Ford Galaxy VR Pit.. on the cheap !!

[ShaunX]

I was thinking about buying a new gaming seat to replace my old chair to give my aging bones a little more comfort. Then it occurred to me that the most comfortable I am when sitting for hours, is in my car. So I found and purchased an old Ford Galaxy passenger seat from a breakers yard on eBay.

 

The chair cost £40. I stripped off the plastic fairings and angle ground the metal fittings off it. I also bought an 8’ x 4’ sheet of 18mm MDF for another £30 to build the frame.

The base has 2 blocks to raise the seat to a comfortable height and as solid supports to attach the side panels..

Side panels are a simple ribbed construction, bolted onto the support blocks.

I had a USB keyboard controller and some buttons and switches leftover from other projects so I made a button box.3 x 3 way momentary switches at the front and 5 additional buttons spaced to be easily located in VR..

Arm rests taken from an old office chair and throttle screwed in place..

 

Seat bolted onto the blocks using insert nuts. The seat is on it’s original rails so can me moved forward and backward as it would in the car. Seat back tilt and lumber support adjustment are also functional.

Pedals fixed to the base and cable hidden..

 

Right panel bolted on. I added a table with a surround to the stick platform for a G2 controller and mouse. On reflection I should have made this bigger and will probably replace it. Actually don't really need a mouse as I have a wireless trackball hot glued to the stick, which is all I need to supplement headset pointer tracking in VR.

Very happy with the end result, so much more comfortable and ergonomic than my old setup, and with all sundries included it was still only around £100 to build, so somewhat cheaper than a new gaming chair.

 

 

(That's my G2, hanging from a hook on the side panel)

Very easy build, though I do have a workshop with tablesaw, bandsaw etc. (For any woodworkers out there – I used a small amount of 18 mm birch ply which I already had for areas needing strong support for screws/insert nuts, such as the top layer of the blocks, as MDF is pretty useless in that respect. Ideally I would have done the whole build in birch ply, but sheet price in the UK has rocketed with Covid - £110/sheet from my normal supplier vs £30/sheet for MDF from B&Q)

The paint job is just black emulsion with 4 coats of water based poly for protection. Doesn’t look great but hey, I can’t see it in VR anyway

[Mr_sukebe]

Nice.  I did something very similar with a cheap Mx5 seat last year

[javelina1]

cool!  for a while there, I used a seat from an 87 Buick.  Worked great. 

[Ingvaar]

Nice job! Made my pit with Mitsubishi Galant8 passenger (have more tweaks instead driver one) seat. Used Oak main plate for heavy construction) Soon will take same oil for wood as oak have and will paint it)

[ShaunX]

12 hours ago, Ingvaar said:

Nice job! Made my pit with Mitsubishi Galant8 passenger (have more tweaks instead driver one) seat. Used Oak main plate for heavy construction) Soon will take same oil for wood as oak have and will paint it)

Very nice..looks very sturdy!

Is that a Norwegian Forest Cat in the background ?

 

[Ingvaar]

14 minutes ago, ShaunX said:

Is that a Norwegian Forest Cat in the background ?

No, she is maine coon. Madam Bon-Bon :DDD

[ShaunX]

3 minutes ago, Ingvaar said:

No, she is maine coon. Madam Bon-Bon :DDD

She's a beauty. I asked because she is the double of our male Wegie (inexplicably named Brian). My profile pic is actually him at 3 months

[Ingvaar]

2 hours ago, ShaunX said:

She's a beauty. I asked because she is the double of our male Wegie (inexplicably named Brian). My profile pic is actually him at 3 months

Brian beauty too, handsome!)
There is more coon representative photo of mine (she is less than year age on it), now she is 10 kilo weight :DDD

Okay, pretty sure i need stop with talking about cats. It will can take ages))
Good day for you, and Brian)

Edited October 17, 2021 by Ingvaar