Make Your Aluminium Profile Simracing Rig Better!
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- Опубликовано: 13 апр 2023
- Aluminium profile has been the material of choice for many people's simracing rigs for many years. I've been using mine for 2 years and it has undergone several reconfigurations to suit my evolving needs - in this video I document some of my personal touches that I found interesting, useful or otherwise unique.
I also enjoy a bit of cinematic flare so I tried to make the video as visually interesting as possible.
My partner asked not to be shown hence the pixellation in some scenes, which was a fun effect to implement.
Please leave a comment, like and subscribe for more content!
Music in order of appearance:
Snowfall by Hotel Pools
Eclipse by Hotel Pools
Gang by jiglr
(Thanks for making great music!) 
Игры
I came here to improve my rig, I stayed for the shoes and socks.
Got to give the people what they want! Thanks for your support Ralph!
I came for the shoes and socks, stayed for the sim rig stuff😅
This comment rules
@akhosha2 ; not lying. I watched bcuz of the comment. Stayed bcuz the vid is entertaining AND informative.. 👍🏻
Really inspired by your SIM concept. My favorite things is that no detail has gone wasted. Every touch impacts your needs in some meaningful way. Just love this. Thank you for the peak behind the curtain. I really enjoyed this. 😊
Thank you Mark! I'm so pleased that you see things the way I see them. It's been my pleasure to share this and I hope to have you along for the journey that's just beginning!
Fantastic video, Alan - love the graphics and the personal touches :D
Thank you J! The graphics were fun to implement and I'm so glad you enjoyed them
Great vid. Love the sticky tape hack and addition of the personal touches 😂
Thanks Phoung, I love a creative solution :) lots more content coming
Awesome work, aluminium rigs are so much fun. I've lost count of how many hours I've spent customising mine for work, driving and flight.
Great videography and editing as well, kudos.
Thanks Jørgen! I too really enjoy tweaking endlessly. In a few weeks you'll see just how much :)
Thanks for leaving a comment
Great video Alan, love your work!
Thank you for providing a great rig and great service!
Oh man of many talents. Great video Alan!
Thanks Salty, I appreciate the appreciation!
Love your set up Alan!
Thanks Henry! It's pretty great 😂
The rig looks amazing! Good job
Thank you very much Yujun :)
I did quite some similar mods and now lot more mostly thanks to hopping into 3D-printing and -designing. I've designed holders for wheels, tablets, speakers, gamepads, VR-headsets, TrackIR, button-box, dashboards and printed my own keyboard-tray, mouse-holder and recently did a DIY wind-sim etc.
Wow that's quite a list! Bravo. Keep up the good work and thanks for watching my video :)
You share the models somewhere?
@@piereligiodisante I've some on Cults3D. Search for 'Leynad'.
I am also a lover of photography. Glad I found your channel man.
Thanks Bobby! I've got a heap of content planned, just working out a few small issues but let me tell you, you're in for a visual treat when the new content releases! Thank you for your encouragement!
Love your vids. Top notch! Thank you!
Thanks Tony I appreciate you taking the time to comment :)
I hope you're having a magical Christmas
Love it all! Nice job
Thank you so much Rahul I really appreciate your kind words
Incredible video! Thank you for sharing
Thank you Henrik!
Great Vid. I also think you'll start a new trend with your unique sim racing shoes!!
Thank you! They do look pretty nice under the lights haha
I'm using a seat I got from a car junkyard. Obviously also took the sliding rails from the car wreck. A bit of cleaning, and now I have a seat that reclines and slides. 50 Euros in all
Haha I thought this comment was about my seat install video. But yes, car seats are great, I have one on my rig right now. I did find they are not great on motion rigs because they flex a lot, but otherwise great value, comfortable seats for cheap
I really like what you have done with this. I'm going to use a few of your ideas. I especially like how you used those right angle brackets from the hardware store to firm up the uprights.
Thanks for your encouragement! Those uprights really do benefit from the extra stiffness, glad it was a useful tip
fantastic descirption of the setup and design
Thanks Max! I've actually reconfigured the rig a lot (and continuing to modify it) since I moved into my studio last month. I'll upload a video once the current state of changes is complete!
The girlfiend pic is a nice touch atleast you wont forget what she looks like even if she's a bit on the blurry side lol
She's beautiful just the way she is :)
Very creative I'll subscribe to see future videos. Good energy in that video... gave me some ideas too.. thanks bro.
