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- May 30, 2017
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Ok so you really do need modularity in your rig then it makes total sense also it is very neat visually so it fits well in your sim racing chalet thanks for sharing your experience, it was really informative!Thanks Tao!
You're right, these Alu profiles are definitely not be the cheapest solution. I think if you know at least a little bit about woodworking you can build yourself a rig by a fraction of the costs. I was kinda surprised by the raw material costs of these Alu profiles, expected them to be way lower. Now I can understand a lot of people who say that you won't save much money by ordering the profiles on your own instead of bying a Simlab solution.
The thing is, I work at a metal sheet processing company and we also have those profiles in use. It was kinda clear that if I build a rig like this I'll be making use of our engineering knowledge. But yes, I ended up spending a LOT of time searching for the right supplier for the profiles. In the end I had 4 offers, ranging from 680€ to even 1400€. So investing time to find the best supplier is definitely well spent there. If I had bought the same constellation directly at Simlab, I would have spent something around 1000€ - without some extras such as camera holders (but I also "ordered" some custom parts from my company, sandwich plates, DD side mounts, mouse and keyboard plate, which cost me nothing)
By the way, I'm using Item Slot 8 profiles - same as Simlab is using (they tend to be a bit cheaper than Bosch profiles). And funny thing: The offer about 1400€ was from the Item company itself. By comparing all the offers I learned some things about the costs:
- Almost every profile type has 3 variants: Heavy, Light and Eco. (See pic below)
Heavy (left) is rare to find anymore and definitely more than an overkill (Maybe expect some special cases) and therefore way too overpriced (almost double the price of the light variant) Light (middle) is the most common variant Eco (right) is getting more and more popular, as it is about 10-20% cheaper than the light variant, in terms of weight a bit lighter (obivously) but almost as sturdy -> Therefore you can easily go Eco on all of your profiles where it's available. It's cheaper and don't underestimate the total weight of your rig - Even with the DD, seat and monitors detached I'm barely able to lift my rig.- The big profiles are really expensive. For example: 40x40 Eco = 7,66€ and 160x40 Light = 33,61€ per meter. I still recommend using the 160x40 as your base profiles (I know @miagi doesnt ) - same as Simlab is using them on their P1. But they have a length of 1400mm, I ordered 1300mm and thats still too much. You don't wanna end up being too short, but 1200mm should be easily doable.
- The cost of corner brackets sums up quickly. I'm using a lot of corner brackets because I have extra stuff everywhere, but in total I paid 170€ only for them. (I bought 70 of them lol)
- Stuff like Cover caps and Slot caps are cheap and make your rig way more goodlooking. I bought 16 meters of slot cover (80 Cents per meter) and still could use much more of it
Back to your question: All the time I would go for Alu profiles again. The modification opportunities are endless - and thats the greatest thing. You want your pedals further back? No problem. Wheel a bit closer? Sure. Seating position more reclined? Yes. Additional shifter and handbrake? Of course. Pedal camera directly over pedals? Not a problem at all. With a rig made out of wood or something else, you will run into limitations quite quick, as there's always something you wanna add/adjust/remove.
It all depends on personal preference of course. There may be people who just want an all-in-one packet, sit down and play. I for myself enjoy the tinker work - and I really enjoyed all the planning into the greatest details. (I calculated the optimal length of the main camera holder to have the perfect viewing angle ) And oh boy, when you assemble all together where almost everything works out perfectly and you see your finished masterpiece - thats just awesome .
Wow, much text now, but you see, I'm so hyped about it that I can write neverending stories If any of you has questions, ideas, or needs help, I'll gladly help
EDIT: I forgot to mention that I still have 2 or 3 sets of the sandwich plates laying around (the 10mm thick Alu plates which connect Uprights with the Base profiles), so if anyone needs them hit me up!