Mobile Driving/Flying Cockpit with Motion and Tactile ( Build )

[RCHeliguy]

Fun evening

I still need to get the power cables sorted, but after that I should be ready for a test drive.

 

[RCHeliguy]

It's definitely not as easy to slide around as it was to roll, but it's manageable.

Initial pass on wiring complete. I have no doubt I'll be securing and cleaning things up for a little while.

Not bad for the moment, but there is a lot of room for improvement. I'll also probably improve the flight stick quick release, but this is very solid and functional enough for now.

Connected to the rig. I'm going to see if the D-Box works through the hub, but one of the videos I watched yesterday said that may not work. In which case I'll plug directly into the second USB plug marked F for flight.

Ready to configure and see how this feels.

 

[RCHeliguy]

No joy! After an hour on the phone with tech support, my issue has been escalated to engineering. Fingers crossed, but I'm betting I'll be trying out their RMA procedures.

 

[MarkModdy]

No joy! After an hour on the phone with tech support, my issue has been escalated to engineering. Fingers crossed, but I'm betting I'll be trying out their RMA procedures.

Noooooo… no way… that’s a real pain in the derrière!!

What’s the issue… is it a DOA?

 

[RCHeliguy]

Noooooo… no way… that’s a real pain in the derrière!!

What’s the issue… is it a DOA?

The haptic box is having constant communication issues.
I could plug each of the actuators into port A and they were recognized there.
The front two actuators worked smoothly and silently. The left rear sounded like it was binding and the right rear was recognized, but showed no signs of life.

So unless engineering can find some way around all this, I think some of it will be getting replaced.

They did have a tech support guy who was easy to reach and who remoted into my gaming computer and walked through things very methodically documenting as he went and then said he would get back with me as soon as he had news from engineering.

Needless to say I'm disappointed, but I've also got Covid and feel like crap so I wasn't going to be doing any major siming for a little while. Hopefully we'll have this resolved by the time I'm feeling good again.

 

[MarkModdy]

Ok thanks I suppose it’s early days with this Gen, so some teething is to be expected possibly…

But sorry to hear that it’s you that have experienced this though chap

But your feedback of your support received will be of help to possible future buyers too I’m sure…

 

[RCHeliguy]

The carpet is bunching up too much with these carpet sliders and the effort to move the rig around is more than I would like. So I've ordered larger 9.5x 5.75" sliding pads. I'll probably need to add plywood reinforcement so they don't bend up and the pressure is better distributed. Hopefully that will be enough for this to work well enough.

I tried to get a decent weight measurement of my rig and didn't trust the measurements until I added up the individual weights of the components and it actually added up.

My rig is heavily front heavy until I sit in the seat. The good news is that the weight over my actuators is much better balanced than on some rigs.

Because the front actuators are just behind the SC2 wheelbase, with the heavy inverted pedal deck, etc.. They are holding about 70% of the rig's weight. Once I sit in the seat, depending on how much you adjust because my legs extend past the front actuators, I end up with nearly a perfect 50:50 weight distribution between the actuators front to back. I'm hoping that translates well in operation.

For flight it will be very different. With the front pedal deck removed and additional flight controls in back the bias will be heavily rear biased.

 

[NetLawMan]

Sorry to hear about the issues. Hopefully you feel better soon and dbox can fix your problems. I am surprised about the binding actuator as I thought they were the same g3’s having been made for years (with the electronics wrapped around it).

Just a quick question. Are you plugging the dbox system directly into PC, or at last a true powered usb hub like this?

In terms of rig weight and movement, I have mostly given up on moving the rig given the weight, although I think it is generally easier for me to move because I don’t have carpet.

Feel better and please keep us posted.

 

[NetLawMan]

The carpet is bunching up too much with these carpet sliders and the effort to move the rig around is more than I would like. So I've ordered larger 9.5x 5.75" sliding pads. I'll probably need to add plywood reinforcement so they don't bend up and the pressure is better distributed. Hopefully that will be enough for this to work well enough.

I tried to get a decent weight measurement of my rig and didn't trust the measurements until I added up the individual weights of the components and it actually added up.

My rig is heavily front heavy until I sit in the seat. The good news is that the weight over my actuators is much better balanced than on some rigs.

Because the front actuators are just behind the SC2 wheelbase, with the heavy inverted pedal deck, etc.. They are holding about 70% of the rig's weight. Once I sit in the seat, depending on how much you adjust because my legs extend past the front actuators, I end up with nearly a perfect 50:50 weight distribution between the actuators front to back. I'm hoping that translates well in operation.

For flight it will be very different. With the front pedal deck removed and additional flight controls in back the bias will be heavily rear biased.

I saw one rig setup that might solve your movement issues. They used aluminum profile to build a frame just below the rig 3” x 3”?). They attached the captive feet to the top of the frame and then the dbox rig to the captive feet. Then they were able to use wheels on the frame without the issue of the wheels being unusable due to height of the actuators.

