Nov/092
TV Bracket + Latest Order for new kit
I will be upgrading my computer within the next two weeks. Well, I say upgrading, I’m actually just buying a PC, to run rFactor and COD:MW2 specifically. I’m currently using a top of the range Mac Pro. While it’s performance is absolutely incredible, restarting to do a few laps or to play COD is annoying. I want something where I can just wake it from sleep and do some laps, so that’s where the idea came about.
I’m pretty much decided on the spec now.
- Intel Core i7 920 2.66Ghz
- Asus P6T SE Intel X58 1366 PCI-Express DDR3 Motherboard
- WD Velociraptor 150GB 10,000RPM HDD
- ATI Radeon HD 5770 1GB GDDR5
- OCZ 3X2GB DDR3 Triple Chanel Ram
- Corsair 650W ATX PSU
- Lancool Dragon-Lord PC-K58 Case
- Edimax EW-7728IN
- Arctic Cooling Freezer Pro CPU Cooler
- DVD/RW 22x Optical Drive
So, based on that, it will rip through any games I can throw at it. I am currently using a 30″ Apple Cinema Display which is the best of the best. The size, and the quality is phenominal. I decided that getting a smaller monitor was a bad idea as it would seem very small. I thought about using my TV, but it’s not Full HD, only 720, so the native resolution is 1280×720. I thought this would be poor for running rFactor, but it turns out that is isn’t. I gave it a go and it looks phenominal.
I realised a couple of things. Firstly, my 2560x 30″ Monitor upscales the game, the graphics aren’t even made into that resolution so while the image is pure, it’s not as good as it could be. The second thing was that my TV has such a low resolution that the game can be scaled down and therefore it looks even nicer. The buttons mainly and the interface, not so much the cars and tracks. Having only a 1280x resolution will also be easier on the graphics card, so thats a bonus.
When I’m playing COD, I’m simply going to switch display’s back to my current one, no way can I play COD from inside my cockpit and at a 1280x resolution!
Finally I can get Windows off my Mac, where it most certainly doesn’t belong!
Initially, I had my TV stood on my cockpit with the stand. But I had a solution that has worked incredibly well. I purchased a tilt/twist/swivel and rotate bracket from Amazon for £45. It’s the most solid bracket I’ve seen. I secured the bracket on the wall at the correct height for my cockpit, so there’s no stand anymore. However the beauty is that my bed is in line with the cockpit, so when I want to watch TV in bed, I can turn the TV around 180 degrees and watch it. If I’m at my PC, I can place it flat against the wall. So it works all ways around. Please ignore the curtains in the picture! My sister moved to Uni and I quickly stole her room!
I’ve also ordered a couple of other things today, while I wait to order my PC. When I’m in the cockpit, I still need a keyboard, just to type in game, but I also needed a mouse. Now, obviously I could just use a USB mouse and keyboard, but that means more wires and that also means putting it ontop of the cockpit, cluttering it up. So I decided I needed wireless. But I found the perfect solution.
A keyboard is pretty bulky and a mouse needs a decent surface to move on, so instead I went with the Logitech DiNovo. It’s a great little piece of kit. Very small, nearly palm sized. It has a small touchpad in the top right which I can use as the mouse, and it can just sit down the side of the seat when I don’t need it. Perfect.
I also ordered an anti-static wristband and mat ready for the PC build. And a headphone to Phono lead so I can use the TV speakers for racing.
Speak soon guys!
Nov/090
ARC Wheel Installation
More detailed guide to installation coming soon, but for now, a few pictures.
Sep/092
I’m Home! – Pedals/Wheel attached | Cowling Cutting & Fixing
Hey Guys! I’m back from Italy after an incredible 8 days in Milan. The Grand Prix was fantastic. Now I’m back in the real World and I want to get this cockpit finished!
I’ve lost track of whats left, but as far as I can remember this is it:
- Steering wheel cowling
- Mount Pedals
- Mount Steering Wheel
- Decals/Stickers
- Carpet Front Section
- Final Coat of Paint & Touch Up
- ARC Wheel
So, really there’s not all that much left, the decals are out of my hands. I’m waiting for a response on those. I need more carpet, which I will get ordered.
