metalnwood Posted January 10, 2011 Posted January 10, 2011 I think a pic of my rig has appeared in another thread here before as a response to a question but I thought I might post it over here as well. I built this to clean up my other rig which was growing like a tumor from added bits and pieces. I thought this time I would try and keep it clean but it has still got appendages on that it was never going to have :) I built the base from mdf and got the graphics printed on self adhesive vinyl and covered it with acrylic. The rest of it was cut and welded from rectangular tube. the triple monitor mount is not adjustable as I knew I wanted the monitors as 45 degrees so thats how they are. It was much easier to make like that than to make it adjustable when I would never adjust it. The frame is powder coated, its cheap to do and saves me a lot of time and cleanup from using the spray gun. Not to mention I can drop it off in the morning, pick it up in the afternoon all done and it doesn't stink for three days. It's convertable from racing/flying in a couple of minutes, or at least it was until I mounted my stick to the base of the pit. Now it takes five minutes to convert but I don't swap from game to game very much, maybe once a week at most. It's modular because the whole center panel has two bolts that hold it in place. When you remove the bolts the whole section comes out and is replaced with another. So the monitor lifts out completely and then I put the wheel in and slide the bolts in. There is one pic with the wheel mounted and another with the screen. When racing, the seat moved forward to get closer to the wheel and so I can reach the pedals. When flying the seat is back to make room for the stick. The nice thing about this is that I don't have to ever take the racing pedals out. when the seat moves back there is enough space to put the rudder pedals in front of the driving pedals. Another thing that makes it easy. It works surprisingly well for FPS games by using the mouse and the logitech g13 for the keyboard. When in flightsim mode you also have the stick throttle for planes/helos etc in arma or whatever. Anyway, its working well. I just got the touchscreen to replace another screen so I have not finished the new 'module' for it as you can see the mfds are sitting on some bare wood at the moment. I also just welded the center support for the stick so that needs some paint to. Hope you like it. It's the best I have done so far that is really good for all genres. 1
y2kiah Posted January 10, 2011 Posted January 10, 2011 like it, are you kidding me? this thing is fantastic, nice work.
walker450 Posted January 10, 2011 Posted January 10, 2011 (edited) Great pit!! I love it!! How do you have DCS programmed to show the MFCDs on the main screen? Is it still running in full screen mode? I want to try to avoid windowed mode so I don't take the frame rate hit myself... And more pics would be appreciated! The pedal setup looks very nice, close-ups would be great! One more thing: Where did you get the seat? Edited January 10, 2011 by walker450 Speedpad for Inputs | My Simpit | Joystick Damper Mod
metalnwood Posted January 10, 2011 Author Posted January 10, 2011 Thanks guys. Walker, I was going to build the pedals as I do most of my stuff but I didn't think I had the time so I bought them. They are CST pedals and you can see some of the pics on their site http://www.cannonsimulationtechnologies.com/pedal-feature-pics.htm I am in new zealand so the seat was had locally. I was lucky as it was the last one and they usually sell as pairs so I got it for $60 which is about $45USD new. I had it at home for about 30 mins before the two year old put a permanent marker on it :( heres a few more, one with the wheel attached from the front and a few along the way.
hassata Posted January 10, 2011 Posted January 10, 2011 Nice setup. Why not drop the Cougar MFDs to the Helios panel and use a HUD only view for most of your flying. You will safe FPS, and get more outside view real estate. You can always go to cockpit view when needed with a flick of the button. [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC]
metalnwood Posted January 10, 2011 Author Posted January 10, 2011 Helo Hassata, I cannot put the mfds on the touchscreen becauseit detects touches by using an ir camera and looking for shadows. Anything permanently on the monitor screws it up.. The other reason is when a10 supports crossfire properly I want to run it in fullscreen and cannot export the mfds. I tried the hud view and I think I should try and use it more. I know it increases my FPS so I reckon its a good idea. My only problem was that I lost a bit of immersion because it was a bit like a god view because I could see the ground ike I was flying in a gass cockpit. It would be nice if they limited where you could look so I couldnt look under my seat.