Thanks for the comment and sub! I'm so pleased you found the video and I have heaps more coming
Very clever improvements, and a great place to start. I also have a playseat base that I have completely worn out after just a few months and will be making my own out of 80/20 aluminum. My sincere gratitude kind sir! Well done! 🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤😊😊😊
Wow a few months and you've worn out the Playseat? You must be getting a lot of use out of that!
Have fun with the new cockpit, they're fiddly but very satisfying to put together. Consider putting a used car seat on the new cockpit - they offer tremendous value and you know the build quality and longevity will be excellent. I made a video about how to adapt them onto a rig which is inexpensive and straightforward.
Thank you, my friend! ❤️
@@DrAlanQuan I log 400 to 600 miles every day at various tracks. My legs are too strong for the tubing. Ive literally worn the interconnect tubes out, and even fully tightened, it starts wobbling after just a day of side loading on the pedal pedestal. I am a former machinist so this is pretty easy to remedy and I already have tons of 1x1 and t locks and screws, so ordering up the necessary 1x3 and getting a better frame built makes lots of sense. Ive got a nice shop so will put it to work! Thanks again for the info, my daily driver is a 16’ M6 with a tune to 738 hp, so will try to find a used M series seat once my frame is built.
Great video! I am looking to raise my rig by double stacking aluminum like this the 8020 brackets are super expensive I would have never thought to use brackets from a hardware store. Great idea.
Hi Bobby! I'm so pleased you found a helpful solution from my video! Thank you for sharing your comment :D
wow, that shows, that you are a very creative person. that vid is really amazing and also inspired me to do it to my personal wishes. thank you for sharing it . best regards from germany where i live near the nürburgring nordschleife.
Hi Phil, I just replied your other comment. Thanks for watching and commenting! It's been a fun journey that's for sure! See you in the next video
You have the right idea, 80/20 is designed exactly for this. To be able to customise your rig in exactly the way that it suits you. You could probably add a bit of a finishing touch by adding some end caps to parts of your profile. It will improve the look as well as provide protection against sharp edges for you and family.
Yes, those end caps are priceless! The trouble with going off-plan with a rig is the included end caps may not match the number of exposed ends on your finished rig. I've also got two slightly different specs of aluminium profile (silver vs black) and the end caps are not interchangeable between the two!
Thanks for watching and commenting 👍
Great work !
Nice socks !
That's what I love in these profiles rigs : customization is only limited by your imagination !
Hi Panda, thank you! I'm right there with you, I love coming up with creative ways build my rig for better/more specialised function
at first look I thought you had back to back rigs... but then thought .. mirrors on closet door? fancy shoes, never thought of business casual sim racing.
Haha yes mirrors on the closet. Yes, I like the shoes! Business shoes are pretty good because the soles are thin and stiff so you get good pedal feel. Not great for enduro stints though. Thank you for watching!
Great to see human/Minecraft relationships thriving!
Haha never been better
Looks sick!!!
Thanks Brockas, always looking for ways to improve it 😂
I bet your an engineer. That was crafty like a 2 dollar bill. Good job!
Thanks UD! Lots more crafty content coming!
Regarding the inclined pedals, you can use the extensions from the D-shaped pedal faces also with the standard faces. As this gives you the option to angle the faces way more upringt you can keep the pedals and heel plate more flat, almost horizontal.
Thanks for the tip!
I thought that might be the case when I unpacked the D plates 2 years after I installed the pedals, but the pedal mounting was already done and way too much effort to undo at that point
Hey great set up. Love a bit of DIY.
I noticed some gaps between your triple monitor set up. Top tip once you get them as closely aligned as possible if there's still a gap just place some black electrical tape behind. That way you won't see light between the monitors
Hi Manraj thanks for the comment and the tip! Black tape for the monitors sure pairs well with clear tape for the seat brackets haha.
dude i had HELL getting my 3 monitors lined up perfectly. Now i have super ultra wide, and vr. a little trade off so i can have monitors at the desk :)
Awesome video!
