Project Cockpit: Part 3 - Big Update

Part 3: Frame Completed

Project Cockpit (lol) saw a whole lot of progress since this past weekend. I had a chance to cement all the pieces together to finalize the frame as well as fabricate the mounts for the wheel and the shifter.

Here is the bare frame all cemented up and ready to rock:

The steering mount provided the biggest challenge since the cross support is a round piece of ABS plasic, not the best to clamp onto. The best solution that came to mind was to notch the top and bottom of the pipe, creating flat edges on top and bottom while using a piece of wood to ensure a solid clamp. Orginally I was going to use a piece of wood top and bottom, but the top stayed super secure just using the notched ABS plastic edge.

When I was testing out the measurements and cutting up a spare piece of ABS plastic, I found that it fit perfectly. Since it took forever to dremel out the perfect notches, I decided to use the test piece by chopping up the existing solid horizontal support and fasten the new center section with standard couplings. This actually provided additional support since the couplings were cemented close to the cuts. Also, doing it this way allowed me to angle the platform just right to ensure the wheel gets mounted at the right angle. Rather than trying to make sure the cuts were in the right place, I could just simply twist it to where it needed to be while the cement way drying (you can see in the pic above that it was all measured and marked with a line).
Here is a picture with the wheel mounted:
That sucker is not moving. Super solid.



The next part is something I am most proud of - the shifter mount.
The way it mounts to the frame allowed me to angle it slightly towards the driver and the height is also perfect. I built the platform out of wood (paint stirers to be exact, lol, so they were free). It's essentially a platform with 2 runners along the bottom that double as support and the clamp mounting surface. The Logitech shifter has a center vise clamp, so I put a wood block for that to mount to as well. The way I mounted it to the ABS pipe was simple. I just capped the end with a 2 inch fitting and bolted down into it.

Here is the result:
Also pretty solid and mounts the shifter perfectly secure:
I had the shifter planned out from the beginning and it came out perfect. It went from vision to design to construction, where as the steering mount was more of a "problem / soultion" type deal that ended up working out favorably.



Since I wanted to ensure Project Cockpit (lol) was storable, I left the front and the rear un-cemented with plans to find a way to temporarily attach the whole thing.
Problem solved:
You can see how the joining piece of pipe in between the sockets has been drilled to the front coupler, so the whole thing just separates leaving the seat behind for people to still sit in while the front end can be stored in a closet or something. (cost - $1 each, booya)

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Needless to say, I'm incredibly stoked on how it's turning out. I tried it out by using a quick, temporary seat (my ottoman) and it's awesome. Really solid, no flex in the steering, perfect location of the shifter, etc. This is going to be bad ass...


Next and final installment: mounting the seat and squaring away the pedals. Stay tuned..