Interesting topic. Using Honeycomb controllers might be a bit of future liability given the issues with that company at the moment. But I guess controllers can be fairly easily changed. The main feature of course is the DOF and its seems they are finding solutions to small movement stepping issues (jerking) by changing the gear ratio of the spindle and developing a gearbox between the motor and the spindle. Seems novel but also maybe just a bit complex? I do wonder if space, torque requirements or maybe even familiarity from racing simulators with these motors (and associated better pricing with their supplier), have led them this way rather than selecting another choice of motor which might handle the issue without the complexity? For example CNC motors big and small are required to conduct smooth and sometimes intricate operations.  As is often the case I expect price at market is a major factor. 

And, that price is not small. At $US 35,000 this would be about $US 45,000 landed in NZ with 15% GST. About $NZD 75,000. In contrast their 6DOF simulator which they advertise on the Flight tab of their website is only $USD 9,000?  So I don't quite understand the price difference as there must be a lot of transferable technology. In any case I doubt there will be much uptake by Flight Simmers in my country at that price.   

Let's hope the overall increased interest and future demand for DOF simulation coupled with VR brings the price of all this gear down to a more affordable consumer level. And it should do. I mean, it's not new technology, the principle of software controlling hardware is pretty simple (in an engineering sense) and especially controlling the stepper motor itself which has been around since 1919 and was controlling naval gun turrets in the 1920's! But here we are more than 100 years later wondering how to get it to make small movements without jerking? Really?     

For those not sure what a stepper motor is. From Chromes Gemini (AI Suggestions): 

"Stepper motors are used in industrial and commercial applications because of their low cost, high reliability, high torque at low speeds, and simple, rugged construction that operates in almost any environment. The stepper motor is known for its property of converting a train of input pulses (typically square waves) into a precisely defined increment in the shaft's rotational position. Each pulse rotates the shaft through a fixed angle."

 

Cheers

Terry

 

 

Edited March 21, 20242 yr by Lord Farringdon

Hey, a time travelling motobility scooter... I've been after one of those for years!

Stu

" And, that price is not small. At $US 35,000 this would be about $US 45,000 landed in NZ with 15% GST. "

The H3 that SimHanger shows in video is $2,500, not $35,000. In the video he said he paid $3,500 in Britain because he needed extra mounts, shipping from America, mods to his chair etc.

FlightSimGuy videos show him always using his H2 which is about $1,700.

DOF also has another even cheaper: M2 about $1,200

But there are extras, such as heavy shipping charges (they are in California I believe).

I like the guy's tutorials, but, sorry, this looks absolutely ridiculous.

11 hours ago, Lord Farringdon said:

And, that price is not small. At $US 35,000 this would be about $US 45,000 landed in NZ with 15% GST

Huh, H3 model sells for about $3,500 US.

7 hours ago, Noel said:

Huh, H3 model sells for about $3,500 US.

Yeah, I don't know where the 35 grand came from. The most expensive version with 6 DOF is somewhere around 7.

 

LOL. I was on a bus and using my phone without earbuds. So, just used captions to skim through the video. Yeah, I see the numbers in the top right now and I have played the audio so all good but you can see the captions threw me. You can tell my post was mostly querying the illogically high price of this equipment since it really didn't make any sense. Pleased to see it is way more affordable!

 

Cheers

Terry

 

 

Here I use a Next Level Racing Motion Platform V3, which is just a seat mover but it adds so much to the immersion.

You feel accelerating, braking, banking, climbing, descending, turning.

Edited March 22, 20242 yr by GSalden

Seat movers aren’t bad. I used the NLR seat mover in VR for awhile and it adds to the immersion for sure. The downside is that your controls don’t move so it was always a little weird to bank right and be reaching left for your controls. However, you don’t need a lot of actual travel in the motion so once it’s dialed in you can trick your brain well enough.  The other problem with the NLR seat mover was the price tag and that constant clicking and unclicking as you move around. Motion shouldn’t be as loud as that thing is for $3k USD. 

I suspect an NLR or DOF system is somewhere in my future after I upgrade my vid card and VR headset to something with a wider field of view.

I plan to bolt the main controls to the seat so they move with it.