Flim Posted January 10, 2011 Posted January 10, 2011 Awesome , I like to see other welders and how they do things! Your pit is awesome and very clean. CST, that is actually my brother who runs that business. The funny thing is we are totally separate, but basically do the same thing. Although,we talked about some rudder pedals...
MackTheKnight Posted January 10, 2011 Posted January 10, 2011 Very impressive pit. Makes me wish I had some welding tools & knowledge...
walker450 Posted January 10, 2011 Posted January 10, 2011 Very nice! So running A-10C the way you are does it still have o be in windowed mode? Also, is there anything else under the pit besdies the subwoofer? I never though about raising mine but that looks pretty cool! Speedpad for Inputs | My Simpit | Joystick Damper Mod
metalnwood Posted January 10, 2011 Author Posted January 10, 2011 (edited) Thanks again all. Flim, the pedals are very good. I know your brother is finding it hard to keep up with demand. I use the CH rudder pedals but I dont like a couple of things. They are too close and have no resistance at all. I have some spare linear rail from a CNC and am thinking if I should make something there.. Walker, yes this setup can be run entirely in fullscreen as I am not putting the mfd's on to helios's screen. Helios only has some blank mfd's there because I am using someone elses profile which did. Raising the height up allowed me to get the sub under there. I don't have anything else there as my PC case is way to big. It makes getting in and out a lot easier than my previous pit which was very low. Mack, they are very useful to have when you need them. Of course the pit is a need, not a want :) Edited January 10, 2011 by metalnwood
y2kiah Posted January 10, 2011 Posted January 10, 2011 I'm starting to like the idea of having more height in the base structure like this. You could fit an electric jack to raise/lower the seat, the sub of course, even the PC itself if one were to get creative. I'd be a little nervous having the sub and PC within the same structure though.
power5 Posted January 10, 2011 Posted January 10, 2011 Total crap. Kidding of course. You could easily make a slide out PC tray for the front of the unit in the base. Put a big wall in the center of the base to block any air pressure from the sub section. PC would just slide into the front of the base on its rack. Could easily have fans bringing air in one side and out the other side. The PC would be constructed on the tray, not in a prebuilt case. Mount the motherboard tray on rubber mounts to the slide out tray. Will isolate vibrations from Sub. Would basically be like a drawer in the front of the unit. Looking at your skills, I am sure you can make it happen. [sIGPIC][/sIGPIC] Aaron i7 2600k@4.4ghz, GTX1060-6gb, 16gb DDR3, T16000m, Track IR5 BS2-A10C-UH1-FC3-M2000-F18C-A4E-F14B-BF109
metalnwood Posted January 10, 2011 Author Posted January 10, 2011 I have never been too bothered about the case at the side of the pit, it does provide easy access to the array of usb devices that go in and out at various times. Not all of them like to run on a hub, You could probably put it in no problems at all though. The internals of the base are subdivided to provide strength for the floor. Also the sub is contained in it's own box with the woofer outside of the box. It's a vented sub and I have catered for that with hole on the side which seals against the subs vent. You can see it here in an early picture.
y2kiah Posted January 10, 2011 Posted January 10, 2011 Hey now I didn't say it couldn't be done, just said it would make me nervous. Once I convert to all SSD it would no longer make me nervous :music_whistling:
metalnwood Posted May 21, 2011 Author Posted May 21, 2011 I got a bit of envy looking at Gadrocs screens and thought I could do something similar. After a little bit of looking around I settled on 3x 42" 1920x1080 panels. I bought one just to test that it wouldn't be rubbish and after that seemed to work ok I ordered a couple more which I should get on monday. I got some styrofoam sheet and cut out pieces the same size as the panels. I then put them as they would be with the sides at 45 degrees. Whoa, holy s*** they are bigger than I thought they would be. I am playing a10 mostly when I have the time but I am going to have to switch over to racing setup and see what iracing is going to look like with these. Given the size of them I dont think I will mount them on to the rig like the current ones so some sort of table might be the option. Also, when flying the seat is back farther than when I am racing so I want all three monitors to be able to move forwards an backwards to the correct distances depending on if I am racing or flying. I will have to give it some thought but hopefully get a solution quickly. Perhaps the largest issue will be that I have not told the wife yet. I am not 100% sure she will let me put these screens where it's currently set up. Even at 45 degree angle the whole setup will be 2.5M or 8.2ft wide, just for the display. I will be just short of 180 deg FOV for iracing but not sure how it will work in a10 yet. pics when I have them lol :)
Gadroc Posted May 21, 2011 Posted May 21, 2011 I got a bit of envy looking at Gadrocs screens and thought I could do something similar. ... Perhaps the largest issue will be that I have not told the wife yet. LOL. I'm deathly afraid of the wife community getting together at some point and hunting some of us down.