 

[RCHeliguy]

Sorry to hear about the issues and hopefully you feel better soon and dbox can fix your problems.

Just a quick question. Are you plugging the dbox system directly into PC, or at last a true powered usb hub like this?

D-Box support was very thorough. I seriously doubt a rock was unturned.

I had the D-Box directly connected to my computer with no USB hub.

I also disconnected my USB hub with the rest of my controls and didn't even have power running to my other controls.

I ran a high power extension cord into another room on a separate circuit to split the actuators power across two 15A circuits to verify there was not a power limitation.

There were numerous reboots,

We cycled every actuator through the first RJ-45 connector on the Haptic hub.

 

[RCHeliguy]

I saw one rig setup that might solve your movement issues. They used aluminum profile to build a frame just below the rig 3” x 3”?). They attached the captive feet to the top of the frame and then the dbox rig to the captive feet. Then they were able to use wheels on the frame without the issue of the wheels being unusable due to height of the actuators.

Sounds pretty ugly.
I don't think I could get that by my wife.

 

[NetLawMan]

The carpet is bunching up too much with these carpet sliders and the effort to move the rig around is more than I would like. So I've ordered larger 9.5x 5.75" sliding pads. I'll probably need to add plywood reinforcement so they don't bend up and the pressure is better distributed. Hopefully that will be enough for this to work well enough.

I tried to get a decent weight measurement of my rig and didn't trust the measurements until I added up the individual weights of the components and it actually added up.

My rig is heavily front heavy until I sit in the seat. The good news is that the weight over my actuators is much better balanced than on some rigs.

Because the front actuators are just behind the SC2 wheelbase, with the heavy inverted pedal deck, etc.. They are holding about 70% of the rig's weight. Once I sit in the seat, depending on how much you adjust because my legs extend past the front actuators, I end up with nearly a perfect 50:50 weight distribution between the actuators front to back. I'm hoping that translates well in operation.

For flight it will be very different. With the front pedal deck removed and additional flight controls in back the bias will be heavily rear biased.

One final thought just coming back to memory. When I first got my dbox I had some comm. issues. For troubleshooting purposes, I installed the dbox sw on my laptop and it worked fine. From there, I worked through and solved the sw/usb issues on my gaming PC.

I am not implying it isn’t a dbox HW problem, I just know it is boring waiting for replacement parts so hoping to find you a quicker solution.

 

[NetLawMan]

D-Box support was very thorough. I seriously doubt a rock was unturned.

I had the D-Box directly connected to my computer with no USB hub.

I also disconnected my USB hub with the rest of my controls and didn't even have power running to my other controls.

I ran a high power extension cord into another room on a separate circuit to split the actuators power across two 15A circuits to verify there was not a power limitation.

There were numerous reboots,

We cycled every actuator through the first RJ-45 connector on the Haptic hub.

Sounds like they were totally thorough. Hopefully they get you new parts quick. Sorry for all the responses

 

[NetLawMan]

Sounds pretty ugly.
I don't think I could get that by my wife.

That’s why I didn’t go that route, but I had to give up on retractable wheels which are now sitting in a box in the garage.

 

[blekenbleu]

The carpet is bunching up too much with these carpet sliders and the effort to move the rig around is more than I would like. So I've ordered larger 9.5x 5.75" sliding pads.

I read somewhere about using actuators to raise chassis
enough to slide caster plates under extrusions,
then raising the actuators, lowering chassis to caster plates.

 

[NetLawMan]

I read somewhere about using actuators to raise chassis
enough to slide caster plates under extrusions,
then raising the actuators, lowering chassis to caster plates.

This is actually very workable. I did this. The issue I ran into (which hopefully no one else does) was that from one end of the room to the other, the floor was so uneven that at least one caster plate would slip out from underneath the rig. If not for the uneven floor that solution is great: [Upgraded] Heavy Furniture Lifter & 4 Pcs Furniture Slides Kit, Mover Tool Set, Rubber Appliance Roller Suitable for Wood Floors Sofas/Bed [Max Load Capacity:1320lbs/600kg] (Black) https://a.co/d/aRnptn1

 

[RCHeliguy]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08NSLL2JV

That definitely looks like a great solution on a concrete floor!
It doesn't look like it would be particularly great on a
thicker carpet with pad under it. The wheels look too small.

 

[MarkModdy]

You could almost do with some air driven legs (like they have on gt cars) that raise the rig chassis up, so that you can slip your mover dollies underneath, the release the pressure to drop the rig onto the dollies…

It’s going to be like a Le Mans gt car brake change….

 

[blekenbleu]

at least one caster plate would slip out from underneath the rig

velcro?

 

[NetLawMan]

velcro?

Tried everything, including Velcro . Ended up moving back to heavy duty floor felt furniture sliders