Anyway, last night I started on the Pedals, Steering Wheel and Cowling – and a quick test 
I began with the task of attaching and fixing the pedals in the cockpit. I put the pedals in the front section, rested on the back edge. They stood up quite nicely under their own weight. I got into the cockpit and found the nicest position for them. Unfortunately this was about 2 inches from the back of the cockpit – so they wouldn’t be able to rest and get fixed right there. I marked where the pedals rested, bottom, top, sides – so I could fix them in the exact same place.
I needed a solution and after some ideas of using wooden batons, I went with a carpet gripper! I cut a carpet gripper to the exact width of the front section, two pieces. One part for the bottom, this would prevent the pedals slipping down and it gave a lip for them to sit in. I hammered the sharp grippers down and it proved to give a clean look whilst doing it’s job. For holding the pedals at the correct angle, I used the second piece. This was a bit longer, 3 inches on either side. I used a vice to bend the final 3 inches on the ends around, 90 degrees to the main section. This would allow me to screw it into the side of the cockpit and use the main length to rest the pedals in! Because the carpet gripper already has holes in, I only needed to drill an additional two holes through the metal to fix it to the cockpit and prevent it twisting.
I placed the pedals in and they fitted snugly and completely secure. I put a lot of force in every direction on the pedals and they didn’t move, so just driving won’t be a problem at all.
The next job was fixing the wheel to the cockpit. I already had a section of wood about 30cm long, 0.75in deep and wide enough for an extremely tight fit within the cockpit. I found it quite difficult to find the best position for the wheel and it was very tight with my knees. The clamps on the bottom of the wheel base were about 1cm away from making contact with my legs. I decided it was ok. :-O
I marked where the board was in the same way I did with the pedals and then removed it. I decided it was far too deep, un-necessarily. The wheel base is only about 18cm, so this was sparing 12cm or so which wasn’t needed. So I sawed the unused part off in favour of a smaller support section.
I used 4, 90 degree metal brackets to attach the support to the cockpit. Attaching it to the support first and then screwing it into the cockpit. Because of the tight fit, it was supported under it’s own weight whilst I tightened the screws.
The final thing I wanted achieve last night was the wheel cowling. I had a few ideas, as I had done in my mockups. I was initially going to place a section over the wheel, flush with the top of the cockpit. However, the G25 base proved too high. There was about 4mm clearance from the top of it to the surface of the cockpit. Not enough. I decided to place the wooden cowling ontop of the cockpit surface. It was 0.5mm ply board. Easy to cut, easy to sand, easy to paint.
I firstly decided on the rough outline of it, using a pencil, marker pen and a ruler. I cut it a little too bit so I could sand it down, rather than it be too short and have to cut it all again! I used a jigsaw to cut it out. After doing so I used a fine sandpaper to smooth it all, round the corners and remove any possibility of splinters.
Now, for the fixing. I put a line of wood glue around bottom of it. This dries transparent so any excess squeezing out wasn’t a problem. I used 0.75in hardboard pins. They are just like panel pins but brass and a bit stronger. I used 8 in total, spacing them evenly. There was no possibility of the MDF or Ply board splitting with these. Finally, I used a damn cloth to remove the excess wood glue.
This will need to be primed, undercoated and painted red to match the cockpit.
Now all in place, the final thing to do was to have a quick test! My first outing with it! The perspective with the Display was different and will take a little getting used to. But the wheel felt completely solid, the pedals felt solid and everything went smoothly.
So, this leaves me with the following:
- Decals/Stickers
- Carpet Front Section
- Final Coat of Paint & Touch Up
- ARC Wheel
Enjoy the pics!
Aug/090
Seat Moulded, Dried, Bag removed, Cut to size.
I got up nice and early this morning to get to work on the seat. It had been curing for about 13 hours overnight. More than enough time.
I pulled the seat out of the car, noticing a few obvious cracks – off the main structure, creases were minimal. It looked good!
I pulled at the bag near the back edge of the seat and it peeled off nicely, I made a cut with a knife and began pulling the bag off the main seat. The bag removed quickly and easily, apart from those few obvious areas where cracks had appeared.
Cracks appear because the bag is folded inside itself, basically bag to bag, there are removable before finally moulding, however its difficult to remove all of them and also in this case it wouldn’t matter – the support for me is nowhere near the cracks.
The main area of the seat was pretty much crease free, a nice smooth flowing surface moulded to my shape. And no cracks in sight. The bottom front edge of the seat had a fairly big chunk that was removed, but the rest of the bottom is completely flat and support/rocking/movement is absolutely not an issue. The seat fits completely snug and firm in place.