metalnwood Posted May 23, 2011 Author Posted May 23, 2011 Well, I sent her an email to prepare her for when she got home. Yes, I was not up to the challenge of doing it on the phone but it's better than a txt :) I got a scathing email back but all is good now. I am firmly in the beg for forgiveness rather than ask for permission camp. So, I put together something quickly for them to sit on - to rub salt in to the would I used our beside drawers! I am happy! :) it looks awesome, iracing looks good, the FPS shooters are better than I thought - i.e. no ill feelings and the FPS world look great, lots of depth. Also, another benefit that I didnt think about is that some games which are not frame rate friendly at triple resolution are still very big and cool on the single middle monitor while getting great frame rates. I think this is going to turn out to be a really good buy. So, here is the crappy picture. Just need to make up some custom stands for them. Also, you can see my co-pilot and the only pilot in the house with real wings.
Succellus Posted May 24, 2011 Posted May 24, 2011 Love the parrot and the pit ! I can merely dream of havin g something that complex...Flying on such must be orgasmic. I think you just gave me the final pieces of what i need to build mine i hadn t tought of square metal tubes, and wasn t having a firm feeling about PVC. Now a batch of indiscrete questions :) : How long is whole thing How wide is the whole thing How big are your monitors (TV?) and what models are they ? Are you satisfyed with this awesomeness of monitors? What video card(s) do you use ? HaF 922, Asus rampage extreme 3 gene, I7 950 with Noctua D14, MSI gtx 460 hawk, G skill 1600 8gb, 1.5 giga samsung HD. Track IR 5, Hall sensed Cougar, Hall sensed TM RCS TM Warthog(2283), TM MFD, Saitek pro combat rudder, Cougar MFD.
metalnwood Posted May 24, 2011 Author Posted May 24, 2011 Than you Succellus, I am finding it nice, now on to your questions. it is 1540mm long. The main frame is 605mm wide but if you have the swing arm on it for the mouse, it is 840mm wide. If you count the monitors, which have the sides at 45 deg is is 2500mm wide ! Re the width, the only thing I would change is if I had the forethought that I might have a bigger center monitor. When I made it I had a 19" screen center mounted by now I have a 22.5" screen and it doesnt fit inside the frame. I would have liked it to go back a little but the larger monitor does not fit. The wide inside the cage part is 500, I now wish it was 512. Bad luck. The monitors are 42" LG's. I have had lg's before and dont have any issues with them. They sponsor F1 too :) The model is 42lk450. I run them at 1920x1080x60hz, they are not 100hz models but when did anyone ever complain if they could max out 60fps on a sim. I am satisfied so far but it's only a couple of days in so far. My main concern is blowing through my data cap downloading all sorts of games demos just to see what they look like on big screens :) I am using two ati 6970's in crossfire for stuff that supports it. For A10 running at 7920x1080 (center view is ~6000x1080 and mfd's exported to 4th monitor) I get ~50-55fps windowed mode flying around and I guess it can dip to 30 odd depending whats happening. I have not tweaked stuff like turning off in cockpit mfds for performance etc. 605
Succellus Posted May 24, 2011 Posted May 24, 2011 Thank you Metalandwood, My main monitor will be 32" with probable future 19" on Portrait due to wideness limitation. (won t be as awesome as yours, a pity.) What makes me happyer its the fact that your setup is compatible with my space in lenght, and my setting will be probably a bit shorter than yours. HaF 922, Asus rampage extreme 3 gene, I7 950 with Noctua D14, MSI gtx 460 hawk, G skill 1600 8gb, 1.5 giga samsung HD. Track IR 5, Hall sensed Cougar, Hall sensed TM RCS TM Warthog(2283), TM MFD, Saitek pro combat rudder, Cougar MFD.
