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Trip Rodriguez full motion Huey Cockpit


TripRodriguez

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Hello folks!

 

My motion simulator is powered by AC VFD's. These make a lot of irritating high pitched noises that I drown out with headphones, but the noise proved to be very incompatible with wives.

 

As such, I had to get rid of mine. No, no, not the motion sim.. the wife! :pilotfly::thumbup:

 

Kidding aside, I think I'm about to finally get back to work on this project.

 

I had kinda decided to do a simplified Ka-50 pit first because I like the combat systems and the fact that there is no AI co-pilot to deal with but once I was reminded how ridiculously easy that thing is to fly I decided I think I'm going to go back to the Huey as my primary chopper. The reason I selected it in the first place is I just love flying it. Flying this old bird is about as "raw" as a helicopter is going to get. IMO the DCS UH-1H and the DCS Mi-8 are the two best helicopter sims available if you want to really experience (and master) the challenge of rotary wing flight without electronics doing most of the work for you. I like flying an aircraft that is trying to kill me, and requires constant attention (no autopilot, no auto-hover and no coaxial rotors which are almost the same effect as auto-hover!)

 

Due to some lessons learned and improvements to the motion sim (and by the way amazing improvements happening to the motion software options for DCS!) I'm going to be making some compromises on some dimensions such as the angle of the collective and height of the seat off the floor of the cockpit.

 

The biggest problem is that I wound up deciding that lowering the sim into the floor was a bad idea, and on top of that my sim now actually has even more total travel so the overhead console again is a major problem. I can either have the overhead console properly in place and use very very little of my "heave" (strafe up and down) travel, or I can eliminate the overhead panel or locate it much lower than it should be.

 

Eventually this should be solved by relocation. When I move the sim to my own home (currently it's in my 92 y/o Dad's basement) my plans are to renovate my screen porch into a sim room and will allow for quite a bit more overhead clearance so when that happens I can install the full panel at the correct height.

 

Tonight I'm planning to just start looking at dimensions to see how I can fit the seat, controls, and center console without having to really drastically reduce the motion travel I can use.

 

The other thing is I now have a Valve Index, and I'm not really willing to chop away at the facial interface so I'm back to looking for solutions on how to interact with the cockpit without fumbling blindly at switches. I have a few things in mind, I'm sure I'll find something at least passable.


Edited by TripRodriguez

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Demo of my 6DOF Motion VR Sim:

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Just did some tests and the clearances are significantly better than I anticipated. =) I was able to mount the collective within 1.5 cm of where it should be and at nearly the correct angle, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to be able to have the overhead switches and knobs properly located as well with almost no heave axis restriction. My pedals are a bit higher than they should be, but I've been testing it the past couple hours now and I basically cant' even tell.

 

Super excited now. =)


Edited by TripRodriguez

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Demo of my 6DOF Motion VR Sim:

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Completed a proof of concept test tonight for my best sim cockpit solution so far which is using Vive Trackers via OVRIE. Here is a (REALLY CRAPPY and therefor unlisted!) video. Don't mind the mess around the sim, parts, sawdust, and tools everywhere.... For this video to really be worth anything I'd need to have captured the gameplay to put up side by side. I'll try to get that done later in the week. For the first bit of the video you can (just barely) see the monitor in the background so you can see my DCS hand.

 

Explanation: For several years on and off I've been trying to find a satisfactory solution to using VR in a full simulator cockpit. I find that my immersion is completely ruined by having to fumble blindly to find the buttons and switches that are right in front of me because I can't see my hands.

 

In this video, I have the beginning of my Huey sim cockpit, an (unfinished) complete forward console. I'm wearing the VR headset thorughout the video. I have used OVRIE to have a tracker attached to my hand emulate an Index controller, and I've used the OVRIE offsets functionality to get my hands orientation and position matched up pretty precisely.

 

The hand is not animated at all, but the 3D model is in a pretty standard relaxed hand pose so it's easy to just relax my hand so it matches. I have aligned the real switches and knobs so that when I put the middle knuckle of my VIRTUAL index finger on the right side of the switch or knob the same joint of the same REAL finger is in the same place.

 

In the video I demonstrate how quickly and accurately I can find my knobs and switches. It's very satisfactory. Now the only problem is I have to worry about OVRIE getting broken. =(

 

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Demo of my 6DOF Motion VR Sim:

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please adopt me.

by the way your latest video doesn´t seem to be online.

i5 8400 | 32 Gb RAM | RTX 2080Ti | Virpil Mongoose T-50 base w/ Warthog & Hornet sticks | Warthog throttle | Cougar throttle USB | DIY Collective | Virpil desk mount | VKB T-Rudder Mk IV | Oculus Rift S | Buddy-Fox A-10 UFC | 3x TM MFDs | 2x bass shakers pedal plate| SIMple SIMpit chair | WinWing TakeOff panel | PointCTRL v2 | Andre JetSeat | Winwing Hornet UFC | Winwing Viper ICP

FC3 - Warthog - F-5E - Harrier - NTTR - Hornet - Tomcat - Huey - Viper - C-101 - PG - Hip - SuperCarrier - Syria - Warthog II - Hind - South Atlantic - Sinai - Strike Eagle

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LOL thanks Tundra. I think I fixed the video. I am 100% certain I selected "unlisted" when I uploaded the video, but youtube decided to post it as private.

