Messages

16

General Discussions / Re: My custom gauge WIP (shaun_king)

« on: July 10, 2013, 11:09:09 pm »

Considering making quick wee stand just in case 'silly rabbits' force me to work on a desktop system. Think this one could be an easy one
to make with a CNC machine... mmm! See how things turn out eh.

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General Discussions / Re: Euro Truck Sim 2

« on: July 09, 2013, 08:05:30 pm »

You guys are so lucky. I desperately need a city car simulator to do the same... I'm so sad - but happy for you all.

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General Discussions / Re: My custom gauge WIP (shaun_king)

« on: July 09, 2013, 10:24:52 am »

Hey!..I have these switches already on my dashboard, they seem to high light the dash (mapped to Engine Start and Ignition )...Just my opinion though, they look to awesome to be putting them out of sight around the back... They scream out "Let me be seen, and used" I did vote though  

I know what you mean. I originally chose them to create some drama, However I know what you mean about the mapping of
critical controls with colour codes. Maybe a set of colour-ways is an option, ? I've completed a black  & metal switch rendering.
Please feel free re-vote on the poll. A toggle switch is there too so you can see it

   

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General Discussions / Re: My custom gauge WIP (shaun_king)

« on: July 09, 2013, 03:33:31 am »

Managed to bash out a couple of renderings to help visualise the fabulous red covered aircraft/rally style toggle switches that I'm considering using
in the rear covers. I'm currently wondering if they are a bit too much. The other option is to use regular switches that are a fair bit more discrete.
Mmmmm! decisions decisions eh. I created a poll on my simulator site please feel welcome to vote whether you think covers should be used or
not. Click here to go vote: http://hutchinsonsimulators.wordpress.com/2013/07/09/switch-covers-or-not

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General Discussions / Re: My custom gauge WIP (shaun_king)

« on: July 08, 2013, 09:53:35 pm »

Getting there you guys. I think I'm on the final straight.

However, today my toggle switches have arrived- Yay! Extremely excited with these switches for some reason. Think I've reached geek level: 'obsessive'.
These two red covered toggle switches will turn the lights on for each revburner dial. Think I need one more to cover the whole electric assembly as a
power on/off switch. Oh well, time to bang em onto Alias Automotive to visually check em out with the whole assembly. Think I'll put them on the back
of the rear cover to sex up the rear view of the cluster a bit. If it looks too mad I can easily tone it down by using a less flashy switch. When I've done
the renderings I'll pop em up to see what you guys think. Still thinking where to put the power switch; maybe somewhere discrete.

21

General Discussions / Driving Simulator 2012 and 3D Driving school

« on: July 07, 2013, 10:35:55 am »

Dear Cristiano

Could you please, please, please consider waving your magic wand over Driving Simulator 2012 and 3D Driving School? I love just cruising around and doing stuff, I don't need to race all the time. It would be great to have the ability to just chill and use a city driving environment.

Driving Simulator 2012 (PC DVD)
http://www.excalibur-publishing.com/drivingsim2012.html

3D Driving school:
http://www.3dfahrschule.de/uk_index.htm

22

General Discussions / Re: My custom gauge WIP (shaun_king)

« on: July 06, 2013, 05:20:50 pm »

The parts are arriving fast and furious.

The photos show it part assembled with the milling frame still supporting the most recent arrival. I’m a bit worried that the material that I’ve
used might be a bit soft at the moment. the whole structure is strengthened by the plastic gauge but if it breaks the breaks the next step
is to mill the same part out of a harder sikatool. Just waiting for the rear cover to coming in a then it’s time to prep & paint the surfaces.

23

General Discussions / Re: ADDING DASHBOARD ILLUMINATION

« on: July 04, 2013, 12:25:24 pm »

All ideas are good H.Guedes... and cheers for the advice Cristiano.

I managed to put together the assembly [as seen below] and all works well. I didn't get to try the SMD's because i'd already bought the LEDs. I might try them next time I'm now starting to wonder if I can power two revburners from one standard 12v 1amp power supply that I bought from the website so I can cut down the amount of wire I run out of my custom covers. Is this something you have tried before Cristiano?

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General Discussions / Re: My custom gauge WIP (shaun_king) *** UPDATE***

« on: July 04, 2013, 12:08:21 pm »

Just me again with a quick update. I've been working mock lighting assembly. Finally finished the speedometer and tachometer assembly.
I was a bit worried that the lights would drain power from the linear motors. In an illumination relation topic I posted Cristiano said that it
should be okay so I moved forward with  some confidence, however it was a relief to see it all work in the end cos my technical
production skills can be flawed at times. I suppose  1AMP was more than enough to push the 12v into the motors and LED’s. I
just need to get my hands on the RP cases, shorten the wires and all I need to do is paint the cases and design/fabricate a
stand for it. Getting there slowly.





