New winter project!

[sperry]

All I need is a welder, a miter box, a drill press, and to learn how to use all three. Oh, and the driver's seat out of my WRX.

Austin, give me some feedback... and no bitching about the drawings, I've only got a copy of Microsoft Visio. I really need a simple 3D modeling tool to draw this right, it's tough to understand w/o a decent perspective drawing.

[Kevin M]

I haven't used it in a while, but the editing software from emachineshop.com can handle basic solids. Looks like you could do what you're trying to make in it.

Also, I've got a non-sliding bracket for the driver's front seat of an Impreza if you want to borrow it as a template so you can mount your stocker directly to your new frame.

[Joeyy]

Take a look at this one for some ideas.

http://www.nascar.com/2006/news/busi...eat/index.html

[AtomicLabMonkey]

Originally Posted by sperry

Austin, give me some feedback... and no bitching about the drawings, I've only got a copy of Microsoft Visio. I really need a simple 3D modeling tool to draw this right, it's tough to understand w/o a decent perspective drawing.

Concept looks good, I'm not sure I understand the pedal mounts though. An Iso view would help things. Is this something you'll be doing yourself, or are you going to give drawings to somebody else so they can weld up the frame? The dwgs have lots of dimensions missing; there would need to be more info spec'd if you have anyone else work on it.

I was also thinking a keyboard platform cantilevered off to the side of where you sit might be better IMO, so it's not obscured under the wheel and/or hitting you in the knees.

[tysonK]

What is this? a game controller?

[sperry]

Originally Posted by AtomicLabMonkey

Concept looks good, I'm not sure I understand the pedal mounts though. An Iso view would help things. Is this something you'll be doing yourself, or are you going to give drawings to somebody else so they can weld up the frame? The dwgs have lots of dimensions missing; there would need to be more info spec'd if you have anyone else work on it.

I was also thinking a keyboard platform cantilevered off to the side of where you sit might be better IMO, so it's not obscured under the wheel and/or hitting you in the knees.

The pedal mounts allow normal pedal mounting w/ 3 adjustable tilt positions, plus the mounting of my PC pedals which are over mounted (like most real cars) with 2 adjustable tilt positions.

This is just a quick set of drawings I threw together within the limitations of Visio. If you look at it w/ the grid lines Visio has during drawing it's much easier to see dimensions. Plus, all the dimensions will likely change anyway once I pull the seat out of the WRX and sit in it and measure myself.

The goal is to have a frame that can hold a wheel, plus room for stashing a keyboard and a mouse on it. Plus a lower side table for a shifter on the right. I'm thinking about making it symmetrical so it can also be used for a flight stick/throttle... but that would drastically limit ingress/egress. Currently there's a ton of space on the left to get in/out of the thing w/o having to slide the seat.

I'm also attempting to make the pedal box and seat mount adjustable via several mounting holes between the sub-frames. So you can move the pedals or seat back/forward in 2" increments. That's in addition to the retained factory seat rails that provide finer fore/aft and height adjustment.

I'd be building this myself... as the tools and skill needed to build it would be useful for race car work as well.

[M3n2c3]

Originally Posted by tysonK

What is this? a game controller?

He wants to make a whole sim cockpit, for racing sims.

[Pat R.]

While Scott is busy designing this contraption his girlfriend is laying naked in the next room wondering why she had to fall for a nerd.

[MattR]

Originally Posted by Pat R.

While Scott is busy designing this contraption his girlfriend is laying naked in the next room wondering why she had to fall for a nerd.

hahahaha, I was thinking the same thing....whooooooo.

[left footed whooten]

[Bob Danger]

I designed one once. Except mine had a couple of cup holders, and a mini fridge.

I was going to build it to, but then I spent all my money on black jack, and hookers.

[MikeK]

Originally Posted by Bob Danger

but then I spent all my money on black jack, and hookers.

That's kind of like a winter project

[100_Percent_Juice]

just make it out of pvc

[100_Percent_Juice]

oh and have the whole bottom made into a fish tank, yeah thats how you need to do it.

[doubleurx]

Scott, go to
www.sketchup.com

You can download the same 3d program I use for free. It is very intuitive and you will be able to model it accurately in 3d.

If you need some help getting started, just let me know.

[sperry]

Google sketchup is sweet! Here's what I drew up in a little over 2 hours:



I'll finish it up some time with the details, but if you've got sketchup, you can download it here:

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehou...bf90e027e727ea

[sti deede]

Glad to see you got a copy of Sketchup that was what I would have recommended if I had seen this sooner. I love that software.

[dknv]

Originally Posted by sperry

Google sketchup is sweet! Here's what I drew up in a little over 2 hours:



I'll finish it up some time with the details, but if you've got sketchup, you can download it here:

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehou...bf90e027e727ea

Neat. If you prototype something, you might want to consider protecting your intellectual property.

[sperry]

Originally Posted by dknv

Neat. If you prototype something, you might want to consider protecting your intellectual property.

It's on Google under my name, and timestamped. So if Logitech suddenly starts selling this thing (unlikely) I can probably prove in court they ripped me off.

But frankly, I'm not all that worried... it's not like this design is totally original.

[tysonK]

Yah don't they have those the Sharper Image? It looks like it uses metal and glass.

[doubleurx]

Originally Posted by sperry

Google sketchup is sweet! Here's what I drew up in a little over 2 hours:



I'll finish it up some time with the details, but if you've got sketchup, you can download it here:

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehou...bf90e027e727ea

Keep up the good work and you will have a new job waiting for you here in Truckee!

It is an amazing program Scott. Now apply materials to it.

Your model looks really clean for a first time shot at it. If you go into the user forums there are tons of cars modeled in sketchup from yugos to ferraris. I do all my design work and even construction documents in that program now. The most incredible part about the program is the file sizes are so small.

Nice work!

[khail19]

Sketchup is cool, I use it to plan out and draw speaker cabinets and subwoofer enclosures. Looks good Scott, what material are you planning on using for the frame? Steel seems like it would be kind of heavy, but aluminum is harder to weld if you are new at it.

[100_Percent_Juice]

Aluminum is very hard to weld. If you want to get it done for cheap you can have a student do it. I have done welding for about 8 years and i still dont like welding aluminum. You can take your design to RTI and find a student there who is good at tig welding and pay him to make it for you. Its cheap labor and if you can find the right guy, it can be really good quality. Ive done it once or twice.

[left footed whooten]

I have a friend who works at a design firm in Stead who can weld aluminnium very well. He will want some seat time in the sucker though.

[AtomicLabMonkey]

As said, the frame would be heavy using steel. You'd have to go with pretty thin wall tubing to mitigate the weight. Alum is much lighter but will cost a lot more; it's more difficult/takes longer to weld and the tubing cost is higher than steel. It's also not as rigid as steel.

The design as drawn is pretty bulky; you might want to consider bolt-together sections, like a separate front & rear clip that bolts together or is hinged for fold-up, and uprights that will come off the base frame - to make storage a lot easier.