instructables

Driving Simulator Seat

by rickharris

I am a keen Formula 1 fan and have always wheel bolted to the desk lacked that nod towards
wondered what it would be like to drive one. realism that such good graphics and game play
demanded.
Although There have been some PC and Games
console racing games about, none that I could see Inspired by several sources, mainly the Playseat
were as real as they should be. RBR 1 http://www.playseat.com/en/playseat-f1-race-
simulator-launch HOWEVER the Playseat RB1 costs
As a dedicated Microsoft FSX flight simulator flyer I £920+ !! rather out of my budget range. I decided to
was certain that at some time a good driving build my own.
simulator would come along.
As I have entered this instructable for a contest I have
F1 2010, F1 2011, F1 2012 and F`1 2013 now IMHO had to replace all of the images from the internet with
fill that gap. my own images. Not as nice but the original
inspiration can be seen at the address above.
HOWEVER sitting in my office chair with a steering

Step 1: What You Need

You will need: Sand paper and paint.

A suitable steering wheel and pedal set for your PC Total cost excluding the wheel set about £12
or console.
A 4 foot x 4 foot piece of 18 mm MDF or 18 mm picture from Amazon
Plywood (12 mm would do at a push.)
a skill saw or jig saw

Driving Simulator Seat: Page 1

Step 2: The Chassis

Looking closely at the pictures I decided the chassis This I cut out with a jig saw (skill saw) and smoothed
was essentially 2 side plates, a seat and the the edges.
mounting for the pedals and the steering wheel.
i have added an overall view with the measurements
I drew my version of these in my CAD system - in inches these ar taken from that scaled drawing and
printed them out and traced them onto 18 mm MDF. may not be exactly the same as the mm drawings
The shape is very easy to draw free hand once you here but close enough.
have an idea of size.

Driving Simulator Seat: Page 2

Step 3: Making and Fitting the Seat

I made a seat from a scrap of 12 mm Ply wood with necessary.

softwood sides. The dimensions to suit me were
around 500 mm square for both the back and base of As an experiment I tried a fiber glass seat I have for
the seat. The side were shaped to suite. my recumbent bike, (see pictures), but found that the
seating position wasn't comfortable after a while so
The seat is screwed to an MDF box which is in turn returned to my simpler ply wood seat.
screwed between the side rails. I considered making
the seat adjustable bu cutting a slot in the side rail
and bolting through the seat but decided this wasn't

Step 4: The Pedal Fitting.

I was fortunate in that my Pedal set has 2 6 mm bolt holes in the bottom to attach to a base, I use these to attach it
to a suitably sized piece of MDF.

A further rectangular piece of MDF was screwed between the side rails at the front to support the pedals. This was
screwed to the MDF on the pedal set.

Driving Simulator Seat: Page 3

Step 5: The Steering Column

This needed to avoid obstructing the seating position, box that just fitted between the side frames. This box
that is I needed to be able to get my knees under the was bolted to the side frame with an 8 mm coach bolt
wheel and at the same time be in a comfortable on each side which fitted through a slot in the frame
driving position. to make the column position adjustable.

After some trial I ended up with a sweeping MDF I made the column adjustable forwards and back and
column with a platform mounded on top to take the by tilting up and down by cutting an 8 mm slot in the
wheel. In order to make the column strong I side rail to take an 8 mm coach bolt. This way the
sandwiched two pieces of MDF together. angle and the distance of the wheel could be
adjusted.
To fix in the side frame the column was screwed to a

Driving Simulator Seat: Page 4

Step 6: Trying It Out.

Seated in front of a wide screen high definition quite professional.

monitor gives a definite extra element to the game. It
feels more solid than bolting the wheel to the desk Next stage is to give it an authentic paint job in my
and also somehow makes you more part of the game. favorite team colors.

Neighbors give you a funny look when they come The pictures below show the initial build prior to
round though. modifying it as described in this instructable. Pardon
my cleaning out the untidy background as the
The unit is not too heavy to carry in and out of the pictures were taken in my garage.
house (my wife won't allow me to keep it in the
house), and given a decent paint job should look Total cost about £12 - a bit better than £920+

Driving Simulator Seat: Page 5

Step 7: DXR File

The file should be a DXF file showing all the measurements I used.

Enjoy.

Download
http://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FTG/E3PU/J5SFZSQW/FTGE3PUJ5SFZSQW.dxf
…

Step 8:

This is a PDF and Jpeg version of the drawings. That's about the best I can do folks. I open the dxf fine, however.

You can easily draw the shape of the sides with a ruler and pencil using the measurements I give, or some you
can make up once you understand the principle - No need to make it look like this.

The rest is just rectangular sections to space the side.

Good luck.

Download
http://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FJY/2DKN/JHQJMP2X/FJY2DKNJHQJMP2X.pdf
…

Hi! I have some problems with dxf Files! I can't open it with any software?

Driving Simulator Seat: Page 6

Someone can help me?
Thanks in advance

Same problem
Do you alreay solved it?

Heres my attempt. Thanks for the inspiration i just need to find a seat lol.. and cheap to build..

got a seat stuffed round abit changed it a little foot controls on the ground u could put then up if ya
wanted the stands still there.check it out

Good one - Nice finish. happy with it?

Thanks for putting it in inches. You didn't have to, but you saved the U.S.A. a bit more time.

Ironic you posted this today. I too have desired the playseat, but with a $900 price tag, that's a
good portion of tax returns. Thanks for the awesome plans. Are all the dimensions in MM, as I live
in the states so I will have to convert them when I go to recreate. Also is the seat adjustable on a
slider for multiple users?

The seat position on mine is fixed and most adults can fit into it. - It could be adjusted by
unscrewing the seat support and moving then re-screw. Making it more easily adjustable wouldn't
be a big deal though.

I have added a drawing with the dimensions in inches.

The driving position feels strange at first - but you get used to it. At present it is dismantled awaiting
a reorganisation of the garage. Storage is a problem with something this size.

Nice job on the construction! Have fun.

Driving Simulator Seat: Page 7