Hello,
(I am TAIWANESE and feel sorry for the bad English expression
)
I am a big racing-game lover and played every F1 game and GT series since high school for almost 20 years.
I have been working for several years now, and the enthusiasm racing game has not decreased.
When the GT SPORT came out 2 yrs ago, I finally bought my first gaming racing wheel!
"Thrustmaster T300rs GT edition"
It's a fine-made product, which has smooth turning feeling, stable fixing, and beautiful shape.
By the way when GTS came out, the T300rs was out of stock almost 5 months in Taiwan!!!
There is no extra space allow me to put T300rs in the living room, I can only fix it in my desktop to play like photo shows.
Well... this created lots of problem.
Not only takes a large portion of the desktop space, but also very inconvenient for my wife to use the keyboard and she always kicks the pedal accidentally.
Fortunately, there is still space in the room, so I decided to buy a racing frame and start to research.
I use common brand "PLAYSEAT" for example,
1.SEAT MODE
pros: easy to assembly, high flexibility to move anywhere
cons: simple structure, serious shaking when hard playing
2.COCKPIT MODE
pros: steady, and the seat is very comfort
cons: Need space to put in front of the monitor or TV.
3.COCKPIT MODE WITH MONITOR
pros: gather all the equipment together, can put anywhere
cons: In order to stabilize the screen and equipment, the metal structure is very heavy and difficult to move.
I'm prefer the 3rd option "COCKPIT WITH MONITOR". Because I want to put this in my study room's corner instead of occupying living room.
However, the current price of this mode is not cheap, the mainstream brands must be more than NT40,000(US1,200)
The Vesaro Commercial Mobile Stage 1 is my favorite, but it cost €18,000.......would rather to buy a car and forget it.
If buy cheaper product from abroad like Amazon or ebay, the weight and volume shipping costs are also very impressive.
After struggling for nearly a month, I gave up of buying...
I move wheel away and didn't play any racing game for 1 year.
At the same time, the long-delayed car buying plan with my wife has finally made it!
I bought 2018 skoda OCTAVIA Combi RS 2.0!
Although I'vs driving car for more than 15 years , I believe that everyone will always remember the excitement and touch feeling when the new car delivered.
Of cause, road is not the right place to race someone, especially the road in Taiwan is very narrow. It can only be happen in the game.
Why not made it myself?
I suddenly realized then start to do research for relevant DIY racing rig cases.
Taiwan is not famous of DIY things, but I found there are many relevant articles from here and reddit.
So many of amazing ideas and DIY model really excited me!
So I start to plan my racing rig design.
(A) plan the function
I hope it is a cockpit with monitor, it needs to be stable but not too heavy, and the volume can not be too large.
In order to maintain the length limit, the driving position does not use the F1 semi lie-down position.
Started to study the information about the comfort of the driving posture and got some key data, then try to use the side view image to review. photo shows below.
No matter how you sit, the driving posture consists of an approximate equilateral triangle consisting of the steering wheel, the pedals, and the butt.
Just sit in a car and keep your most comfortable position then ask your friend to measure the length of the sides.
And I want the sitting posture to be exactly the same as in my car, so the measurement is the easiest and most convenient.
(B) plan the materials
Cost and weight are two difficult challenge to me.
If I choose metal pipe, not only the cost and weight are high, but the welding or drilling hole may be difficult in construction.
I believe it is the reason that only 10% of DIY player use metal, 20% use wood, and 70% use PVC pipes.
PVC pipe is lightweight, free assembly, easy to purchase, and it is cheap!
After deciding on the material, start to draw the 3D model.
(C) design
[Ver. 1]
The first version is completed and begins to review it.
It looks really cumbersome, there are too many unnecessary supports, too many assembly points, and it may not be easy to carry it when it is done.
And because I haven't studied the types of PVC connectors when drawing, some are just my imagination.
For example, the 2" tubes are only 90 degrees, 45 degrees, T-joints, and the store may have a chance be in stock. Other types are without production, or the amount has to be a lot so the store willing to order.
So the [Ver.1] is failed!
[Ver.2]
The [Ver.2] only used three connectors and simplified the structure by lower down, but there are still some problems.
The 45-degree joint at the bottom of pedal side is structurally weak and may eventually crack or pour down. In addition, there must be support behind the chair.
[Ver.2] is failed again!
Before redesigned, I decided to separate the three structures of seat, steering wheel, and the screen to reduce the possibility of cracking.
