39 replies to this topic

[Serrith]

Hey everyone!

Brief history: After waiting many years for a worthy mech game to be released, I feel that it is time for me to build my very own simulator. I am going to keep this log going of my progress so you can follow along with me.

Since I didn't have any spare rooms left in the house, I just took over our walk-in closet =)



The pit will house three 42" LCD 1080p TV's.

A seat (not the one pictured) that will have Aura Shakers installed. It will have some extra Shakers for the walls as well.

The Saitek Pro X52 Joystick / Throttle, along with some Saitek rudder pedals. (I know some people like to wire their own joysticks, but I have never done that, and I have many other skills to learn for this project ahead of that)

Some speaker system (to be determined)

Fans, lights, switches, etc.


PLEA FOR HELP: So I have made my eyes bleed reading information on sim building. I have a small knowledge on wiriing...I used to hack my old xboxs and solder chips into them. My question is this...

After I have wired all the switches to a board (say a teensy++) How to you keep constant power to everything? I know the amp for the speakers, power for the PC, and 3 TV's can all be plugged into a surge protector. But the teensy's power, the fans, and I plan on running car leds behind to panels for backlighting (thanks to the info from another mech pilot on here)...how do those get power with out blowing them? I have old power supplies I could use, but I am not sure how to hook those things up to it without sending too much power to them.

Any kind of help would be greatly appreciated. If even just a link to something that I could read on the matter.

Well I hope you all enjoy this log as I create it. Let me know if you have any questions.

Oh and one last thing, I would like to hook the powering on and off of the TV's to switches in a control panel, but I can't think of a good way to do it. Let me know if you have any ideas please!

Thanks all.

[Loc Nar]

Teensy gets it's power from the USB it's plugged in with. LED's and potentiometers take very little juice to run, and are powered from the on board Vcc... Fans etc would have their own power sources, and would be independent systems from your buttons/pots/LED's or other peripheral related items the Teensy is for.

Looking forward to seeing more pit progress. You are starting with nice peripherals, and your thought process sound. Most of my ideas would be found in my own mechpit thread, but don't links to mine do not belong in yours. There's almost enough mechpits now to warrant a cockpit builder's section...

-Loc

[Serrith]

That makes sense that the Teensy powers itself from the USB. And I could always use an old power supply to run all of my fans. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

As far as the powering on of my TV's is concerned, it looks like I am going to have to open each one and just run some wire off the power button circuit to an external button. Not really looking forward to doing that ><

I did find a cool "Smart" surge protector that will power everything depending on whether or not I turn the PC on. Too bad it won't automatically turn on the TV's.

[Propnut]

I agree with Loc ***, you can take power from any USB port (A power hub would be best) for your LEDs, use double throw double pole (DTDP) type toggle switches to both turn on the LED and to initiate a joystick button for that control. Example: To open the missile covers (LRM) you would need to push a button, use a toggle switch instead, this would both push a button for opening the covers and also put power to an LED to show the covers are open. Flipping the toggle down would both close the covers and turn off the LED.

There is a great deal of simpit building information to be found in the SimHQ simpit builders forum section.
http://simhq.com/for...t_Builders.html

[Serrith]

Good idea on the double throw switches! I've been to simhq before, but I definitely need to spend some more time there.

I'll post some more progress pictures tomorrow.

[Foust]

Welcome to the club.

When did we schedule those meetings?

[Propnut]

They were supposed to be at your house right?

[Serrith]

If only I had enough room and money to build 8 of these in my house, then we would have one heck of a lan party

So here is another picture with a progress update. I was able to finish the side wall frame, and next I will start building the center console. The outside will not be "mech-style", it will just resemble another wall in the closet. This accomplishes a few things...

1) Keeps the wife happy.

2) Let's me build my awesome ceiling hatch to get into the cockpit

More to come soon!

Edited by Serrith, 09 December 2012 - 09:32 PM.

[Corison]

If your going to do that much work... May want to look at the Battletech Pods for some idea's as well.

[CyBerkut]

On the TV ON/OFF issue... another possibility is technology used by HTPC (Home Theater PC) builders... namely, IR emitters that are programmed to issue the correct code to accomplish the desired task. You could place one over the infrared sensor on each TV display, and have your computer control the emitters to turn the TVs on.