Thank you Vitaliy! This is really just the beginning!
great video. I too started with a prebuild kit. (simlab gt1 evo) But inmediately built it differently to suit my needs. I even used the same seat from my playseat rig exactly the way you did. Over the years i've added my own additions using custom cut extrusion profiles and hardware store bits and bobs to tailor the rig to my own needs. I will probably never again buy a prebuilt rig or any complete setup for that matter. Oh and im still using the playseat seat :D
The Playseat seat is great! Comes with it's own seat box/rails, folds in half, looks good - mine is 13 years old now and still looks great, but I did break the zipper a couple of months ago 😭
Nicely done. I am in the early stages of doing a bit the same, starting off with a Mazda MX5 seat which I got for cheap and intending a 1440p triple screen monitor setup, Hoping I can make half as good a setup as you have done. Maybe include some old fabric under the packing tape to give some padding in there.
You're off to a solid start! Getting a deal on a good seat is a great omen :)
I've since removed the packing tape - turns out you don't need a Dremel, just a few seconds with a file deburred the bracket just fine
Good luck with the build, hope you have fun with it. Share some pictures or make a video, I'd love to see it 👍
Just got a 40 series monitor stand. Now I'm looking to make improvements to prevent arm sag and also to change some 90⁰ angle brackets with sandwiched plates. Also I want to make some gussets to support the arms. Time to pay the hardware store a visit for some "L" angles and a couple of mending plates.
Hope everything goes smoothly!
I would like to see you doing some laps while recounting your favorite dental stories
Follow me on Twitch and we can make this happen! Same handle as my RUclips. Thanks for your support!
That's a helluva rig! Loving the robot vacuum mod. Excellent videography!
When will you be shooting the remake of the Wuzzle?
Get Micheal, June and Ivana together and let's do it
good job! function over ocd. i like it.
Hi Dan thank you so much for your comment. I like to really use my rig and the space around it, so yes function first! I hope you can stick around and see what's coming very soon!
I love extruded aluminum. It's like the metal equivalent of a 2x4 in the world of DIY projects.
Man, it really is. I like to think of it as gigantic Lego
Very inventive/good design and engineering work. Do you drive in those shoes regularly?
Hi Jarrod thanks for the comment. The rig has been dismantled and rebuilt several times and each time it gets personalised a little bit more based on my needs.
The shoes sure look nice don't they!
Great video!! I’m in the process of redesigning my original rig. Aluminum extrusion is the best!
Minor recommendation (if not already tried)- 3D printing custom mounts to replace the MDF.
Definitely not a dig at your brilliant use of MDF, just something I’ve had success with!
Thanks! I actually really like MDF because it's so easy to cut and it's fairly strong. If you check out my newest video which is about 12 hours old I actually have replaced a lot of the MDF with PETG so you're definitely on the right track! The larger pieces I'm keeping in MDF for strength, but also because my print bed isn't big enough to print something 560mm long. See you there :)
@@DrAlanQuan it’s funny because after I wrote that comment, I literally watched your newest video next 😂. Absolute brilliant setup! The 3D printed mounts for seating your weights are fantastic lol.
I plan on 3D printing the swinging arm keyboard model soon! Excellent content!
So glad you're enjoying it, hope to see you in the comments section of the next video ❤️
You should try investing in a 3d printer, you can print so many things for the rig, including brackets
That's a fantastic idea. I thought for a long time that 3D printing is too difficult for me, but I'm motivated to learn! Thank you :)
Intrigued by the f1 seating position. Plan on looking more into that myself next month when my rig finally gets here.
I really like it. Laying down to race is really comfortable, keeps my legs roughly at my chest height so blood flow is nice and even. Just have to remember to use the headrest to avoid neck strain.
Does make it tougher than necessary to get in and out though
Get rid of most bracketry a use auctomatic/universal no-drill connectors which don;t require machining, they self thread into the t-slot and form a much stronger connection by pulling all the faces of the profile together, it is as strong, if not stronger (s it doesn't remove material) than machined connectors. They are not cheap - but they are just as cheap as most bracketry and 10x better.
Aluminium profile connectors are such a deep rabbit hole to fall into! Some really clever designers out there that's for sure
@@DrAlanQuan Sure is, there is a lot of choice these days and some great products. I originally found them sold by a UK supplier (valuframe) but seems they are now more widely available. I think they now go for 2.5 - 3 bucks each, so not cheap to do a whole rig, but worth it at least for the major joints that bear the most weight.
Very cool setup. Supporting local businesses too, thanks for the recommendation.
