Before starting I want to give full credits to simul8r for the design and plans for the cockpit. The discussion regarding the design and build can be found here. Some modifications were done to the design in order to meet my needs, but ultimately trying to keep the original concept intact. This blog will only describe my experience during the building and testing so that anybody could have an idea of what to do.
Ok, so finally decided to have a dedicated rig for racing? Got the space, but what about money? Some rigs could be way above our budgets, so building one could be an alternative, but what about the design and time? Don’t worry, a good samaritan has made the design for us and, best of all, available to all of us. Now, how about actually building it? I will cover that part. Before getting into the actual build, lets make a list of materials:
– 30 feet of 2″ PVC pipe
– 7 90 degree elbows
– 6 45 degree elbows
– 19 tees
– 3 2′ x4′ MDF boards
– 12 PVC brackets (to hold the MDF boards to the rig)
– A 200 box of small screws
– Around 20 2″ wood screws
This is the minimum of materials we will need in order to make this rig. I had to acquire the power tools since now I am a grown man and have to get everything by myself, so keep that in mind if you don’t have the tools. Also something to measure is a must, other wise how are we suppose to know where to cut?
Ok, we have it all now lets start!
A. Measuring – 1 hour
Measure twice, cut once. This is the most important advice and step of all the process. Any mistakes here will carry on throughout the whole procedure, so take your time measuring. Here are the original plans made by simul8r which includes the dimensions of the PVC pipes. The dimensions of the MDF boards are not here, but they are:
2 24″ x 24″ for the seating area
1 18″ x 18″ for the steering wheel
1 17″ x 24″ for the pedals
1 7″ x 24″ for the keyboard/mouse
1 6″ x 18″ for the shifter mount
Plan A
Plan B
One tip to cut the PVC pipes: typically they are sold as 10′ pipes. I had them cut at the hardware store in half and then made a plan on which dimensions to cut per pipe. Try not to use the whole pipe for the pieces. Plan them so that a waste is left after cutting them all. That way if a small mistake occurs you won’t be left with a short pipe section, if it happens.
B. Cut PVC – 3 hours
Take your time cutting the PVC. I used a reciprocating saw. Not the ideal way of cutting it, but it did the job for me. If possible, have another person holding the pipe while you cut, that way the vibrations won’t unsettle the pipe while cutting it. A miter saw will definitely cut cutting time and make better cuts, but I would recommend going that way if you can borrow one or plan to get one for future use, unless you have money to spare, in which case, why not get a pre-built rig?
C. Cut wood – 30 minutes
Same procedure as PVC, only this time its wood. A circular saw will do the trick for this one. If you can have it cut at the hardware store, it will be easier.
D. PVC assembly – 1 hour
Time to see how things are going. Simply put all PVC together without any screws or glue. Essentially this should give you an idea of what to do, check any imperfections on the cuts, and have an idea of what to change or modify.
E. Wood assembly – 30 minutes
Same as PVC, only this time also use the brackets.
F. Hardware positioning, initial view test & adjustments – 1 hour 45 minutes
Position your steering wheel, pedals, and seat to your rig. Have a look as to what to change in order to meet your needs. Have a seat and check your view, hands position and feet position for the pedals. In my build, the pedal rake angle was too steep and the seat was too low for me. I fixed the pedal rake angle by mounting the wood for the pedals below the pipe instead of above. For the seat, I raised it by placing eight pieces of 2 x 4, two per corner and stacked. Finished by placing a second piece of 24″ x 24″ MDF board on top and screwed everything together.
After assembly, all the hardware was in place. Now time for adjustments.
G. Mounting – 2 hours
Ok, not its time to permanently get everything in place. If using screws for the PVC pipes, use two screws per joint, place perpendicular to each other and approximately 1/3 from where the joints meet. That way, if any imperfections were done during the PVC cutting, it will still hold the pipe and not shear from vibrations. If using glue, make sure to fit everything well because that glue, once it settles, there is no going back. Do the same for the wheel and pedals. If you have a shifter, use the diagonal pipe to mount it there. Screw the 6″ x 18″ board to the pipe and cut to pieces of 2 x 4 approximately six inches long. Screw the two pieces together to form an L and screw that to the board.
All modifications are done. Time to do some testing.
H. Testing – 20 to 40 hours
Time to see if your rig has what it takes. You can skip this step if you want, but I advice you to have a go before doing the painting (if painting is to be done). Check that everything holds up well, that the modifications done actually work and if any improvements must be done. I had a Logitech G27 later and also wanted to mount the keyboard below the wheel since now I have the shifter. My keyboard and mouse were sitting next to the wheel and was kinda uncomfortable. Added a pipe to the bottom of the wheel to mount the keyboard and the side of the rig I did a two step mount for the shifter and the mouse. Due to very cold weather where I lived, I had to postpone the painting until it was warm again. Because of that I put a considerable amount of time behind the rig and have worked around all the kinks. Six months passed and finally the weather got warmer, so time to…
Part of my testing was compromised due to the cat using the rig as a bed. Gotta love my sleepyhead!
Keyboard mounted to the bottom and the two step mount for the mouse and shifter on the right side of the rig.
I. Paint – 24 hours
First of all it doesn’t take that much time to paint it, so don’t be scared. However, letting it dry and the smell of it to go away is a must. Remove all the boards and, optional, remove the pipes, if they were joined with screws. I left the pipes joined and painted it as a unit.
Six months later, and now I can finish this.
