t500rs rig advice?

[MrDavid5465]

Do you think this will hold? mostly 1" square tubing and the lines represent solid steel bars 1/2 inch

 

[JLBowler]

Might have a little too much flex in it. I would either go all tubing or add a pair of supports from the front of the wheel mount diagonally to toward the back of the rig for added support.

If you have the welding skills, use all square tubing. Solid steel in small sizes tends to flex and you're better off over building it the first time as opposed to rebuilding it later.

 

[KingKlingeling]

Looks pretty solid to me ! The only problem I see is the wheelmount because the 2 mounting holes on the bottom of the base are in a straight line ! I had to use the table claw + the 2 screws at my rig to fix it right , otherwise the wheel will moving no matter how solid the rig is ! In near furure I will drill some holes at the wheel bottom ! Then it'll be solid as a Rock !
Regards

 

[spinner]

Might have a little too much flex in it. I would either go all tubing or add a pair of supports from the front of the wheel mount diagonally to toward the back of the rig for added support.

If you have the welding skills, use all square tubing. Solid steel in small sizes tends to flex and you're better off over building it the first time as opposed to rebuilding it later.

Agreed 👍

 

[JogoAsobi]

It will have too much flex for sure, I had to reinforce the wheel deck support on my rig after I migrated from a Fanatec CSW to T500.

Also make sure you have a reasonably thick plate for your wheel deck or that can also be a source of flex. The T500 has a lip on the front so the wheel's housing actually protrudes quite a bit in front of the wheel deck.

 

[djslofstra]

I would use only metal hollow square tubes. That is stronger than metal bars.
Also I would redesign the whole platform where the wheel sits on. Just make a strong square structure.

 

[MrDavid5465]

Thankyou everyone, I'll plan it differently using all square tubing. I also want to have some adjustability for the wheel deck. I saw left888's rig and liked how he did it.

 

[eKretz]

The important thing, as pointed out by the others, is to have your supports bolstering each other by countering each others forces. I agree with JLBowler that you should switch to steel tubing and add a pair of supports from the wheel plate to farther back on the frame. I think it would also be beneficial to move the mounting point of the current top rear support so that it is in the middle of the wheel mounting plate and more vertical. Then put the new supports in from the rear of the wheel mounting plate to the rear of the bottom frame. What you've got now looks like it will be extremely wobbly under heavy FFB.

 

[MrDavid5465]

1, 2 or 3 as an adjustable option. 1 is easily made height adjustable

 

[djslofstra]

I would use 2 but slightly modified (see picture).
3 is a nice option but it won't be strong enough.
1 is also usable but one pillar at each sight isn't enough, it would make the steeringwheeldeck very unstable.

 

[left888]

Here's is a set of plans that might interest you. They are from a company called Zalem. They have a very unique design to them with the adjustment knobs welded at an angle. I built my rig from these plans which is viewable in my sig.

If you are interested, I have 40-50 reference photos to aid in construction.

 

[JogoAsobi]

This Thrustmaster "Cockpit Fixations" PDF for the T500 may be of useful reference for your endeavors.

 

[MrDavid5465]

Thanks Left888, I didn't realize that design also had adjustable pedal distance. And thankyou JogoAsabi, It definitely will be useful. Theres a measurement or two thats not not on there that I want but It shouldn't be too long til it arrives =] I'm excited for it. Supposed to get the shifter today.

 

[left888]

Your welcome David, every aspect of the Zalem rig is adjustable. The wheel deck is adjustable forward, backward up or down. This rig will except little people from 3 feet tall up to 7 feet tall people. A friend of mine is 6' 7" and 325 pounds and he had no problems at all.

If you look closely at these 3 photos you will notice how the knobs/bolts are welded at an angle. This allows for superior clamping which allows this rig to be rock solid and broken down into 5 separate parts, not including triple monitor mount. Also very easily powder coated in smaller parts.