[Ver.3]
The [Ver3. ] solve the problem of bearing weight.
The three heaviest components are each supported by a different structure.
And consider the future carrying, designed some detachable nodes.
The chair and the screen pipes can be disengaged from the body, greatly increasing the mobility of moving.
It is easy to estimate the cost from the catalog provided by PVC pipe producer.
After calculating the length of the pipe and the number of joints of [Ver.3 ], then multiplied by 1.2x because of no doing this before.
The total price is roughly between NT3,000 and 3,500 (US100~150)... 1/20 of the selling racing rig!
Giving me much confidence, DIY this is really the right decision!
Everything is ready! Let's begin to build!
(D) PREPARE AND PRODUCE
It is very important to cut off PVC pipe accurately. The owner of the shop recommend me to use this saw blade which made in Japan. Although it is not cheap, with its dense saw-tooth, I can easily operating.
The principle of bonded glue is slight dissolve the surface to bond each other.
I have to work during the day, I can only made this on holidays or at night.
It's a nightmare when doing on the top floor of my apartment, because the temperature is always above 34 degree Celsius at night in summer Taiwan!
Therefore, I limited myself only making for two hours. The sound of sawing and knocking is huge. I should stop construction before 9 PM to avoid noisy neighbor .
It’s not difficult to complete the pedestal in a week. There are a few points that must be noted.
Be sure to try bonding and make marks before gluing, because the glue process is only few seconds, it's impossible to disassemble after gluing
The seat support parts was also completed a few days later.
Because I don't want to spend money for racing chair, so I take a IKEA office chair that my company had eliminated
Separate the bottom rotating part, then the chair part can be used for seat.
This is the spirit of DIY!
In order to increase comfort, I made the seat to have 15 degrees lies down so that my back does not have to be straight.
Finished!! Total time is 20 hrs.
But the boring grey of the pipe is really ugly... and there are many construction traces must be covered.
So let's color it!
To start painting, be sure to rough the surface with sandpaper to increase the attach ability of the paint.
Use #300 sandpaper, and the force does not need to be strong.
After grinding, there will be a lot of dust on the surface, clean it with a damp cloth.
Be sure to choose the weather when painting. It is best to start before the heat starts from 5 to 7 AM in the morning.
Originally wanted RED to emphasize the feeling of racing, but my wife like blue...
So I choose light BLUE with slightly reflection.
The painting expert recommends at least pain two layers, not over three layers. The interval between each layers is about 3 hours.
After completion, it is recommended to leave it for at least 7 days, the paint will be completely dry and not sticky.
It needs long time to dry out, so be sure to choose the weather carefully and don’t make it in the rainy season.
(E) EQUIPMENT INSTALLTION
Finally finish it! Then I measure the weight......
13.5kg!!! VERY GOOD!!
I believe not hurting my back when wife ask me to throw away some days
Although the volume is not small, at least the seat and screen part can still be disassembled.
Actually, the combination of PVC water pipes is not difficult. The trouble is how to fix the equipment?
Fortunately, water pipe drilling is easy, and it is not difficult to solve it with creativity.
For example, the mount between screen and PVC is replaced by a cheap "chopping board"
Not only its light, but also extremely hard. Hanging the screen is perfect idea!
All the equipment is fixed, and sorted out all the wires.
Choose 32", 1080P, 144hz curved e-sport monitor to create sense of immersion!
Attach a small video to show that the overall structure design is fine, stable and not shake when playing!
June 1~July 3 . 2019
After a whole month of production, I encountered a lot of problems and wasted a lot of materials.
However, careful calculation and brainstorming to find alternatives are the spirit of DIY things.
Naturally, we choose to spend money to satisfy our desire, saving time and effort because we become rich but lazy....In fact, I almost went to buy a racing frame product.
Now I am glad that I didn't do it at the time.
Even if the pipe is not so beautiful, how can it be as elegant and simple as the metal structure.
But when I go home every day and see my work from planning, design, production, assembly to completion.
I feel very satisfying and sense of accomplishment.
Just like finished the puzzle myself for the first time in childhood.Or if finish the "Gundam" model, you will admire yourself in your heart.
The joy of life and the sense of accomplishment make me believe that there are something that money can't buy it.
Just do it if you love it!
Failed, but lost nothing.
Success, Then keep try something new!
The article is long and the writing is not good.
Thank you for your patient and support!
