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

This is the FrankenFOV print after I removed all the supports.
gasket_8711.jpg


I don't have a proper gasket for it so I just cut some 3mm adhesive back neoprene. There are two 3mm layers on the top which slightly tilts the mask down which I agree makes it sharper. I wouldn't suggest this neoprene long term. It doesn't breathe, but it did let me see how much of a difference it makes.

I'll order a set of these. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HM4QB0Y

MoreFOV_8712.jpg


The bottom line is that this does improve the FOV and increases the in focus area in the center since my eyes are closer. I think it might even be acceptable.

However my eyes lashes are not even close to touching the displays even when I press it hard against my face so I think I could possibly make the mask even more shallow if I can manage it in Fusion 360.
 
I put a few Velcro medallions on the 3D printed facial interface and the 6mm VR Cover face gasket feels pretty comfortable. I'm pretty happy with how this is feeling now and while not perfect, the blur off center is noticeably better and if I had a GPU to drive it well, I think I could use this now. I have repositioned the back of the head support further down and have the speakers pretty well positioned now.

The magnets arrive next week. I ran a tap through the 4mm holes and then an M4 drill bit to make sure the depth was enough for the magnets to be flush.

FaceSeal_8717.jpg
 
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The carpet sliders work, but I got this idea for drop in retractable casters.

Drop them in retracted
Slide in a bar above it to hold it in place
Lift with your foot.

DropInRetractableCasters.jpg


Then when not in use there would be only a solid chunk of aluminum that wouldn't rattle or have any issues with motion.

OnRig.jpg

Really love my 3D printer.
This afternoon I'll be able to test fit everything and make sure the dimensions are correct before I go to metal :)

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I've got both USB fobs required, one for each Index controller and they are now both working with the G2, but the calibration is definitely not right off the bat. You can manually edit the X,Y,Z, roll, yaw, and pitch but that is proving to be a bit time consuming.

Next I think I need to run the desktop in VR showing the calibration program on the headset so I can adjust in real time right in front of me.

Edit: Index Controllers Calibrated!!

Soooooo much better!!!!!
 
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I think this will work.

CasterMount_8720.jpg


I need about 1 cm more space at the top of the caster plate to lower the wheel a bit more. I don't have quite enough clearance. The hand jack is taking the load off of the PLA.
CasterMount_8718.jpg
 
Potential Final design. I've ordered appropriate bolts and will 3D print this as a final check before going to metal. It's more work than I would like. I'm considering sending it off.

Design.jpg
casterMountBack.jpg
 
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FWIW, I'm NOT FINDING the Index Controllers with G2 to be a robust solution. It doesn't keep the button mappings, they drift during long games and overall it is just unreliable.

I think the G2 is only useful for sit down simulation games. The controllers that come with it are crap and the hacked Index Controller pairing just aren't right. You can get them to work, BUT IT ABSOLUTELY IS NOT NOT NOT nearly as good as it is with the Index.

With the shallower facial interface that increases the FOV and in focus area, I do like the resolution in game and I think it could be a good sim headset. I won't actually be able to use it for sims until the 4090 gets here and I can drive it well. My 2080Ti isn't enough.
 
The final bolts arrive Monday, but I put my last print together using what I had.

The aluminum bolted to the caster is the same width as the spacers on either side of it. So once the bolts are tight on the sides, the caster plate will bind and not slide. The 3D printed spacers have a little extra depth, but when I tightened them to my rig it didn't slide until I loosened the bolts a bit.

I started looking for some shims like 8x20x0.5mm etc. Then I thought about what I have on hand. I looked at aluminum cans with a sidewall thickness of about 0.09-0.11mm, but I think aluminum foil may be the easiest. I can just fold it to size and get whatever thickness I want. I should be able to sandwich it in place, drill it, and sand it flush at the end. Fingers crossed that works well.

CasterFinalPrint_8723.jpg


The only thing that seems a little busy to me is the set screw holding the top spacer in place so it won't spin.
finalprint_8724.jpg
 
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I looked at this design and rather than wanting to spend a long day in my shop cutting metal, I just saw work. So I sent my files to Send Cut Send and they can send me all the parts back minus bevels.

Part of this is also that some of these parts are very small and would be hard to work with. Having them all laser cut to fit perfectly should help with the final appearance quite a bit.

My wife walked in on me while I was looking at this. She just said do it! She didn't want me to disappear into my shop.

Part of the order below.

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BTW this was very easy. I just had to take my existing parts in Fusion 360, create a sketch of the face of each plate and then export that sketch as a DXF file. Then I just dragged my 6 DXF files to their add parts page.

