw, a no-name palm sander, a Kreg jig for pocket holes, some small clamps and some wood glue. Nothing terribly innovative there.




(... yeah, I had to try Gran Turismo 5 on the big screen just once ...)



As far as electornic parts: in that very small space on the back is an ASRock mini-itx with a i5-2500K, a power supply, and 2 hard drives (couldn't fit the dvd burner, so I hook it up only when I need it.) The monitor is a ViewSonic 27" I bought a while back, sound is a Cambrige Soundworks STT3500 I've had for years.  Logitech g27 wheel, and g940 Flight System (not in all pics).



(If you haven't already guessed, the racing seat base and the main unit base are separable. Three bolts align them, as opposed to 2 in the sketchup file, if you're curious.)

The picture above shows the arcade controls pedestal in place (without the steering wheel armature folded down.) The arm the steering wheel is on is held with 4 bolts inserted into tee-nuts. Take out the front 2 bolts, and the arm folds down to make room for the arcade control panel. (Yeah, you have to take off the steering wheel to do it...) Though the pedestal is done, the arcade control panel portion isn't even started yet.  The above picture is also the first pic with the monitor mount for the Viewsonic 27" built and installed.

The panel that the racing pedals are on is removable (the carpet I've now installed is velcro'd to the panel.) This is to allow for the different ergonomics required of the flight pedals, by placing them directly on the floor.  I don't think I have any pictures of this, but it seems pretty obvious.



Paint was simple: one coat primer, a little sanding, one coat gloss black. Red t-molding(.com) to finish the edges and match the Logitech equipment. Priming and paint I actually did inside, over a weekend, thanks to a REALLY large dropcloth.



Above is just a picture of a few paint touch-ups I did. (Oh! You can actually see that removable panel on the main unit base there.)

And now, its' current state:







The two side consoles for the shifter/split-throttle are both adjustable and/or removable (there's a small hole on the inside edge that lets me pass a simple c-clamp through and clamp to the edge of the seat base.)

So yeah, that's about all I've got. (WOW this took a long time to get prepped to post. So much for actually PLAYING tonight!  )  I hope the design is relatively clear from the pics; I'm happy to answer questions if anyone has any (hah, I doubt it.) I would post the .skp for anybody who wants to play with it, but it's a MB over the filesize limit, so PM me and we'll figure it out.

We're supposed to have a party this weekend for other reasons, maybe I'll take some more pics and/or video of it in action if I can.  I'm pretty happy with it.

[mebronx2000]

very nice !!!   

[Corbo]

That's really nice.  A great arcade feel without dominating the room.  Great job.

[Ond]

All in all very nice work, I like the curved black shapes all edged with red T-molding and also you've fitted it with a nice driving seat for a pro looking result, you should be pleased.

[BobA]

Looks like a great design for your space.   I am sure others will get alot of ideas from it.   Compact and moveable is great 

[TopJimmyCooks]

Very cool.  You're a dedicated Manhattanite to cut that ply in your living room! and to donate the space to the driving rig.  I am continually amazed by the good products turned out under adverse shop conditions on this forum.

What is the smallest box shown behind the seat in the last picture?  The support for the HOTAS, the pc itself?  What's your main driving sim right now?

[RyoriNoTetsujin]

Very cool.  You're a dedicated Manhattanite to cut that ply in your living room! and to donate the space to the driving rig.  I am continually amazed by the good products turned out under adverse shop conditions on this forum.

What is the smallest box shown behind the seat in the last picture?  The support for the HOTAS, the pc itself?  What's your main driving sim right now?

Seriously, cutting wood in the living room was a HORRIBLE idea. I really don't recommend it. What a mess that was!

I think you're referring to the console for the g940 split-throttle that sits to my left during flight/mech sims. It's "in place" in the first sketchup pic.  If I'm being honest, right now it's being used mostly as a drink table until I install the cup holder on the right side console (with the shifter and the g940 stick, which is stores well underneath the shifter.)

The PC is in the area UNDER the monitor and receiver, but above the g27 pedals. You can see that mocked up in that first sketchup render as well.  It's a really, REALLY small space (by design, about the tightest tolerance I could make it) - I had to do a lot of fiddly cable routing that was a pain in the ass, and I figured nobody wants to see that. If people want, I'll try to get a pic of it away from the wall so you can see just how tight a fit that area is.  Mini-itx motherboards are simply awesome things.

As for driving sims: I know I'm going to get razzed for not being "serious," but I'm LOVING GT5 on the PS3. (The monitor has an hdmi-in, the Cambridge receiver has an optical-in, the g27 is already PS3 compatible... it's kinda a no-brainer.)  There's just so much there, I haven't even tried online yet.  I also just got Dirt 3, but I've only had time for one session with that.  I'd be interested in getting into a PC game like rFactor or RaceOn but, despite the fact that I just built this thing... I'm afraid I'm not as serious about it as the folks that race those games (ya gotta remember, this thing was intended to be multi-function.  I wanted racing/flight in addition to MAME and other emulators, but my time is super limited...)

For flight sim stuff, I really want to get DCS Black Shark ... but believe me, I've spent enough money for a couple of months, and that game is seriously deep! The free version of MechWarrior is fun as hell with the flight setup, though, so I'll survive on that for a while -- again, in my copious free time. </sarcasm>

Best part? Girlfriend approval. She's always been supportive of projects, but in this case especially: It now lives in my bedroom, not the living room. She did not, however, approve of me posting the picture of her I took while she was playing TrackMania.  I'm still working on that... 