I cut away the excess on the sides and top, in stages. The foam was too thick to go through in one cut, so I removed it in small squares and then took the top off the remaining parts.
For those cracks at the bottom, I’m going to fill those with some sort of filler, which I have yet to decide on. The cracks don’t really matter, but its just for my own piece of mind and to make the seat covering easier. Once I receive the suede, and the seat is covered, there will be no problems and the seat will look great.
Check out the pictures, there’s a massive difference between the removal of bag stage to the final seat shape. The seat feels comfy, and I could sit there for hours without a problem, this is definitely the way to go, for anyone. Let’s just hope I don’t put on any weight!
All I can say to anyone moulding their own seat is to:
- Take your time
- Be careful
- Test beforehand
- Follow the instructions as best as you can.
If you rush into it all, it will go wrong, I almost guarantee it. You will end up mixing the resin wrong, or not kneading the beads for long enough, or not staying in the seat for long enough, cutting it to shape too soon, and worst of all you will end up with major cracks, separations and creases over the main area of the seat. If this happens, its not worth using. So, as I say – take your time.
Aug/090
Seat Moulding Process
Well, that didn’t take quite as long as I expected it to! After doing a couple of further test runs with the seat mould/vacuum, the actual final mould only took about 45 minutes.
I decided to add some space inhibitors to the bottom of the cockpit. I got them from a Supermarket (they use them at the back of the fridges occasionally). I used it for the same thing here, basically to take up space inside the cockpit, so the seat’s beads could be used for moulding and not wasted filling right to the edges of the cockpit.
I did a test run with these installed and it worked far better than it had done previously. Then I decided to go for the final run.
Firstly, I let all the air out of the bag using the valve, which let the beads completely loose. I then proceeded to mix the resin. The kit provides the exact amounts of hardener and resin – 400ml and 600ml respectively. Pour the hardener in first, followed by the resin. This is thicker and will sink to the bottom. Then I mixed it all for 5 minutes. From the point of mixing, you have approximately 1 hour before the seat is too hard to work with.
Next, I removed the valve from the bag by a simple twist and pull. I lifted the hole over the centre of the bag/beads and began pouring in the liquid using the jug and funnel, making sure not to get the resin on the bag itself. This doesn’t matter, but its best to hit the beads directly rather than pouring it down the sides of the bag.
Next, I spent 15 minutes kneading the bag, mixing up the mix right into the beads. I pushed the corners into the middle of the bag to be sure they were all coated. There is a slight colour to the mix – a light grey, so you can clearly see which beads have been coated and which haven’t. The feeling of the beads was now totally different. They felt far more dense.
I placed more beads on the bottom of the bag, and fewer for the back. Then I placed it into the cockpit. I got in, and got comfy. Then, for the final vacuum. It really tightened up this time. I sat in the cockpit for 1 hour and 25 minutes total. After about 25 minutes or so the seat started to get really hot. And after about 45 minutes it was pretty darn hot. Not burning hot, just hot hot.
I got out of the cockpit and the seat looked great. I will now leave it overnight to properly harden and cure. Tomorrow, I will begin sanding, cutting and removing the excess that isn’t needed.
On Monday, I will receive the suede I have ordered to cover it. Black Faux Suede from Ebay, it cost me £9 plus shipping – £13 total. Very reasonable. This will be stuck on with the adhesive spray I have.
I have also ordered some suitcase catches, which will keep the two halves of the cockpit together, and will look really good.
Anyway, enough rambling, check out the pics!
Aug/090
Seat Installation Test Run
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- Test Installation
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- Hoover attachment
So, I wanted to do a test run with the seat before going ahead and moulding it. The last thing I want to do is rush it all and end up doing it wrong, or just doing a bad job.
I did a couple of tests with it, putting it in different positions and messing about with the vacuum amount. For the final run, which seemed to work best, I pushed most of the beads into the middle of the cockpit and then put my weight on it, spreading it out. This provided far more support than just laying the bag in and all the areas of the seat were thick enough to mould there and then. To Vacuum the air out, I used a normal hoover, but Duck taped some plastic tubing to it, so it fitted the valve. Bodge job, but it worked perfectly.
I took a couple of pictures, and will hopefully doing the actual mould on Saturday.
P.S. I just realised I’d blurred the picture of the hoover, will get another pic on Saturday – in focus!