2019.07.23 SHANE
(I am TAIWANESE and feel sorry for the bad English expression
)I am a big racing-game lover and played every F1 game and GT series since high school for almost 20 years.
I have been working for several years now, and the enthusiasm racing game has not decreased.
When the GT SPORT came out 2 yrs ago, I finally bought my first gaming racing wheel!
"Thrustmaster T300rs GT edition"
It's a fine-made product, which has smooth turning feeling, stable fixing, and beautiful shape.
By the way when GTS came out, the T300rs was out of stock almost 5 months in Taiwan!!!
There is no extra space allow me to put T300rs in the living room, I can only fix it in my desktop to play like photo shows.
Well... this created lots of problem.
Not only takes a large portion of the desktop space, but also very inconvenient for my wife to use the keyboard and she always kicks the pedal accidentally.
Fortunately, there is still space in the room, so I decided to buy a racing frame and start to research.
I use common brand "PLAYSEAT" for example,
1.SEAT MODE
pros: easy to assembly, high flexibility to move anywhere
cons: simple structure, serious shaking when hard playing
2.COCKPIT MODE
pros: steady, and the seat is very comfort
cons: Need space to put in front of the monitor or TV.
3.COCKPIT MODE WITH MONITOR
pros: gather all the equipment together, can put anywhere
cons: In order to stabilize the screen and equipment, the metal structure is very heavy and difficult to move.
I'm prefer the 3rd option "COCKPIT WITH MONITOR". Because I want to put this in my study room's corner instead of occupying living room.
However, the current price of this mode is not cheap, the mainstream brands must be more than NT40,000(US1,200)
The Vesaro Commercial Mobile Stage 1 is my favorite, but it cost €18,000.......would rather to buy a car and forget it.
If buy cheaper product from abroad like Amazon or ebay, the weight and volume shipping costs are also very impressive.
After struggling for nearly a month, I gave up of buying...
I move wheel away and didn't play any racing game for 1 year.
At the same time, the long-delayed car buying plan with my wife has finally made it!
I bought 2018 skoda OCTAVIA Combi RS 2.0!
Although I'vs driving car for more than 15 years , I believe that everyone will always remember the excitement and touch feeling when the new car delivered.
Of cause, road is not the right place to race someone, especially the road in Taiwan is very narrow. It can only be happen in the game.
Why not made it myself?
I suddenly realized then start to do research for relevant DIY racing rig cases.
Taiwan is not famous of DIY things, but I found there are many relevant articles from here and reddit.
So many of amazing ideas and DIY model really excited me!
So I start to plan my racing rig design.
(A) plan the function
I hope it is a cockpit with monitor, it needs to be stable but not too heavy, and the volume can not be too large.
In order to maintain the length limit, the driving position does not use the F1 semi lie-down position.
Started to study the information about the comfort of the driving posture and got some key data, then try to use the side view image to review. photo shows below.
No matter how you sit, the driving posture consists of an approximate equilateral triangle consisting of the steering wheel, the pedals, and the butt.
Just sit in a car and keep your most comfortable position then ask your friend to measure the length of the sides.
And I want the sitting posture to be exactly the same as in my car, so the measurement is the easiest and most convenient.
(B) plan the materials
Cost and weight are two difficult challenge to me.
If I choose metal pipe, not only the cost and weight are high, but the welding or drilling hole may be difficult in construction.
I believe it is the reason that only 10% of DIY player use metal, 20% use wood, and 70% use PVC pipes.
PVC pipe is lightweight, free assembly, easy to purchase, and it is cheap!
After deciding on the material, start to draw the 3D model.
(C) design
[Ver. 1]
The first version is completed and begins to review it.
It looks really cumbersome, there are too many unnecessary supports, too many assembly points, and it may not be easy to carry it when it is done.
And because I haven't studied the types of PVC connectors when drawing, some are just my imagination.
For example, the 2" tubes are only 90 degrees, 45 degrees, T-joints, and the store may have a chance be in stock. Other types are without production, or the amount has to be a lot so the store willing to order.
So the [Ver.1] is failed!
[Ver.2]
The [Ver.2] only used three connectors and simplified the structure by lower down, but there are still some problems.
The 45-degree joint at the bottom of pedal side is structurally weak and may eventually crack or pour down. In addition, there must be support behind the chair.
[Ver.2] is failed again!
Before redesigned, I decided to separate the three structures of seat, steering wheel, and the screen to reduce the possibility of cracking.