[TopJimmyCooks]

I'm LOVING GT5 on the PS3. (The monitor has an hdmi-in, the Cambridge receiver has an optical-in, the g27 is already PS3 compatible... it's kinda a no-brainer.)  There's just so much there, I haven't even tried online yet.  I also just got Dirt 3, but I've only had time for one session with that.  I'd be interested in getting into a PC game like rFactor or RaceOn

I am not a console owner but I will def. be getting an xbox or ps2 to go with the PC if I do a driving cab setup.  I watched my nephew playing forza Motorsport III on xbox and was pretty blown away by the gameplay and graphics compared to some of the PC stuff. 

[Woodshop Flunky]

Great job!  This looks like a ton of fun!   

Seriously, cutting wood in the living room was a HORRIBLE idea. I really don't recommend it. What a mess that was!

My dad built a boat in the living room when my parents were first married.  I don't think my mom would be so understanding now. 

[Benevolance]

Very sleek! Also, I think this project wins the award for Best Title in the Racing Simulator category.

[Woodshop Flunky]

+1 on the title

[BadMouth]

+1 on the title

Clever, damn clever! 

[RyoriNoTetsujin]

Clever, damn clever!  

BadMouth, can I make that my signature?  

I think the name makes it exponentially cooler than it actually is!  Don't get me wrong, I'm not downplaying my own work (you can't see it in these crappy, lazy pics, but my design and my woodworking ability has SIGNIFICANTLY improved since 2007 when I built my first project) ... but the name, the more I hear it? It just works. And that's exactly what I wanted for this go around.

Thanks for all the positive remarks, folks!

[gbeef]

very nice build, and the fact that you cut plywood in your house makes it even more impressive.

[emphatic]

Just awesome. Great name as well. 

[Benevolance]

So it looks like the shifter is adjustable since it sits on a table beside the racer. What about the seat? Did you put the seat on an adjustable rail, or do you just move the pedals/wheel closer depending on the size of the player?

[RyoriNoTetsujin]

So it looks like the shifter is adjustable since it sits on a table beside the racer. What about the seat? Did you put the seat on an adjustable rail, or do you just move the pedals/wheel closer depending on the size of the player?

Yep, almost everything is adjustable.  The side consoles (shifter on right, split-throttle for flight-sims on left) are simply c-clamped to the seat base (there's a hidden access on the insides of the consoles) and therefore fully adjustable front-to-back along the seat base.  

The seat came with rails (I think this was the link: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-G1130L/) so, yes, it's adjustable as well. I'm not a tall guy (5'7"... 5'8" on a good day!) so I had a really tall friend of mine (6'3") get in it and test it for me.  For him, it was a tiny bit too short with the seat all the way back.  I didn't have the seat's base and the main base bolted together at the time so we just separated them by an inch or two for his sake.  It's rare that I'll have anybody that tall in the thing, but it's nice to know I have an adjustment available for those moments.

Originally I was also going to have the steering column angle be adjustable, but I got lazy and bolted it in at its' default position...  

Finally, here is a blurry cell phone pic of the arcade contol panel I'm slowly working on for this. I needed to test out the Ultimarc PS3 adapter I bought.  Works brilliantly, I have to say.  Took me 20 minutes to figure out that BOTH usb dongles on the adapter need to be plugged into the PS3 (DUHHHHHHHR!) but once I did that I was playing SSF4 and Tekken 6 (which is NOT a ---goshdarn--- wrestling game...) in a jiffy.

[RyoriNoTetsujin]

With my girlfriend out of town for a week, I finally found time to finish the control panel portion of the cab/cockpit/hybrid thing. Many thanks go to Whammoed (for the Nicemite trackball lighting solution) and to John at Basement Arcade Grafx for the CP printing!

Now that the physical build is actually complete, I can focus on configuring software and whitling down the romsets I have to something usable by mortals.  

I've attached yet another crappy cell phone pic. All told, I am happy with the finished product. It'll do at least until we move to a bigger place, and that was the ultimate goal. It's a pretty straightforward project, but if anyone has any questions, feel free to ask.

[Malenko]

that's pretty awesome, glad to see this project get finished. do you plan on having 2 different front end launchers (one for regular games, one for racing games) or anything like that?

[RyoriNoTetsujin]

that's pretty awesome, glad to see this project get finished. do you plan on having 2 different front end launchers (one for regular games, one for racing games) or anything like that?

(LOVE the Sheng Long avatar, BTW.)

I don't think so. I'll probably do a nice simple Mala layout for the arcade/console stuff (for when we have company.) One of the big issues with the thing is the time it takes to go from one "mode" to another. It doesn't take that long, maybe 5 minutes if I do it all myself, but still, that amount of time (plus time to at least basically route the NUMEROUS cables coming from the wheel or flight kit so they're not in the way) put a crimp in any kind of public transformation display.

It's not inconvenient at all for me, on my own time, but that's one of the things that needs to be solved for the Mk.2 design. That, along with a couple of ergonomics/adjustability issues that annoy me a bit, and crafting a more angular, less "boxy" overall look: Those are my top three goals should I ever revisit the idea.

In the meantime, there *is* one thing missing: Guns! I need guns! LOL.

[drventure]

Nice build! A great way to leverage multiple things into a small space.

And you can't loose with a simple black/red scheme