Mike's Motion Simulator

[FredK]

A brief report...

As many here know Mike Sherick has been building a custom motion simulator platform for his 737-800 cockpit. A few of us are at his place this weekend to experience it firsthand (myself, Scott Wegner, Rob Archer, Dean Salman).

All here agree that Mike has done an incredible job with this project. It far exceeds what my expectations were. The experience is very realistic. By that I mean there are no artificial kinds of movements. No jerky behavior whatsoever. The pitch and rumble transitions at takeoff and landing and the subtle vibration cues while at altitude are a joy to experience.

Nicely tuned! No performance glitches whatsoever over a dozen or so flights.

I have had opportunity on occasion to experience a few rides in Level D commercial sims, and I have to say this is as good as.

Mike custom built the platform himself (he has a very well equipped machine shop here). It is a very robust build. Mike has expanded out the rear of the cockpit to accommodate observers. Notably, there were all five of us in the cockpit for a short time on one of the flights with no perceived impact on the motion performance.

In a word, we were all impressed. The motion platform coupled with his visual projection setup makes for a very realistic experience.

That's as much as I will say. I will leave it to Mike to address any questions about details.

Job well done!

Fred K

[sagrada737]

Hello All,

Following up with Fred's comments and introduction...

I had an opportunity to host Fred, Rob, Scott, and Dean at our home this last weekend to see and fly my 737-800 Sim with 6dof Motion Platform.

The guys seemed to have a lot of fun taking turns flying the Sim, and I think they all had positive feedback on the Motion Platform performance.   The Sim performed well, running P3d v4.4x and Sim-Avionics.

As I had previously posted...  I am working on the AFT Circuit Breaker Panels part of the Sim.  I got as far as fabricating the aft framework, which left room for two observers to sit on shop stools behind the Cockpit Seats.  As Fred mentioned, we at one time had 5 people on the Flight Deck, with the Motion Platform well within the load capacity of its electro-mechanical drive systems.

Below is a short video of Fred and Rob doing an Approach into KLAS (Las Vegas, NV).  Great job of landing Fred!  In fact...  All the guys managed flying the Sim with its Motion Platform without any difficulty.  Since the Motion Cues are fairly well defined, there was not hint of Sim Sickness.

Also below are a few photos showing everyone in the Sim Room (left to right -- Mike, Rob, Scott, and Fred).  During their visit, we had a chance to go for a short ATV ride in the desert near my home.  We wrapped things up with dinner at LaPosta for some great Mexican food.

I'll post a few more videos showing some of the Crew flying the Sim...

I should say, that I had a great time hosting our Sim get-together.  I hope to have an Open House later this year to give you all an opportunity to visit and see/fly the Sim -- dates TBD. 

I am also considering taking part in this year's World Flight as a USA Western Region Team -- much like what Fred has done.  This kind of event takes a lot of preparation, so I have to think carefully about it.  Let me know if you think it is good idea or not.

That's my brief report...

Mike

[sagrada737]

Here is another short video from our La Cruces Sim Get-Together, showing Mike and Fred flying the Final Approach into Bob Hope Airport, KBUR.

Departure KSBA

Approach KSBA

[blueskydriver]

Thanks guys for posting the videos! Wish I could've been there, but soon, real soon I'm visiting you Mike 😁

John

[sagrada737]

You are welcome John.   Anytime you like, come down and fly the Sim.

[sagrada737]

Hello All,

Here is another short video from our Sim get-together this last weekend.  This time...  It is Scott and Rob at the controls -- flying the Final Approach into Salt Lake City, KSLC. 

I might have one more video to post, with Dean flying out of Santa Barbara into Burbank.  It was great fun to see everyone fly the Sim -- especially being able to put on headsets and ride along as Observers behind the CA and FO. I think it was fun, and a learning experience for everyone.

Mike

[Nat Crea]

AWESOME!
I could feel it from down here

Nat

[sagrada737]

Hello Nat,

Good to hear you have an appreciation for the Motion Platform.  This last weekend during our Sim get-together was a bit of confirmation that a "beer budget" 6dof Motion Platform (~$15K) can indeed add a significant amount of immersion to a 737 Sim.

My strategy from the beginning was to use two computer systems for the Sim...   One for the Sim-Avionics flight model; and the other a high-end 11th Gen Intel i9 CPU computer for running P3D v4.4x and the projector system.

The Laser Projectors have been a blessing, in that color contrast is consistent across all all three Optoma ST406 HDR Laser projectors, improving the warp/blend using Pixelwix.  I am feeding these projectors from a single RTX-3090 GPU, 3K resolution as setup in NVIDIA, with each projector "down scaling" to HD resolution for the whole screen display.  This makes for a fairly nice 205 degree wrap-around display. 

Although this approach to a projected display is not "crystal clear" as with HD monitors or "direct projection windows", it still retains good visual quality, giving a nice balance with what is happening in the cockpit and what is seen outside.

Running this two computer setup has kept the system integration fairly simple, but it does challenge the capacity and performance of the single Sim Computer when running the Motion Platform, as it constantly exchanges motion data with the Sim Computer.  Hence, I am not able to add features like AI, Ultimate Terrain, etc..  Fine for me, but others might find a need for all the "goodies".  Anyway...  The 6dof Motion Platform has been a nice addition to the Sim.   

My next addition will be to finish out the AFT part of the Flight Deck --  trying to create a realistic representation of the Circuit Breaker Panels, and other features in that part of the Flight Deck.  I am also working on adding an improved 5.1 Speaker System with Sub Woofer to enhance the audio immersion.

Also, I want to thank you for your contribution to the Sim community over the years, with your work helping folks get their Display Systems up and running.  For some folks, the expertise you bring to these areas is well worth the investment in your services.

Best Regards,
Mike

[Jason L]

Mike,
  Couldn't you add a 3rd computer running P3D and wideview with just a regular graphics card and have that drive your 6dof?  Might help take the load off that machine so you can enjoy some of those other features?
  Some day I'd like to have enough room to do something like this.  How high are the ceilings in your room to allow for this?  what would be the minimum ceiling height to make it work?
  Your comment about a beer budget for 6dof made me laugh.  15k beer budget is pretty high!

[sagrada737]

Hello Jason,

Fred also mentioned adding another computer to handle the Motion Platform load.   I might investigate that further after I complete the remaining Sim projects. 

My ceiling height in the Sim Room is 14 feet.  This is adequate with margin for my Motion Platform configuration.  There are motion platform designs that you could investigate that do not require as much ceiling height.

Mike

[Nat Crea]

Thanks Mike!
Appreciate it.

10 years later, the business is still going mainly thanks to a few major manufacturers like FDS and L3-CTS.
I've used a tonne of those HD Lasers and they are excellent value for money. Personally I prefer to run them at Native resolution, but thats just me.
Shame there is no 4K-ST in that price range, Optoma had a 4K-ST model ($4 or $5K each) out in 2020 but was discountinued soon after.
It looked absolutley incredible.

What you have built (motion) for 15K is amazing, condidering anything commercial is 4 or 5 times that amount.

Cheers,

Nat