We received it Wednesday but I didn’t get to take it out and test it until today.
It powered on and the menu was very vibrant but once I started a movie I noticed there was a “valance” effect on the top which would be visible inside the cockpit. The seller offered to have UPS pick it up free of charge or he would refund $150. I opted to have him pick it up and he will try and replace it with a working unit.
Your design looks sound but you need a decentralized stabilizer.
The decentralized stabilizer is a mechanism that needs to be installed on the edge of the platform to make sure that is stays in the same direction as the pneumatic cylinder alows the platform to turn 360°. This must be quite strong as the forces on this are high.
Met vriendelijke groet,
Marnix T
President
I thought that was really nice for him to go so far as to give me advice on my design since he builds these professionally. I can see why they charge so much, there are a lot of specialized pieces which have added up to $2000 easily when all is said and done (let alone the custom software I will need to write).
The moral of the story is if they sell a large-bore non-rotating cylinder – BUY THAT. I know they have non-rotating cylinders but haven’t seen one that big. You could also tie two of them together (I think most of the non-rotating ones have 2 rods) so that there is a single U-joint at the top.
About a month ago (after a hiatus lasting a bit more than a decade) Ian and I decided to make cockpit simulators again (one at each person’s house). Both with families and kids now all would benefit from not only flying them but also from the construction and maintenance. It would leverage the engine we built for Rise (visuals, physics, and database) over a period of 6 years which was all but abandoned last year as an MMORPG concept.
Mine will be based on the Utility Dropship (UD-4L Cheyenne) cockpit (inspired by the Apache helicopter) from the 1986 movie Aliens. I was able to find the original set blueprints and am currently designing the motion platform.