In the new assembly rendering below you can see how the new lighting assembly incorporates onto the main frame of the cluster. Only
slight mods were made to the frame to add spacers for the small PCB panel that hold the 12v LED resistors. I’m going to add switches
to the back of the rear cover so I can turn the lights on/off. The red dots on the image below shows the location of the switches in the
wiring system. Thought a bit of drama could be fun so I bought some covered aircraft aircraft switches. The LED mounting has changed
too to help stop light leakage.





Also got a part back from the work shop. Above is a picture of the front cluster. All is going well in the production of
these. They need a bit of finishing because there are small ledges that are created because a short milling bit was
used for this one.





The next one is already on the plate and buzzing around. For those who like to watch short videos of repetitive work
machines click on the video link to get a 36 second blast of the frame being robotic sculpted from a block of sikatool:
http://youtu.be/8NYuG_VnZeo

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General Discussions / Re: My custom gauge WIP (shaun_king)

« on: June 29, 2013, 09:26:46 am »

Cool... we have Z-corp machines and 3D scanners at my uni... students use them all the time for 3D printing.
Mechanical engineering mainly use the scanner for their racecar builds and the more artistic use the Z-Corp
for their designs. I use both cos I'm a freak 

I made a scan of the assembled wheel module and seat with a FARO 3D scanner. If any one wants a copy of the scan just
contact me and I can send it to you. The scan was a bit patchy, but was good enough to ensure that hole positions were
correctly positioned.



I also scanned my seat:



After talking to folks outside the uni, I kinda realise that I am truly blessed to have so much crazy equipment around me.
I almost wanna give it all away to everyone to use cos i feel a bit selfish, but I'd get in trouble if i did that 

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General Discussions / Re: My custom gauge WIP (shaun_king)

« on: June 28, 2013, 10:08:18 pm »

When they come back the surface will be rough because i used a soft-ish foam because it was cheaper. I'll have to spend a fare bit of time sanding, priming and painting them for this reason. shouldn't look too bad when they are finished though

Probably gonna design wee stand for them while i'm waiting for them to come back.

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General Discussions / Re: My custom gauge WIP (shaun_king)

« on: June 28, 2013, 09:37:18 pm »

Cheers sticky22

Just took my CAD files into the machine workshop today should be expecting the real cases back in a couple of weeks. Yay! 

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General Discussions / Re: My custom gauge WIP (shaun_king)

« on: June 26, 2013, 10:12:02 am »

You got me thinking about it now you mentioned it... How much would you pay for one of these? This is just a hypothetical question BTW, I'm not expecting orders from you, i'm just seeing what people would be willing to pay for something like this  I'm thinking about producing a sexed up version with Cristiano's components that uses a much less expensive construction so I could drop the overall cost. LOL!

That is taking into consideration that the components from Cristiano would be £110 with maybe an addition of £25 for an effective working tachometer motor, then the cost of a case mouldings, needles, etc.

or.....

there is another option, I could design and manufacture an easily self-assembled case & stand so you could take current Symprojects components that you may already own and put them into it.

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General Discussions / Re: ADDING DASHBOARD ILLUMINATION

« on: June 25, 2013, 11:24:41 pm »

The SMDs looks very very interesting... I have these in my kitchen countertop down lights. How big are these... do they come any smaller?
The space that I have to run them is very compact. Check out the picture above of the assembly. I currently using the 3mm LEDs because
I only have 4mm of space to cram them in so I can shoot light forward onto reflectors the spread the light out onto the dials like in the
rough sketch below.



I dunno. I could try to source some slim versions of these. Have you seen any slimmer versions?

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General Discussions / Re: My custom gauge WIP (shaun_king)

« on: June 25, 2013, 10:32:00 pm »

LOL  

It's not going into production... for now. If it was I'd need to do a very thorough business evaluation to start-up a small company to handle it. Also I'd need to do a proper evaluation for the cost of the parts. If I did it I'd personally want it to be quite an affordable unit; market research would be a massive need to ensure I hit the right price point. Potentially a redesign would need to be completed to help get the cost down to this price point. So.... it's a very very long way from being produced commercially. More of a bit of fun. TBH it is just a labour of love that I'm doing to help my PhD studies. That is it's main purposes. I just happen to be quite obsessive, so it can look like go over top sometimes