 

My family is from Laujar de Andarax, Andalucia by the way. =) Shamefully for a 2nd generation American I don't speak the language.

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Demo of my 6DOF Motion VR Sim:

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More work done, no pictures yet but very soon!

 

Built the new Pedestal frame. I had to come up with a design that allowed as much clearance as possible to my motion sim motor housings.

 

Next up is the supporting framework for the overhead console which is a bit of an interesting project that I'm not super confident in. =D

 

So, much to my excitement I determined that with my lower seat height I have just enough overhead clearance to get the overhead panel placed more or less correctly. It will probably be a half inch to an inch low at the back edge, matched up to DCS at the front edge.

 

I am able to do this with very little or possibly no reduction in motions sim travel which I didn't expect, but there is definitely a risk of the overhead console hitting the ceiling if I don't tone down the motion.

 

What I decided to do about that is build the overhead console frame with some flex in it, so that if it hits the ceiling at some point there won't be any real damage to repair. Maybe a little scuffed paint. I also need it to be as lightweight as possible. So what I came up with is building the support structure out of PVC plumbing pipe. I think with proper design it will be stiff enough to keep the panel in position, but just flex if it hits the ceiling. If the initial design isn't stiff enough in the lateral axis I should be able to add an additional support to stop any excessive movement.

 

I intend to build this frame tomorrow, and once I have it laid out I'll take a photo or two and post here.

 

After that, I have make the pedestal panels, do some finishing work and paint, and then wiring... lots and lots of wiring. I hate that part. I've got two BUO-836A with breakout boards, and one BBI-32 on hand for the project. I'll have to see how far that gets me on the switches, pulse rotaries, a couple of real rotaries, and pots. I haven't counted the switches and knobs but I think that may be enough to do the job.

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Demo of my 6DOF Motion VR Sim:

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Got the frame for the overhead console roughed in tonight. It seems to be plenty stiff so I'm happy! It will have two more crossbars and paint etc. Everything white will be painted black or grey.

wp_20190727_03_42_42_pro.thumb.jpg.768a4fcf167148281a45bae0478dd4f4.jpg


Edited by TripRodriguez

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Demo of my 6DOF Motion VR Sim:

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  • 2 months later...

“but the noise proved to be very incompatible with wives”

 

Trip, how many wives do you have? :)

TWC_SLAG

 

Win 10 64 bit, 2T Hard Drive, 1T SSD, 500GB SSD, ASUS Prime Z390 MB, Intel i9 9900 Coffee Lake 3.1mhz CPU, ASUS 2070 Super GPU, 32gb DDR4 Ram, Track IR5, 32” Gigabyte curved monitor, TM Warthog HOTAS, CH Pedals, Voice Attack, hp Reverb G2.

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“but the noise proved to be very incompatible with wives”

 

Trip, how many wives do you have? :)

 

Only had one, but that was more than enough! I thought I was being wise not doing it until my mid thirties, turns out "wise" is not doing it at all! =P The reason I pluralized it is that my various friends wives/girlfriends also thought it was intolerable.

 

Also, if anyone is paying attention, this project is once again delayed. This time it's for a good reason!

 

I'm building a new motion simulator with commercial servos and home built linear actuators that will be a huge upgrade, and also almost completely eliminate that noise I was describing. I should be able to make it silky smooth, it will be even more powerful, and it will have even more travel, not that the old one was lacking in that regard.

 

The first motion sim is great for racing, but I've never been able to get it smooth enough to satisfy me for flight which is my main passion. The problem is the backlash in the worm drives and also just he geometry of rotary actuator driven Stewart platforms. Most people who've flown it think I'm being way too picky but I know what flight feels like and sharp little bumps ruin my immersion!

 

I'm going to prep the sim to put it up for sale as a ready-to-go 6DOF racing sim. It's excellent for that. In the meantime I've ordered the six servos and the controller. I need to pay some of that off before I'm willing to order the rest of the parts though.


Edited by TripRodriguez

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Demo of my 6DOF Motion VR Sim:

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  • 2 months later...

Tri-I know your trying to build a way to get haptic feedback I. Vr. But have you looked into and tried point ctrl so you do not need the physical panel no haptic feedback but from what I’ve seen and heard from others as my system is down I haven’t been able to test it out yet but if it works, I get voice attack working ll be happy just missing the motion which I don’t have room for without getting an external room either for the sim or my shop.

BlackeyCole 20years usaf

XP-11. Dcs 2.5OB

Acer predator laptop/ i7 7720, 2.4ghz, 32 gb ddr4 ram, 500gb ssd,1tb hdd,nvidia 1080 8gb vram

 

 

New FlightSim Blog at https://blackeysblog.wordpress.com. Go visit it and leave me feedback and or comments so I can make it better. A new post every Friday.

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