What are your thoughts on the lower end Logitech steering wheels? What are the key benefits of getting a more expensive wheel and pedals? I wouldn't want to get the F1 style wheel as I want to use it for Euro truck simulator at some point 😅
Nanook, that is so interesting that you asked this. My next video is in fact a discussion of lower end wheels and their place in the market. I have lots of content in the pipeline, but today I'm touring Kyoto so please forgive a few weeks' delay before the next content drop :D
@@DrAlanQuan thanks, looking forward to it
You don't need anything fancy for truck sims. Logitech G will do fine. Spend what you saved by not buying a DD wheel on a splitter attachment for the shifter.
Cool video! Did you need a lot of power tools to put the sim rig together? I imagine aluminium would be tricky to work with without power tools
Thank you Chich! The sim rig sand the monitor stand themselves were assembled completely with hand tools - a hex key did 90% of the work, and it was handy to use a spirit level and a tape measure too. The custom additions made from wood did need more tools - a pencil and compass, a power drill, a jigsaw and some sandpaper. Nothing too exotic but some power tools definitely do make it easier to realise my vision :)
@@DrAlanQuan thanks for replying!
I'm designing a fly/drive rig & using those DIY store angle brackets saves quite a bit on overall cost.
The best thing is the hardware store brackets come in a great variety of shapes. The ones supporting the front of my seat are 220mm high which is something you'd never get from a simracing vendor. So for me the advantage is not just cost, but variety. Can't argue with $2 per 40x40mm angle bracket though!
Great ideas! I am currently searching for an idea, how to have a Thrustmaster HOTAS Joystick hidden under the racing seat when not used. Otherwise the Joystick should rotate up between the legs so it can be used as a center joystick for flight sims. Do you know any brackets or similar with which that can be achieved?
Hi Clumsy! Articulating joints on the rig is something I've not explored personally, but I have seen it done on others' setups. There may be something available from the established simrig companies, but I'd personally walk into my local hardware store and look at their brackets and hinges and see if any ideas come to mind. Good luck!
How hard can you press on the brakes in this setup? Im looking to build a pedal box for a race car and i like the idea of using profiles if they are safe.
So solid. I can press with all my strength and there's no issue
What wheel and pedals you got? Can this cockpit design be flex prone? I've got a 15Nm wheelbase, and load cell pedals where i think i'll target a bit less than 100kg on the brake
Hi there, I've rebuilt this rig a few times since this video but it currently runs a Fanatec DD1 and Simagic P1000 pedals, and it's very solid!
@@DrAlanQuan good to know thanks! I was designing my own but was too expensive and probably overbuilt. Now I can get it done for about 470 euros, with similar stiffness of yours
1:30 "I'm pretty proud of this solution" 🤣🤣 Some nice tweaks there. Like how you raised it to get the dj roomba underneath. Thanks also for sharing 1up engineering. I'm in Perth and had been looking at places that were mostly over east. Nice to have a local option. How much was the kit from them? No price on their website.
Need the DJ Roomba! Haha
I spoke with Shaun at 1Up a little while back and he said he was focusing on his primary engineering business for now, so I believe he is not currently supplying cockpit kits. I spent $830 including overnight hand delivery from Shaun but this was early 2021 dollars let's not forget
@@DrAlanQuan Ah ok I got you cheers.
8:07 Question, is the seating position comfortable for viewing angle ?
Looks kinda off maybe like more monitor height and wrapped around your view
Hi there, I raced like this for over a year including some endurance events with zero issues.
When I filmed this video I was surprised at how awkward it looked, and editing the video while seated this way was very uncomfortable (I needed a cushion under my neck).
Since I've been producing more videos, I actually changed my seat to something with better neck support and will be putting up a video about that soon.
But for me, that awkward looking seating position was absolutely fine for racing!
@DrAlanQuan Interesting, for me it looks like the monitors are not in the center of the vision but rather below the neutral viewing angle.
Thanks for explaining tho
Ah yes, my head is well below the midpoint of the monitors - in iRacing you can adjust the horizon level without influencing incline of the viewing position, so my horizon is set dead level with my eyes - which is why there is so much sky in the image.
If the horizon was locked to the middle of the screen I would need to look up the whole time and that would be awful.
Great Video. Can u tell me which seat you are using? I would like to buy the same
Thanks for watching! The seat is from a discontinued Playseat GT and I'm not sure if they are sold separately from the cockpits. It's still a good seat and I still have it, but on my daily rig I use a seat from a VW Golf now instead
Nice shoes and socks, bro.