[Ver.3]
The [Ver3. ] solve the problem of bearing weight.
The three heaviest components are each supported by a different structure.
And consider the future carrying, designed some detachable nodes.
The chair and the screen pipes can be disengaged from the body, greatly increasing the mobility of moving.
It is easy to estimate the cost from the catalog provided by PVC pipe producer.
After calculating the length of the pipe and the number of joints of [Ver.3 ], then multiplied by 1.2x because of no doing this before.
The total price is roughly between NT3,000 and 3,500 (US100~150)... 1/20 of the selling racing rig!
Giving me much confidence, DIY this is really the right decision!
Everything is ready! Let's begin to build!
(D) PREPARE AND PRODUCE
It is very important to cut off PVC pipe accurately. The owner of the shop recommend me to use this saw blade which made in Japan. Although it is not cheap, with its dense saw-tooth, I can easily operating.
The principle of bonded glue is slight dissolve the surface to bond each other.
I have to work during the day, I can only made this on holidays or at night.
It's a nightmare when doing on the top floor of my apartment, because the temperature is always above 34 degree Celsius at night in summer Taiwan!
Therefore, I limited myself only making for two hours. The sound of sawing and knocking is huge. I should stop construction before 9 PM to avoid noisy neighbor .
It’s not difficult to complete the pedestal in a week. There are a few points that must be noted.
Be sure to try bonding and make marks before gluing, because the glue process is only few seconds, it's impossible to disassemble after gluing
The seat support parts was also completed a few days later.
Because I don't want to spend money for racing chair, so I take a IKEA office chair that my company had eliminated
Separate the bottom rotating part, then the chair part can be used for seat.
This is the spirit of DIY!
In order to increase comfort, I made the seat to have 15 degrees lies down so that my back does not have to be straight.
Finished!! Total time is 20 hrs.
But the boring grey of the pipe is really ugly... and there are many construction traces must be covered.
So let's color it!
To start painting, be sure to rough the surface with sandpaper to increase the attach ability of the paint.
Use #300 sandpaper, and the force does not need to be strong.
After grinding, there will be a lot of dust on the surface, clean it with a damp cloth.
Be sure to choose the weather when painting. It is best to start before the heat starts from 5 to 7 AM in the morning.
Originally wanted RED to emphasize the feeling of racing, but my wife like blue...
So I choose light BLUE with slightly reflection.
The painting expert recommends at least pain two layers, not over three layers. The interval between each layers is about 3 hours.
After completion, it is recommended to leave it for at least 7 days, the paint will be completely dry and not sticky.
It needs long time to dry out, so be sure to choose the weather carefully and don’t make it in the rainy season.
(E) EQUIPMENT INSTALLTION
Finally finish it! Then I measure the weight......
13.5kg!!! VERY GOOD!!
I believe not hurting my back when wife ask me to throw away some days
Although the volume is not small, at least the seat and screen part can still be disassembled.
Actually, the combination of PVC water pipes is not difficult. The trouble is how to fix the equipment?
Fortunately, water pipe drilling is easy, and it is not difficult to solve it with creativity.
For example, the mount between screen and PVC is replaced by a cheap "chopping board"
Not only its light, but also extremely hard. Hanging the screen is perfect idea!
All the equipment is fixed, and sorted out all the wires.
Choose 32", 1080P, 144hz curved e-sport monitor to create sense of immersion!
Attach a small video to show that the overall structure design is fine, stable and not shake when playing!
June 1~July 3 . 2019
After a whole month of production, I encountered a lot of problems and wasted a lot of materials.
However, careful calculation and brainstorming to find alternatives are the spirit of DIY things.
Naturally, we choose to spend money to satisfy our desire, saving time and effort because we become rich but lazy....In fact, I almost went to buy a racing frame product.
Now I am glad that I didn't do it at the time.
Even if the pipe is not so beautiful, how can it be as elegant and simple as the metal structure.
But when I go home every day and see my work from planning, design, production, assembly to completion.
I feel very satisfying and sense of accomplishment.
Just like finished the puzzle myself for the first time in childhood.Or if finish the "Gundam" model, you will admire yourself in your heart.
The joy of life and the sense of accomplishment make me believe that there are something that money can't buy it.
Just do it if you love it!
Failed, but lost nothing.
Success, Then keep try something new!
The article is long and the writing is not good.
Thank you for your patient and support!
2019.07.23 SHANE
