I had built rig from MDF about 8 years ago. While it served me well for many years, it has broken several times recently with the addition of the OpenSimWheel and PT-1 pedals. I’ve replaced some sections with plywood, but it’s still in a sad state.

So enough procrastinating. Time to finally build a steel sim rig to replace my dilapidated wooden one.

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

Here’s the design I’m going to base the new rig on. It will be adjustable, but in the future I might weld it solid once I have it set how I want it.

Mine will also be on caster wheels, have a partial floor, a deck for holding the SimuCUBE, and have provisions for mounting bass shakers.

I picked up about 40 feet of square tubing last week, and started to build it last weekend. I'll post photos as I progress.

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

When I build my monitor stand (steel square tube) I used a chop saw (w/ abrasive cut-off disc) to cut all the pieces. While it did the job, it wasn't very precise nor particularly fast. Depending on the angle, some cuts took forever to complete.

Since then I've purchased multipurpose miter saw, which can cut virtually anything, and it’s much more accurate and fast. I cut my first metal with it on the weekend and it sliced through like hot butter.

Here's the base cut out.

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

Well the blade on my multipurpose miter saw didn't last long. Probably about 30 cuts and it was dull as could be. Certainly not the 750 metal cuts it was advertised to provide. Ended up having to dig out the chop saw.

Got the wheel deck pieced together.

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

Then I worked on the vertical stands for the wheel deck.

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

That's about as far as I got so far.

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

Last night I was thinking about how I'll mount my Aura bass shakers. I have four of them.

Ideally I'd mount them facing downward, but in order to do that and still have room for my pedals and seat, I would need to add side extensions to the rig for the shakers. But then the rig would be too wide to fit (roll) under my desk. So I guess I'm stuck with mounting them upside-down attached to the underside of the rig with one at each corner (the rig will be elevated on caster wheels).

I'm thinking I'll weld a piece of tubing at 45° to triangulate each corner and then weld a triangle shaped metal sheet on top to serve as the mounting surface. Here's an illustration with some scrape pieces (I need to buy more material).

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

For the wheels, I plan weld little outriggers on the sides of each end and bolt the wheels to them. That'll give the casters enough space swivel around without interference with the bass shakers.

Here's an illustration, with two different sized wheels. I think I'll go with the big ones.

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

This looks really good. I have a Playseat Challenge, which is great for the price, but it's pretty awkward to get in and out of. I'd really like to do a rigid one like this as well.

FYI I have that Evo saw and I put this blade on it. https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B002PM ... UTF8&psc=1 I cut through a couple of pieces of Class IV receiver hitch tubing and it seems to be holding up pretty well. It goes on the Rage saw label facing in, I have a feeling the bad reviews on there are from people putting it on backwards.

Yeah, I know of a couple other people with the same saw and they too found the stock blade didn't last long when cutting metal. Hiscott got that same Oshlun blade as you for his saw and tells me it is lasting him forever.

I decided to try a Freud Diablo Steel Demon Cermet II Carbide Metal Cutting Blade due to its great reviews. Cermet is supposed to be even more durable than carbide. We shall see. Hopefully it arrives by the weekend so I can get back to cutting.

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

All my wood blades are Diablo, I didn't even know they had a metal cutting blade. I will try that one out if I need to replace it again.

Watching with interest. One of the boys wants to build something similar using some scrap tubing. Watch out for distortion when welding the parts with the sliding tubes... I've run run into issues with binding as the inside tube bent when welded .

Also curious to see how much extra vibration is transmitted to the driver and into the floor with the shakers. Less damping in that steel frame than the wooden one I'd imagine. Maybe have a look at retractable casters that are used on workbenches and equipment stands and have the base rest on rubber feet?

Funny you should mention that Ken, because I had that issue. I had finished the adjustable wheel mount section, went to slide it onto the base frame and it would not fit. The wheel mount wasn’t square.

So I had to cut it up and reweld it again. This time it fit perfectly. However, I then realised that I had miscalculated the height and it was too tall to fit under my desk, even at it’s lowest setting. So I had to cut it and reweld it again. Third time was a charm.

As for the vibrations, I purchased some rubber isolators I plan to install between the caster wheels and the frame. Not sure how well it’ll work, but worth a try.

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

Not a whole lot of progress in this update. I cut out most of the pieces for the bass shaker mounts and began mocking up a seat mount. The seat mount is tricky because I'm using the slider rails from my car, and the floor mounts are not even. They're different heights, different spacing, and a couple are even angled downward. To keep my seat centered and level on the rig is going to take some creativity.

I did find some awesome caster wheels though. They're made for a tool cabinet and support 165 lbs each. They have integrated brakes which not only lock the wheel rolling, but prevent it from swiveling as well. And as an added bonus, they included anti-vibration rubber spacers. Should be perfect!

https://www.princessauto.com/en/detail/ ... -p8674012e

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

Not much of a build update. Sometimes the smallest fiddly things take the longest time, but I got my seat mounts finished. Next are the shaker mounts.

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

Got the shaker mounts welded up. Basically, I just welded a diagonal tube across in each corner, then welded a steel plate over top to create a smooth flat surface to bolt the shakers to. My plan is to drill and tap mounting holes through the plate (and tube underneath).

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

Looks nice and solid. You are going to have a great setup to do modal (vibration) testing.

