OMP Alu GT Steering wheel

[JohnnyV]

Hi all,
I've made this wheel a while back and wanted to share with you

Since this is an Italian wheel, I thought an Italian colour scheme would look great
The wheel features:

• 6x NKK pushbuttons, of which 2 with aluminum button guards
• 2x NKK rocker switches, for navigating menu's etc
• 4x CTS288 encoders, of which 2 can be actuated with your ringfingers (really handy!)
• The backside has Martin Asher carbon fibre shift levers and two hand clutches also from Asher.

The font and backplates are made out of 2mm real carbon fibre, which have a really nice 3d effect.
I designed and cut those on my small CNC router.
The outer part of the frame (to hide the insides) I made on a very small and cheap 3d printer. So small in fact that I had to print the frame 3 parts

The connection from the wheel to the quickrelease is all metal. I tried first to do this also with 3d printing but over time you could feel the play in wheel increase (with the forces from the OSW).

The removable USB cable leads to a Teensy inside (overkill I know..) that works together with SimHub to remember the bite point calibration of the clutches on a car by car basis.
The Teensy sits on a custom pcb with connectors so that connecting (and disconnecting) all the switchgear is very easy.

I've also made other wheels and working on some others right now, for example this one:

Cheers

 

[Jens Roos]

Very nice build with OMP wheel, great work with carbon plates. I have also noticed that it's not advisable to use 3D printed part where there is any wheel force applied.

 

[JohnnyV]

Indeed it is not. Maybe it would be OKish for logitechs or thrustmasters, but not for DD

 

[James Robertson]

3d printed parts are fine for use on direct drive wheels. I don`t know where this myth comes from that DD wheels will destroy anything that isn't made of metal or carbon fibre. I manufactured a couple of entirely 3d printed wheels and used them on a direct drive wheel without problems.

Many people seem to think that a DD wheel should be cranked up to output ridiculous levels of force, that is not the purpose of a dd wheel at all.

P.S Stunning wheel by the way, brilliant work.

 

[Daniel oliver]

^ very true, i use a dd wheel attached to a desk and so far it hasnt shaken my house apart.

 

[JohnnyV]

Thanks James
What I meant with 3d printed parts not suitable for DD wheels:
I made a converter from 70mm to 50mm spaced holes and threaded the inside of the 3d printed holes. And used bolts in those threads.
Over time you can feel more and more play in this part.
Probably if I had designed it better and used nuts instead of threading in conjuction with a 3d printed spacer then it would hold better over time.

 

[James Robertson]

Thanks James
What I meant with 3d printed parts not suitable for DD wheels:
I made a converter from 70mm to 50mm spaced holes and threaded the inside of the 3d printed holes. And used bolts in those threads.
Over time you can feel more and more play in this part.
Probably if I had designed it better and used nuts instead of threading in conjuction with a 3d printed spacer then it would hold better over time.

Yeah, you do have to engineer things in certain way. I use these inserts when threads are required:

https://www.insertsdirect.com/acatalog/unheaded-heatfit-insert.html

 

[Vranq]

3D Parts can be very sturdy and lightweight at the same time. It depends on construction, printing parameters and the right material. You could even print a whole steering wheel that is stable enough for OSW.

 

[Jens Roos]

Probably if I had designed it better and used nuts instead of threading in conjuction with a 3d printed spacer then it would hold better over time.

It might have lasted longer, but not lasted. I had a part like yours (with nuts) and some distance items 3D printed, the functioned for maybe 10-20h during that period I had to re-tighten them. And I'm not heavy on the DD with settings in the 35-65% range most of times depending on car/sim.

I'm sure it can be done, but I would personally keep the 3D parts to shifters, button holders/guards, knobs, covers and stuff like that.