Sim Seat integrated into Desk build

As I mentioned in This thread, I want a sim seat setup, but I need/want to consolidate my computer desk into it as well. I want it to support it's own monitor, computer, etc so it's an independent unit. My project goals are to have an awesome, comfy racing setup where the wheel is quickly and easily swappable to a keyboard and mouse combo for FPS, RPG, RTS and other such games that I enjoy. I determined I'll need to build this from scratch, and I'm going to try to keep my project cost <$100, and end up with a presentable rig. Just to cheat a bit, I've already a "race" seat out of a friends car, a spare piece of plywood from a previous project and a huge corner desk that is being sacrificed to this. I'd also like to have adjustable pedal angle to make sure I can match the pedal placement with seat position for max comfort.

I really got started today, so I measured a lot and ended up cutting my base to 24"x66" I've got 8 "feet" to the base that are also cut, but I need to get my bolt spacing for the seat before I can attach them.. Here's my seat in the full-back position:

Total cost so far: $18.25 from Lowes for a piece of indoor/outdoor carpet that will eventually cover the bottom.

I literally started looking at these yesterday and was thinking about building one. Great minds and all... What wheel are you thinking? I have access to an old Microsoft with Force Feedback so I am thinking of starting there but I can't decide if it is worth piecing together a Fanatec setup or just getting the Logitech G27. The Thrustmaster isn't happening as 500+ dollars is nuts.

WonkoTheSane wrote: Alright, I started a build thread so hopefully someone will hold me accountable ;)

Is this done yet?!

Whoops, should have mentioned that.. I have a g25 that has served me well for about the last 7 years or so.. I'll be using that with inverted pedals.

Unfortunately, it's not done yet, there are princesses and farms to play with, but I'm hoping to make more progress at nap time :)

Made a bit of progress yesterday, and quite a bit more today. To start with, I got the uprights on. Now, just to make my life more difficult (and because I'm recycling a MDF/particle board desk), I wanted to try to use the cam-lock setup that all flat-pack furniture uses. This involved grinding down a 5/8" hole-saw so it wouldn't poke through, and the sides a bit:

That worked quite well, so I put the mating holes in the base plate:

After that I put a back piece across the top for stability (no need to show that, but it was very significant for strength!). Now, I mounted up my pedals to a board: For anyone else going down this route, here's some dimension you can use (taken from my Miata):

Gas to Brake pedal (centerline): 4.25"

Brake to Clutch pedal (centerline): 5.25"

Gas pedal is 1" higher than brake & clutch.

And if you're using logitech stuff, then big bolt hole in the middle (at the top and bottom) is a M6x1.0 thread, I used 6 25mm long ones that I had in my box-o-bolts.

I made my board 9" wide to give me the pedal front-to-back offset.

Test fitting and then screwed in:

Finally, I got a board made to mount up the steering wheel:

I realized that I'm not able to have a keyboard tray at the same comfy height at as the steering wheel, but I also realized that my knees are going to be exactly where I would want a keyboard to sit anyway, so I may forgo the keyboard-tray attachment and just see how it works propped on my knees when I need to type.

there is a number of sim seat builds where people are using real car gauges

Mazda RX-8 cluster seems to be one of the options - it's cheap, looks great and the CAN bus protocol is known

russian wrote: there is a number of sim seat builds where people are using real car gauges Mazda RX-8 cluster seems to be one of the options - it's cheap, looks great and the CAN bus protocol is known

Are these almost plug and play? What games support this?

I've seen the tablet gauge clusters for iracing, which is a brilliant idea.

russian wrote: there is a number of sim seat builds where people are using real car gauges Mazda RX-8 cluster seems to be one of the options - it's cheap, looks great and the CAN bus protocol is known

Woah! Why haven't I run across these... That's awesome!

In reply to ProDarwin:

I am searching this now but all I have found is one for an additional monitor with gauges on it. No tablet support. Do you have a link?

Here is the one for a spare monitor:

http://www.shedsoft.co.uk/products.html

Edit: Nevermind, there are apps in the store available.

http://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/which-android-dash-app.285716/

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ihud-for-iracing-.-virtual/id490065937?mt=8

http://www.virtualr.net/ihud-for-android-preview-video

Here are some vids of my setup:

• Vid #1
• Vid #2
• Vid #3

I'll upload some pics in a few.

Sim-Rig

I haven't done the finish work because I'm too busy enjoying it. Yes . . . The tach works.

The link I was referring to is http://www.xsimulator.net/community/threads/driving-real-gauges.3278/

not sure if this was ever complete with actual simulator integration :(

Russian - That's what I found after some googling when you brought it up, I couldn't find anyone who had integrated it..

Strike Zero - How are you driving the tach?

Rev Burner from http://www.symprojects.com/

It's a little slow, but it's close enough for my Sim-Rig.

Thanks for the link, I'm liking their led control panel, I think sequential shift lights might be working its way into my desk.... And maybe the real racecar depending how well they work..

I haven't spent too much time on it this past week, but I did manage to get the shifter/mouse stand up, feet on the bottom with the permenant seat bolts, some PVC pieces bolted inside to run cables through so they're not getting caught on my feet (horray!) and the top part cut (but not attached):

Tomorrow I should get the carpet in, top screwed on and get to take it for a test drive!