Show us your Rig / Cockpit

[Ravanor]

This is my first cockpit build and I had a few items I needed to meet. I am about 6 foot 6 inches tall so I needed something big and the cockpits I have purchased over the years never seemed to seat me the way I needed.

I had a few technical requirements to meet too. I have the need to mount two steering wheels, two pedal sets and a flight control system. So, needless to say the cockpit is more large than most. I built the design based on how much space I have in the room the cockpit would reside. I play a mix of racing games from iRacing, GT 6, Forza, SimBin titles and so on so I am more 70% sim racer and 30% arcade racer.

Some of the things I really like about this cockpit:

Carpeted inside, better than I thought it would be.
Mounted on wheels so it rolls easily.
Extremely solid, no unwanted movement from steering or pedals.
Easy to change configurations, steering swaps or change to flight.
Large top deck for when I get 3 monitors, play on 12 foot by 10 foot projector screen, so much fun.
Everything built into the cockpit, cooling fans\usb\audio\power so on, I just roll it into position and plug my cables in to the cockpit exterior.
Adding recessed cup holders and power control switches for fans... cant wait!

Lastly, cost, I would have loved some of those awesome pre-made cockpits but always found them lacking something I wanted. I spent $270 on 3/4 inch plywood, screws, hinges, paint (black polyurethane), casters (wheels), nuts, bolts, screws and glue. Spent a lot more than that in sweat and cuts but had a ton of fun!!!

So, its big but I need big and have the available room for it. I have some power switches and acoustic foam on the way and will upload the final pics when those are installed.

I receive criticism well, say what you want, it will lead me to improving the design.

Thanks for the awesome thread!

 

[Jeremy Roberts]

A few more updates on my R-Pod MkII build.

Air intake for the front (requires a lot of work still):



Working on a grill with inserted aluminium bars:



Side piece for the seat base:



Badge I had made for the front:

 

[vee10]

I just finished my set up, now it's not on the level of some of these builds posted in fact far from it, but at the moment my office has to function as a office from time to time (working on that with the Mrs). I have only recently got into PC sim racing having grown bored with Forza & GT etc on console and i built my first decent PC about 10 months ago so i have started at the bottom (logitech DFGT) and gradually worked my way up adding bits here and there. I have got a feeling i wont be stopping at this level for long but i am getting married next year so have to careful what i buy that wont be noticed by the Kommandant. After that i will be off the hook to go nuts.

Parts used.
Logitech DFGT.
Wheel stand pro.
Fanatec CSR Elite Pedals.
RSF paddle shift mod.
Fanatec Inversion kit.
DSD Tilton style pedals.
DSD FVS II button controller.
Logitech G27 shifter (immediately modded to sound deaden the shift).
Carbon gear knob.
GT omega office chair.
Cargo tie down straps (to keep the chair in place when braking).
MDF to make a rubberised shelf for the FVS II & shifter.
Old tv wall bracket (modded) to attach FVS II to.
I think thats it!

Some pics-

 

[Juris]

I just finished my set up, now it's not on the level of some of these builds posted in fact far from it, but at the moment my office has to function as a office from time to time (working on that with the Mrs). I have only recently got into PC sim racing having grown bored with Forza & GT etc on console and i built my first decent PC about 10 months ago so i have started at the bottom (logitech DFGT) and gradually worked my way up adding bits here and there. I have got a feeling i wont be stopping at this level for long but i am getting married next year so have to careful what i buy that wont be noticed by the Kommandant. After that i will be off the hook to go nuts.

Parts used.
Logitech DFGT.
Wheel stand pro.
Fanatec CSR Elite Pedals.
RSF paddle shift mod.
Fanatec Inversion kit.
DSD Tilton style pedals.
DSD FVS II button controller.
Logitech G27 shifter (immediately modded to sound deaden the shift).
Carbon gear knob.
GT omega office chair.
Cargo tie down straps (to keep the chair in place when braking).
MDF to make a rubberised shelf for the FVS II & shifter.
Old tv wall bracket (modded) to attach FVS II to.
I think thats it!

Some pics-

Great setup. Can I ask what you use for lighting. I have an old Philips Ambx kit for a little ambient lighting but yours is far superior. I've been looking around but so much of it is 13 yr old gamer oriented flashy crap. Yours looks elegant. Also love the mount for the button box. Giving me ideas now on how to mount it to my GT Omega Wheelstand. There goes another part of this months budget .

Also have you considered using locking casters for your office chair wheels instead of the cable straps. One of the guys on this thread uses them http://www.racedepartment.com/forum/threads/retractable-casters.86695/ so might be worth checking how he gets on with them.

 

[vee10]

Thanks Juris. I use some stick on LED strips off ebay stuck around the back of the desk frame you can change the colour and the intensity with a remote. There are 1000's to pick from but mine is like this.

The mount is a plate from TV stand and the stand from a old piece of equipment from work so had to cut and drill them to fit together then a lick of paint. The button box is attached with velcro (lots of) so i can easily detach it when i have to take it apart and fold it away to do some work!

The floor is laminate so i dont think the locking casters would work they would probably just skid so with the cargo tie method (again a few £ off ebay) the force is pulling against each other so it doesnt budge an inch even with heel 'n' toe action.