My only issue is the angle of your chair in relation to your monitors. It doesn't look like the best or most comfortable viewing angle.
It's funny. When I'm using the rig to edit video, I need a neck cushion to bring my chin down. But I can race enduro stints with my chin up and head back no problem. I just have my eyes down instead of straight up and I've not noticed any fatigue. But what you observe is 100% right!
Hi Design. I'll continue to share my truth and I'll leave it to you to decide whether it's useful or not. Thanks for watching and for commenting! ❤️
Hey Alan, cut some Kong extreme dog toys in half and put them under those door stop feet you have. It’s like having your rig on blancmange, poor mans motion system and LFE isolation.
Hey Rowdy thanks for the hot tip! I'll have a look into this for the next time a dismantle and rebuild the rig (happens fairly frequently!)
good idea with rising rig for cleaning robot
I changed robot vacuum and the new one was slightly taller than the old one - I had to make new legs for the rig because the new one was just slightly too tall to travel underneath!
Nice video, but i would recomend buying a 8020 rig from simlabs there hardware is so much better and willl probably save you money. Instead of buying stuff twice
I haven't used a SimLab rig, hopefully one day I'll be able to see for myself. Thanks for the comment!
Hi dr, i have some questions about this can i email you someware ??
Hi Pitstop, commenting here is preferred but my email is available on my information page
5:53 That looks very awkward to race with your head tilted back like that. Doesn’t seem like that seat is meant for an F1 position.
Thanks for the comment! You're right, the seat isn't designed for it, and I was surprised at how my head position looked when I filmed and started editing - but I've had it this way for over a year, done several enduro races with it and it has not been a problem at all. I do need a cushion when I'm using the rig to edit video though.
@@DrAlanQuan if it works for you, that’s what matters.
Hi Design, thanks for commenting 3 times on this video. I appreciate the time you've put into watching my video and leaving comments. I don't have any problem with being wrong, since my setup is working fine for me - and I'm not telling anybody how to do anything. I hope you subscribe so you can see what's coming in the next few videos, I promise it's worth watching and discussing!
@@designamk1160 cool
You're proud of wrapping sharp edges in packing tape?
Definitely! There was minimal time and effort that went into it, and it completely solved the problem
🤪
Price plzz
Hey there, no pricing to discuss for this video. Subscribe and see what's coming next though!
u joking that you drive with these shoes right?
Actually... I used to race in well-worn-in business shoes. They had thin but rigid soles which were needed for heel toe shifting - my sneakers were too soft and the heel toe action was hurting my feet.
The super shiny business shoes on camera were just for fun though haha
@@DrAlanQuan wow okay, never thought of that, good explaination
Do you have two fucking rigs in the one room?!
Lol it's a mirror 😂
But if you check out my latest video you'll see I actually have three now 😂
@@DrAlanQuan and I’m here with a g29 on a standing desk like an ice road trucker!
@@tehsimo ain't nothing wrong with that!
"Instead of doing it right, with the dermal tool I mentioned, I did a hack job and wrapped it in tape"
I fixed part of the script for you.
Cool thanks man
what is this seating position, its so bizarre and completely wrong. its like you are sitting in a rocket ship
Hahaha it does look wrong doesn't it? So many people have called me out on it.
I was surprised how awkward it looks on camera, because I race just fine in the rig. I've actually changed my seat since, you'll be glad to hear!
Nice job..but those shoes!
😂
Bro nice rig! But why blurring your girl out, she shy of ugly? Please elaborate!
She just likes her privacy - so you get to see my face instead
Someone send me some money so I can build my rig.. Ok thanks.
Not gonna lie, it felt good to save up and treat myself to these nice toys
Should've just bought a real Rig, this looks terrible no offense but all this extra work and it still doesn't look nice and that seating position is hilarious shaking all around. I have no clue why your head is pointed up like that. Also, you should try not wearing any shoes while sim racing especially dress shoes I wonder why your feet are slipping, socks are all you need. Buy once cry once.
Hey man no offence taken, I've actually changed a lot on my rig since this video. I think it served its purpose - it was reusing a seat that I already had, and I got an extra few years of fun out of it for just a few dollars.
This is not the only way to do things, but it's the way I did it which is why I'm talking about it. And tweaking the rig is half the fun!
Anyways regarding real rigs, stick around and see what I release in a few weeks 🔥