Once there, I could just click on each drawing, add to cart, pick the material and thickness and it creates a price on the spot. Discounts are at 20% at 2 parts, 40% at 10 parts, 50% at 50 parts, 60% at 100 parts and 60% at 1000 parts. That's the reason I have 10 of the parts that I needed 8 of. It was cheaper to buy 10.

Having laser cut parts is great as long as the parts are all flat. I omitted the angle and that much reinforcement may be overkill. I don't think a 3/4" thickness of bolted together 6061 aluminum plates will bend that much and 4x M8 bolts per corner should be enough to secure this to the chassis.

I'll still need to bevel the 6 x M6 holes on the back of each of the 4x caster plates before I can assemble all 4 corners and try this out. I have M8x30 socket head bolts and I can make sure everything works before taking the time to bevel the 32x M8 holes on front plates to make the bolts flush.

The reason I didn't have them drill all the bevels is that it would more than double the cost of the parts and bevels are very easy given the holes are already cut. It's $3 per hole no matter the quantity. So the Caster plate that is about $11.25 each with 6 holes would become $29.25 each. So $46.44 would become $118.44. In addition the 4 hole grip that I ordered 10x would need to be beveled on different sides for the left and right sides. So it would be come two orders of 4 parts to specify which side the bevel is cut. So the part cost would go from $4.92 each to $6.56 + $12 for bevels = $18.56 more than tripling the cost.

If for some reason this did seem to flex too much, rather than adding angle to the back, I could also have the back piece made of 1/4" stainless steel which is something I could never have done in my shop, but I could do this in the maker space. Surprisingly SS(304) is only about 50% more than aluminum(6061). Or I could even have it made from 1/4" Titanium at about 1200% the cost, or 3mm Carbon fiber for 300% the cost.

With laser cutting I could have been a lot more creative in how everything is cut, because intricate cuts are effectively free. I designed this with the idea of machining it myself. But the next time I do this, I'll likely design it without concerns for whether I could manage something myself.
 
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For the shims I'm taking a 12" width of aluminum foil and folding it (doubling the width) 4 times. That gives me about a 20mm width and 0.28mm thickness.

From there I can cut them to size with scissors.
Then I clamp mirrored sides together with the aluminum sandwiched and use a center punch and hammer to cut the bolt hole out and run an M8 bolt through it and tighten with a nut. Then punch the next hole and put a bolt through it, etc..

shims_8726.jpg
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Why do you need shims? Is it to give a little clearance on the tightness on the wheels bracket?

Have you thought about opening out an aluminium can and using the sheet that produces (used to do this with a vintage bicycles seat tube to reduce its inner diameter, it worked really well, again it could be cut with scissors as required)
 
Why do you need shims? Is it to give a little clearance on the tightness on the wheels bracket?

Have you thought about opening out an aluminium can and using the sheet that produces (used to do this with a vintage bicycles seat tube to reduce its inner diameter, it worked really well, again it could be cut with scissors as required)

When you tighten the 3 layers together with the bolts until they are tight the plate with the caster on it won't slide in.

And as someone who read "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Repair", I did think of the aluminum can shim :) It's a bit harder to work with and I would still need to double it up to get the thickness I want. I decided that the aluminum foil was easier to work with especially to punch holes in.
can_8728.jpg
 
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Ok that makes perfect sense thanks for the reply re the foil, I just wonder why you couldn’t make the ‘spacers’ slightly thicker to provide a fit that allows it to slide in?
 
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Ok that makes perfect sense thanks for the reply re the foil, I just wonder why you couldn’t make the ‘spacers’ slightly thicker to provide a fit that allows it to slide in?

All the parts I ordered are 1/4" ( 6.35mm ) thick. The jump in thickness between the sizes offered was more than I wanted and I'm not paying for a milling operation to reduce the thickness of a thicker stock, but I agree that would be the ideal way to handle this.
 
Argh yes that is exactly what I thought the reason would be… sometimes the work around is the financially sound option, as in this case.

I am looking forward to seeing your metal work arive… I do wonder if we have a similar service over here in the uk.

I have had some bits made at a local engineering company… but this has proved to be prohibitively expensive to have much work done….
 
Got the magnets for my FrankenFOV facial interface. Now it doesn't fall out when I'm not using it.

Below are the final M8x30mm bolts.
I ended up only needing half of the shim width for the caster plate to slide well or about 0.11mm. That's with PLA. It's possible that with Aluminum plate, I'll need less. PLA isn't strong enough to lift my chassis.

I think the caster plate may be just a smidge tall, but that's fine. Far better to shave a couple mm off the top of the plate than not have enough.
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FinalBolts_8731.jpg

Now to wait for the parts to arrive.
 
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Love this idea - hate the fact I can't move my rig easily since adding dbox, painful to access areas and have struggled to find a solution. Looking forward to seeing a vid of the end result.
 

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