Those with a keen eye may have noticed in the photo above that the rig frame is no longer square. As I welded the corner mounts, it drew in the ends (i.e. where the two halves join) inwards by a full ½”. I had slid the front and rear halves together thinking that would prevent any warpage, but I was wrong. This meant the two halves were stuck together. Try as I might, I could not physically separate them (i.e. slide the front half out of the rear half).

Wondering how the hell I was going to separate the two pieces, I had an ingenious thought to use my winch. So, I anchored one end of the rig frame with a tow rope and hooked up my 2000 lb winch to the other and started pulling… To no avail. Not even the winch could separate them!

As a last resort, I grabbed my angle grinder with cut-off wheel and cut the damn thing apart. Ugh. Ended up shortening one side of the front section by 6”.

Now that I had them apart, what to do next? They’re not square, they won’t slide into one another. How the hell am I going to make them square again?

Then a lightbulb went off in my head… Perhaps I can use my 12-ton shop press somehow to bend them square again. To my delight, it worked! I managed to get both halves square using the shop press in ways it surely was never designed to be used. lol

That’s where I left off. With the cut / shortened side of the front section, I lost about 6” of length. By my rough calculations, setting my rig to my preferred length will mean that only about 1” of the cut side will be inserted into the rear half. I might have to forgo the length adjustability and just weld the two halves together. Probably the simplest solution.

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

Yep, welding distortion can be a pain. You might have got away with it by temporarily putting a piece(s) between the legs to act as a spacer. Another trick is to start with things out of square and then when the weld cools it will draw it back square. On a 45 tube corner joint like that about 1/6-1/8' out at 12" will usually draw back in (assuming welding from outside corner to inside). Depends on weld size and weld sequence but can usually get it close with a little practice. With the diagonals you would have had to add a bit more.

Yes a spacer would have helped a lot. Live and learn.

Still quite a bit to do, but it's starting to resemble a rig.

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

What’s the seat belt for?

Stacy

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The fricton circle for my 911 Porsche resembles more of an oblong... I'm either trailbraking or accelerating while trying to get it to turn!

I took the seat straight out of the Talon. My plan is to use the Sparco in my rig while I'm not driving the Talon (offseason), then when I am driving the Talon, I'll put the Sparco back in the car and put the Talon's stock seat on the sim rig. That way I get to use my Sparco year around instead of it sitting in the car collecting dust.

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

Note for materials, I am using the following...

• 1-3/4" x 0.1" Carbon Steel Square
• 1-1/2 x 0.1" Carbon Steel Square
• 2" x 1" x 1/8" Carbon Steel Rectangle
• 1/8" Carbon Flat Bar

For the adjusters, I am using 10mm Hex Coupling Nuts and just regular 10mm bolts. To drill the edge / corner of the steel square tubing, I simply used a punch, the place the tubing in my drill press vice and started with a small drill bit and gradually worked my way larger, until I got to the point I could use a step drill bit. Worked great.

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

For the caster wheel mounts, I'm just going to weld some 45° cuts of the 1-3/4" steel square outside of the frame. I'll attach them flush with the bottom of the frame so the wheels will be supported partly by this little "wings" and partly by the frame itself. More pictures to come soon.

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

Will be interesting to see what it weighs when finished.

BTW I have an expired set of belts (5 pt camlock, black) you can have if you want. Would be easier to add the attachment points now than later. Might be a good to be belted in if the thing shakes itself out the door and down the stairs.

Haha. I have no intention of wearing seat belts while sim racing. Was just too lazy to the remove the belts from the seat after I took it out of the car.

One thing to note about the materials... I chose two sizes of square tubing that just barely fit inside one another. Seemed the logical thing to do, but I'm finding the tight tolerances to be problematic. If every cut / angle / weld isn't perfect, then things bind up as you try to slide them together. In retrospect, I should have used a 1/2" difference in size versus 1/4". It would have given me more room for error.

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

Last night I drilled and taped all 16 holes for mounting the bass shakers, then started work on the frame for the pedal plate. I learned from past mistakes and used a wood spacer this time to keep the bars square.

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

For my pedal plate, I'm just using plywood for the time being. Figured I use something easy to cut / drill while I figure out my pedal placement. Once I have everything set to where I'm happy, I'll replace the plywood with a metal plate. Maybe some aluminum diamond / checker / tread plate.

I also added a shelf above the pedals to hold my SimuCUBE box / SimVibe amplifier & power supply. The shelf is on hinges so that I can flip it up for easy access to the pedals (for mounting / adjusting them).

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

I weighted the frame (with wheels and plywood) and it came to 80 lbs. Didn't feel all that heavy, but that's what the scale said.

With the frame complete, it was finally time to start mounting all of the hardware. I started on the bottom with the bass shakers and speaker wire routing. Initially I had thoughts of running the wires inside the tubing for the cleaner look, but later decided to keep it simple and just zip tie them to the underside. You don't even see them when the rig is right-side-up anyway.

Here a photo. Sorry it's a bit hard to see with all the clutter in the background.

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR

Here's the rig with everything mounted. I weighed it again and this time it was 185 lbs!

You'll note that it's still just bare metal. I wanted to try using it for a while before I paint it, just in case I end up doing some final alterations.

I have to say though, after using it for an hour last night, I am very pleased with the result. It is solid as a rock. With the lockable caster wheels, the rig it has zero movement when locked in place. And when unlocked, the rig is even easier to move around than my old MDF rig. Very happy.

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1997 Talon TSi AWD
2008 EVO X MR