 

[Leemstradamus]

@Paul Smith great looking setup. Thanks for the link to the lights. In looking to do something like that for my wife's office.

 

[Jeremy Roberts]

Some more progress on my R-Pod:

 

[Moxley6969]

So On Saturday i had my first official test session with 2 "lfe's" on the seat bolts and my Gamer 2 on the seat frame. HOLY CRACKERS!!!!! Thats what i was looking for/expecting from the LFE's. Vibration's that will make your eye balls shake to the point of not being able to read text. One thing i noticed was the LFE's on the seat bolt are in a completely different Fq range than the Gamer 2 on the Seat frame. Kinda cool to be able to cover a larger spectrum of the Low end Stuff.




I also re did my motor locks, the Bent flat bar i had before would prevent the arms from Dropping down, but wouldn't prevent the arms from Going UP when i sat forward in the chair to reach something. SO i came up with these.

Open



Locked

 

[Philip Antonia]

Having been without my Sim Rig for over a year, I've been building my simple yet better replacement over the last 2 months.

It's not up to the quality of some of the amazing rigs on this forum, but with my limited time and very limited budget I'm happy with the nearly finished article .

My first rig had a Logitech DFP mounted to it, but that started having issues last year and I've now managed to replace it with a DFGT!! Obviously I'd like something better in the future, but having been out of Sim racing for over a year and with more than our fair share of financial setbacks in the last year, I'm more than happy with the purchase .

There are still things to be done in time, like decorating/painting it, getting my poxy HTC Desire HD to work with Dashmeter pro again and hopefully a new GFX card and 2 more monitors!!! Then I'd have pretty much all I could want (except for a nice shiny new Fanatec CSR Elite with BMW rim or a T500RS!!!) Lol

So a few pics now of my humble little rig, built mainly of bits and bobs I had lying around and about £40 worth of new wood and fittings etc.

My simple and basic button box and sim display.

My faithful DFP that I bought for £25 about 5 years ago has developed a problem and now steps aside for it's updated sibling the DFGT .

The button box was made using a deep picture frame, some carbon effect covering, a little timber to make the back of the box to contain the wiring etc. A simple usb pcb and some buttons. The box cost less than £30 to make and is a nice edition for me to have a button box. The rotary switches are purely aesthetic for now as I wouldn't know how to make them usable or what to use them for!!

The fan on the right is a usb powered fan, but I opened it up and wired the on/off switch, so that I can turn it on by one of the toggle switches on my button box .

My old HTC Desire HD phone was always planned for a sim dash display. When it was my main phone over a year ago I used it for that purpose, but annoyingly now it's purely for that purpose I can't get the software to work. Admittedly as I'm mainly driving AC now I'm happy to wait for an app by Kunos to use on it!

My old seat from my original rig!! She's showing her age, but for now it will do .

My set of G25 pedals which I bought a couple of years ago are now removed from their casing and inverted and positioned better for my needs. I also have the shifter, but have yet to decide how or if I'll mount it. I do have plans for my own sequential shifter, but I will need some time off work to think about doing that!!

 

[Reik Major]

After watching all those great rigs I couldn't hide my actual one any longer.

pros:
- quickly removable if needed
- great surrounding (see plant and balkony door)
- chilling atmosphere (it's in the living room)
- the pillow on the kitchen chair makes it even more enjoyable
- the black Momo is old but does a great job (honestly!)

cons:
- it doesn't have it's own room, so anyone else being in the living room when racing has to be QUIET!!!
- the plugged in PC is too old to handle upcoming stuff like Assetto Corsa, Project CARS or rF 2

But have a look yourself

 

[James Robertson]

"great surrounding (see plant and balkony door)"

now that made me chukkle...lol

 

[Pär Öqvist]

lol you make all kind of noise but the family need to keep quiet watching telli on mute

I so much don´t miss those days I did desktop racing.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Spot on @Reik Major mine looks almost the same except for a better G27.

No fanciness needed to go fast

 

[Aris Teidis]

Spot on @Reik Major mine looks almost the same except for a better G27.

No fanciness needed to go fast

That's true, but having the opportunity to "tune" better your seating position, I consider that, gives you an advantage.

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

I doubt it, but for sure it all adds to the emersion which is also very important.

My immersion feels mainly like sitting behind a desk lol

 

[Aris Teidis]

I suppose you haven't seen my cockpit ...

 

[Tim Meuris]

I suppose you haven't seen my cockpit ...

wow, I can't imagine you can go with more adjustability than this rig
(what's the song of the vid called btw?)

 

[Aris Teidis]

wow, I can't imagine you can go with more adjustability than this rig
(what's the song of the vid called btw?)

Actually a long time ago start designing a new one, more capable. I hope I'll make it real, soon...

(the song is called "Drop_It" (Silent Partner), found it here)

 

[Jeremy Roberts]

After some cable management and more router work and paneling on the front side pieces:

 

[Brian McManus]

Hi moxley
I am just wondering are your buttkickers setup on left and right channels on youre sound car.
Or what way you have it setup?
I bought two buttkickers which are on the way to me.
I am going to mount them similar to yours left and right of the seat.
So i want feel the kurbs and the road left and right.

Thanks.