metalnwood Posted May 24, 2011 Author Posted May 24, 2011 Happy to help, mine could be reasonably shorter as well. One of the reasons it is longer is because of my racing pedals being permanently mounted to the pit so when I go flying I can't take them off. What I do is have my seat far forward on its rails for racing and then far back for flying. This way I can just put my rudder pedals in front of the racing ones. Of course this makes the pit longer than it needs to be. If I was just flying then the overall length, based on where my rudder pedals are (I am 1.88M tall) it would only need to be 1350mm long and still be fine.
metalnwood Posted November 11, 2011 Author Posted November 11, 2011 I picked up the new iphone 4s today. One of the reasons to upgrade was for the camera and I wanted to see how the video would go. I thought I may as well shoot some video of my pit. A bit hard on the phone as it was dark and then I processed it to make the 2 gig 1080p file smaller then it went to youtube to be transcoded etc. the original looks better, I give the phone more points than the final product shows. No points to the director/writer/producer (me) as it's fairly crap, you will probably want your time back if you sit through it :) Too bad the phone doesnt give a wider view which is really wanted here.
metalnwood Posted May 18, 2012 Author Posted May 18, 2012 I thought I would resurrect my thread because I am going to be doing some work on it. It's just not doing it for me anymore as I want to flick from racing to flying far more quickly and given the multipurpose nature I can't turn it in to more of a flying pit without it taking more time to convert to racing. As it is, it's taking more time than I would like to swap. Ideally if I want a quick race during the day I could and then at night a bit of multiplayer flying. It's too much work to do that. Fine if I want to fly/race for a few days but too much effort otherwise. I want to rectify that so that I can fly and then in no time race and then be back to flying. Also, I want a no compromise racing pit and a no compromise flying pit - or two :) Getting the 3 42" screens has given me a dilemma.. I dont have the space for two pits with large screens in eyefinity but I could have the three 42" screens on one pit and a single 50" screen on the other. My thoughts were to keep the three big screens with the racing sim and the 50" with TIR on the flying sim. For flying its nice and immersive with the three large screens but for racing it actually helps your driving so it's better there. Trouble is, as usual I dont want to compromise! Next thought was to mount the three large screens off the wall so that there is free space underneath them and have a couple of cockpits on wheels so I could wheel one out to a corner of the room and then wheel in the other in to place. Stick all the controllers on a usb hub so I only need to plug in one usb cable and off I go. I guess with a couple of hubs I could just keep them all plugged in all the time.. Trouble with that is if I want three pits then it's too hard to move them around each other to get to the one I want and make it easy to maneuver them. Possible solution is to put them on rails not wheels in a T arrangement so that I slide them all sideways until the one I want is on the body of the T and then push it forward in front of the screens. Another idea is a kind of large lazy susan, carousel arrangement, where I can have three or four pits on a revolving platform and turn it so that the one I want to use is facing the monitors. Yes, It's all sounding a bit crazy but without the space to put a few pits side by side I have to be inventive about it. The other advantage is I wont have to buy another PC if I run multiple pits off one so I can throw some of that cash in to more SSD, controllers and the latest GPU. The multifunction pit has served me well but I am now ready to get back to dedicated setups with more panels. I like what y2kiah is doing with his a10 and I want something that I can put the panels I am making on for my own use. I like the a10 and I like the kinds of missions you go on with it so I don't mind going the whole hog. I saw that pun coming about 3/4 through the sentence and couldn't avoid it, sorry. I would also like to be able to put stuff like my shifters back on for racing, stuff I stopped doing as I had to remove it all to make space for flying. I am thinking with a carousel that I can put at lest three different pits on it with a diameter of around or just larger than 2800mm (9ft). I could always store extras in the workshop and swap it out with one on in the platform if I was going to use it for a while lol.
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