How you are going to paint the pipes is up to you. I used Krylon Fusion since it holds pretty good to PVC and no sanding is required. Remember to wear gloves and a mask before painting. I did a little sanding before painting, just in case. MDF board is another story. DO NOT PAINT DIRECTLY!!! The MDF board is made essentially from sawdust, so it absorbs paint like a sponge. Methods for painting it are all over the web, but I didn’t bother following them. Because of that the MDF looks like burnt wood, but it doesn’t bother me.
Ready to paint!
Painting the underside. According to simul8r, this is his new chin-ups apparatus.
After that just let the paint dry and reassemble. Have fun!
Time to have fun!
Update: since I moved everything to the side now I relocated the keyboard tray to the left side.
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Is there any chance you could link from the homedepot, or lowes website for the PVC parts you suggest? I am very interested in making this.
Nice rig design! I’m also going to attempt to use this as a multi-platform, for racing, and flight Sims. Can you give any suggestions on wheel/peddle combinations?
I don’t really know about flight sims, but if you question is regarding racing sims, I will say there are two great ways to start. Either a G27 or a DFGT with a set of CSR Elite pedals. I went with the second option and later gor a G27, which I still use.
Great combinations. I’ll look more into it. Thanks.
I came here from EVGA, where I seen your thread about your sim rig.
I wanted to thank you posting an alternative to the $400-500 racing rigs.
I will be building one like yours and hope it turns out as nice!🙂
I am hoping to come up with a way to have it come apart in 2 ,for storage when not using. Haven’t got to that part yet. Thanks!
If you want to do that then just separate the two long pipes from the bottom and the long diagonal pipe from the main cockpit. No need to bolt the bottom two those as they don’t provide any structural stability to it. The long one make sure it secured when assembling back together.
Thanks for your post and instructions.
I have a really small spare room that is a home office and guest room.
I am looking to cut the full racing rig down to the front section and then use my foldaway bed/couch as the seat.
The sections that run to where the seat would normally be will slide under the bed/couch.
Due to this the long section that looks like a stabiliser will not be able to be utilised,
Do you think this will be an issue?
I think it may become an issue because the section where the wheel and pedals go are prevented from rotating forward thanks to it. It may need some modifications where the pedals go to make it stable.
See that you used tee’s from home Depot that have offset. Did they work out OK? Been looking everywhere for straight Tee’s but they are a bit expensive. Also the cut sizes on Plans is what you cut at? I was reading somewhere that the cut size is plus fitting? Can you clarify this?
Thanks!
They work fantastic. I’ve now had this rig for three years and no problems. The connections can get expensive for sure, that was the biggest cost of the rig. As for the sizes on the plans, I cut at those lengths and did not had a problem with fitting everything. The only one that I had a problem was with the long pipe, which was short, but it was my mistake.
Thanks for fast reply. Seeing the rig you made with the offset tee’s just saved me a lot of money. How did you connect wood to pvc? U brackets?
Yes. However, with time I’ve had to replace the wood screws with bolts. The forces that are exerted while racing will eventually get the holes in the screws. Places that I will suggest using bolts instead of wood screws: pedal floor and the wheel table. The rest can go by with wood screws.
Thanks!
Are there any instructions on how to do the Shifter mount portion of the rig?
There are in the link of the forum thread, somewhere. What I did was line up the shifter mount to the pipe and drill two holes. Eventually I removed the whole thing and replaced it with a table for the mouse. I found myself using this cockpit for more than racing and went with a more user friendly approach. The shifter is now next to the wheel.
You actually need 19 tees. Your parts list says 17 not 19. You also forgot the pvc cap in the list as well. Overall great instructions and rig. One suggestion though is to get rid of the red, yellow, and blue circles in the diagram. Thanks for posting this tutorial.
You made me count the T’s on my rig LOL. You are right its 19, will change it. The PVC cap I did not posted it because I left it open for a later expansion, which ended up being for the keyboard. Its been almost three years since I posted this. The diagram was done by simul8r, not me. Since I don’t want to edit something and then take credit for it, I preferred to post them as they were.
Hey awesome rig bro. Working on making my own . Not too hardware savvy . And no real Home Depot in my home town or home country (India) for that matter. Was wondering what is the exact hardware term for seat slider brackets? Want to make sure the hardware I’m getting is for a seat and can support the seat hard to the mount against a persons weight. If I have to get it from an autoshop could get pricey and defeat the point of diy.
Also how sturdy and durable has your pvc been? I guess an all wood rig wud b more sturdy as well as durable but pvt looks better.
Thanks.
Dont worry if you’re not that hardware savvy. This is a lot more simple than what it looks.
I dont know whats the correct term for the seat slider brackets. My seat came wth them, so it wad just a matter of drilling holes and bolting in. Try and see if you can find a seat with the sliders already in.
As for durability, its been almost four years and the rig still blowd minds of everybody that comes home. So far only did one modification where the shifter is. I converted it to some sort of table to place the mouse. Shifter is closer to the wheel now. No complaints so far. Few scratches because of my cat, but all good.
I’ve built one and am building four more for Christmas gifts (once somebody drives mine, the reaction is always “I….gotta…have…one…of…these!”) I follow Simul8r’s plan to the T, but I mount the rig to a chassis that’s on casters. If you have a Harbor Freight close by, they sell large furniture dollies for $12 (even if not on sale, the manage will if you ask). Three of these together, with a 3/4″ plywood deck (20″ x 48″—Home Depot will cut four of these out of a 4×8 sheet for free, fast, and precise), “nudged” into place w/a 20oz rubber mallet and some deck screws and presto, a mobile rig for about $50 more. Use wire ties through 1/4″ holes in the deck and you’re set. If you want a little weight in the front to offset the seat and your body, pour some play sand in the PVC and you’ll have the necessary ballast. Works like a charm. Enjoy!