Show off your rigs! (1 Viewer)

[Exited]

View attachment 7965

A new addition to mine: the mystery switch...

Pretty sure the mystery switch is not for automatic computer cleaning to get rid of the dust

 

[fab. ICEMAN]

Time for a little photo story of my rig upgrade!

I started with a Logitech Driving Force Pro, mounted on the table you see below. First upgrade was a G29, with Fanatec V3 Pedals following. Next big improvement was to mount the monitors onto the walls to finally getting rid of the neverending shaking I then grabbed a Samsung C49 monitor from an Amazon sale:

Then it was time for proper rig. I spent quite a few hours planning and designing a solid DIY alu-profiles rig. The base setup is basically a Simlab P1, but I designed a different pedal mount, monitor mount and mouse+keyboard holder plus a few extras such as camera mounts The base profiles and uprights are also much shorter. One part I'm very proud of are the wheelbase side-mounts. They're fully custom made and sit perfectly in place. This is from the planning:

And here we go with the assembly!

A rig like this needs a fitting hardware of course. I ordered a Fanatec DD1 + Formula V2 rim. Now I'm Fanatec all the way, which is nice cause the company is located in the same little hood where I live!

This is how the rig looks now. I'm still working on the lightning and a few other details. I will shoot some more pics when I finally call it finished

 

[Tom]

That's very nice Fab, can tell a lot of thought and care has gone into that! I think we have the same rug too.

 

[Cluck]

Nice PC case

 

[Jomba]

One part I'm very proud of are the wheelbase side-mounts.

Is there no flex in base mount? What is the thickness of the material of those side mounts?

 

[fab. ICEMAN]

Is there no flex in base mount? What is the thickness of the material of those side mounts?

It's 5 mm stainless steel. Theres zero flex in those mounts.

 

[Taorminator]

It's 5 mm stainless steel. Theres zero flex in those mounts.

Awesome and very neat rig!

With 5 mm thick stainless steel damn right it's not gonna flex As a general question, I wonder : I see many of you use aluminium bosch profiles in your rigs but from work experience I know these tend to get much more expensive than L profiles or tubes. Actually we try to avoid using them when designing something that doesn't require much modularity or if building time or delay isn't pushing you. Without welding you can build pretty much anything with tubes and brackets, but you'll have to drill some holes and bolt it together. So is it just purely for practicality or maybe is it clever/easier to reuse them when doing a rig modification?

 

[fab. ICEMAN]

Awesome and very neat rig!

With 5 mm thick stainless steel damn right it's not gonna flex As a general question, I wonder : I see many of you use aluminium bosch profiles in your rigs but from work experience I know these tend to get much more expensive than L profiles or tubes. Actually we try to avoid using them when designing something that doesn't require much modularity or if building time or delay isn't pushing you. Without welding you can build pretty much anything with tubes and brackets, but you'll have to drill some holes and bolt it together. So is it just purely for practicality or maybe is it clever/easier to reuse them when doing a rig modification?

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!

 

[UnstopaPaul]

Awesome and very neat rig!

With 5 mm thick stainless steel damn right it's not gonna flex As a general question, I wonder : I see many of you use aluminium bosch profiles in your rigs but from work experience I know these tend to get much more expensive than L profiles or tubes. Actually we try to avoid using them when designing something that doesn't require much modularity or if building time or delay isn't pushing you. Without welding you can build pretty much anything with tubes and brackets, but you'll have to drill some holes and bolt it together. So is it just purely for practicality or maybe is it clever/easier to reuse them when doing a rig modification?

I've ended up adjusting my pedal and uprights (wheel mounting) several times in the first couple of weeks, then again quite substantially when I changed my wheel from the G920 to the DD1, as they are very different lengths from the mounting points to the rim.In the same vein I can adjust the position of my shifter to compensate. The difference between original and new positions can sometimes only be a few cm, but its amazing to be able to reposition at will. I would not trade if for a "sure hope this is right" frame. Couple that with the general flexibility of the T-nut/bolt approach and you can mount anything anywhere with very little effort. It's expensive but very reuseable.

 

[PatatorJohn]

It's far more entertaining watching the speculation unfold

It's a toggle switch on the power lines of 2 different SSDs, which have their own Windows install for different purposes. 1 for racing (minimal apps, drivers, things in the background; C drive only etc.); and the other for work & general use. Yes changing the boot order in the bios or using a bootloader works too, but where's the fun in that? Physical switches ftw! I also love how goofy it looks

Post automatically merged: Sep 10, 2019

If I flip it during a race, I'm going to have a bad time. Could call it the going nuclear rage quit switch I guess.

Extinguisher mode? It very much looks like one, I like the idea of seeing bubbles coming out that PC...

 

[Born2BSlow]

A rig is never finished, I’m always on the lookout for the next upgrade

 

[fab. ICEMAN]

A rig is never finished, I’m always on the lookout for the next upgrade

As you say that I've almost fully dismounted my rig to get new stuff in

 

[m4nu]

As you say that I've almost fully dismounted my rig to get new stuff in

View attachment 7984

The room looks so awesome... I want aswell...

 

[fab. ICEMAN]

The room looks so awesome... I want aswell...

Well on one hand yes, on the other hand my gf kicked me out of our workroom and now I gotta 'live' down here together with 389 spiders

 

[miagi]

430 spider would be better :/

 

[Dutchtastic]

430 spider would be better :/

Why not have 488 Giant Thicc Beasts

 

[Puffpirat]

Why not have 488 Giant Thicc Beasts

you forgot an r there xD

 

[The Breeze]

Well on one hand yes, on the other hand my gf kicked me out of our workroom and now I gotta 'live' down here together with 389 spiders

Well at least you had somewhere to go . I only have the shared workroom so no place for a permanent rig.... will have to stick with my wheel stand pro and foldable camping chair . No DD1 possible with the wheel stand pro unfortunately.
Plus... if I would build a permanent rig like yours, she would probably kick me out of the house

 

[Michael]

Well at least you had somewhere to go . I only have the shared workroom so no place for a permanent rig.... will have to stick with my wheel stand pro and foldable camping chair . No DD1 possible with the wheel stand pro unfortunately.
Plus... if I would build a permanent rig like yours, she would probably kick me out of the house

You have to slowly implement that idea. Cautiously plant the seed in her mind. Then she won't be as shocked as when big packages with metal stuff arrive out of nowhere. Was the same for me. My man cave is her home-office, and as it always was THE messy room which exists in every household, we came down to a deal. Everything got re-arranged, new desk for her, a nice paint on the wall, more storage room for her stuff, my desk got thrown out and now I have my "corner" with permanent rig, wall mounted monitor etc., and a little space for further additions to the rig. Win-win. And she even said that it doesn't look as bad as she thought it would.

 

[The Breeze]

You have to slowly implement that idea. Cautiously plant the seed in her mind. Then she won't be as shocked as when big packages with metal stuff arrive out of nowhere. Was the same for me. My man cave is her home-office, and as it always was THE messy room which exists in every household, we came down to a deal. Everything got re-arranged, new desk for her, a nice paint on the wall, more storage room for her stuff, my desk got thrown out and now I have my "corner" with permanent rig, wall mounted monitor etc., and a little space for further additions to the rig. Win-win. And she even said that it doesn't look as bad as she thought it would.

That's in fact exactly the way I got the wheel stand in .... so I need a cunning plan B