[Serrith]

Corison, on 12 November 2012 - 04:04 PM, said:

If your going to do that much work... May want to look at the Battletech Pods for some idea's as well.

Actually, those Battletech pods are the reason behind this whole thing. When I was a kid, we would take the train to Chicago just to play Battletech in a little mall they had there. It was amazing

CyBerkut, on 12 November 2012 - 04:28 PM, said:

On the TV ON/OFF issue... another possibility is technology used by HTPC (Home Theater PC) builders... namely, IR emitters that are programmed to issue the correct code to accomplish the desired task. You could place one over the infrared sensor on each TV display, and have your computer control the emitters to turn the TVs on.

That is a great idea. I'll check into it, thanks!

[xenoglyph]

You sir clearly have a wife as awesome as mine. Congrats on that.

[Stormleader]

My only concern with this project is that if you are indeed oriented sideways in the closet like in the first picture, that you're going to be reaaaallllyyy close to those TV's. Not only would the quality degrade that close I would think (There's only so many pixels to stretch across a screen...), but I would think it would be a ton of screen to take in that close.

That being said, you seem to have planned out the rest of the project awesomely, so you've probably already tested the display system out heh. Everything definitely looks awesome, and I can't wait to see it done! I also want to join the chorus of guys stating that if I had the room, I'd totally build one too!

[Serrith]

Stormleader, on 13 November 2012 - 08:34 PM, said:

My only concern with this project is that if you are indeed oriented sideways in the closet like in the first picture, that you're going to be reaaaallllyyy close to those TV's. Not only would the quality degrade that close I would think (There's only so many pixels to stretch across a screen...), but I would think it would be a ton of screen to take in that close.

That being said, you seem to have planned out the rest of the project awesomely, so you've probably already tested the display system out heh. Everything definitely looks awesome, and I can't wait to see it done! I also want to join the chorus of guys stating that if I had the room, I'd totally build one too!

I had the same fear as well, but after messing with the distances and such I feel it will be alright. Guess I won't really know until I have all the TV's in there which should be sometime tonight.


I recieved my seat yesterday, and it's perfect! I woke up this morning all excited to put the slider on the bottom, and of course one of the screw holes was stripped, so off to Home Depot to pick up a tap. Turning a 20 minute job into a 3 hour one ><

More pictures to come soon!

[IS GunGrave]

Your a boss...

<3

[Urban UK]

Loving this one, three 42" screens, that's gonna be crazy

[Serrith]

Update time!

Alright so I finally finished the seat box and put up a few walls.





And this is the inside of the seat box. I have installed two Aura Bass Shaker Pro Transducers. I put one right under the seat, and then one facing the front towards my feet. I really want to feel it when I get hit by enemies





I put the TV's in place just to see how they fit. The distance looks good, but they were not aligned height wise. So I will be working on that issue next.


*Question for any audiophiles out there*:
I have never used a transducer before. I have been reading a lot about them and have found out how to hook the four I own up in a series so they each show 4 ohms. I just can't figure out how to hook them up to my PC sound system with their Amp. Here is a picture of the Amp I bought for them.



I read you should use LFE for transducers, but the wire coming of the transducers looks to fit into the high inputs on my amp. And then how do you even get it hooked up to your PC sound card? I read a Y-adapter, LFE filter, etc...yeah I have no idea what I'm doing here. I appreciate any and all advice. Thanks!

[Propnut]

Hey Serrith,

You will find that one transducer under the seat is more than plenty. I have the same setup as you and the single transducer under my seat can put my teeth to shaking (FREAK'IN COOL). You might think of mounting the other transducer under your controllers with a separate line feeding power so you can adjust the level going to them.

[Serrith]

Propnut, on 17 November 2012 - 01:00 PM, said:

Hey Serrith,

You will find that one transducer under the seat is more than plenty. I have the same setup as you and the single transducer under my seat can put my teeth to shaking (FREAK'IN COOL). You might think of mounting the other transducer under your controllers with a separate line feeding power so you can adjust the level going to them.

Thanks for the heads up! I'll have a better idea where it should go once I finish the controller setup.

[Baldwin Chang]

All these simpit threads aggravate the Green Monster. . . . . . . Very cool. Can't wait to see the finished product.

Edited by Jeremiah Mint, 17 November 2012 - 02:01 PM.