rec.autos.simulators

Hi folks

Im about to start building my own wheel and pedals and am just in the
process of deciding what pedal design I am going to use.

The aim is to have a large travel while keeping the heel planted in one
position. But what design is best!

You will notice with many pedal designs you end up moving your heel to fully
depress the pedals, and this is something i want to avoid.

Correct me if im wrong, but it seems that your foot pad (point of contact
for pedals) doesnt move in a perfect circular motion as u rotate them from
ure heel.

To go through ure foots entire range of rotation u roll your heel forward,
so surely your foot doesnt go through a circular motion?

Is the best design a pedal system that rotates from a pivot above your foot
like in a real car? It would seem so because this is also the design they
use on modern F1 cars if im not mistaken?

If the above foot rotating pedals are best, why is this, do they take sort
of automatically adjust for your foot changing its pivot point as you press
down? Its hard to explain in a text msg i know,  but this mystery must be
solved! :)

Actually, the pivot point for your foot's forward rotation is your ankle.  As your toes move away, your heel moves back toward you.
This is why I find CH pedals so comfortable, as they do this too.  YMMV...

SB

Real car drivers use shoes, of course, which have solid and most
likely somewhat slippery soles.  Sim drivers would find that too hot.
Possibly a pedal that cradles the heel would be best or a light, airy
shoe or sock with a slippery bottom to slide along the pedal surface
when the alignment changes, as you pointed out.  Another possibility
is to incorporate a sliding plate on the pedal that would stick to the
bottom of the foot, yet slide in the same plane as the pedal surface.

Realistically, I see a market for a cheap sim sock with good
breathability and a sole more slippery than the cotton that the sock
is made of.  I suppose that we could just get our moms or wives to sew
on a leather or teflon pad.  Just watch out when you run to the
washroom just before a race starts.

Bob Simpson

Modern F1 cars have a pivot at the bottom (like most sim pedals).  Most
purpose built race cars have pivots at the bottom while sedan based race
cars (nascar and the likes) generally have top pivoting pedals.  Personally,
I don't like the top pivot because as you rotate your foot forward, the
bottom of the pedal wants to leave your foot and to keep good contact, you
must move your leg.  Moving your leg means less sensitivity.  But some
people seem to like the idea of top hinge because they want it like their
street car instead of like an F1 car...I guess it is personal preference.
You should also look at your seating position to decide how to angle the
pedals (you don't want to have to push down on the pedal if you are real low
and you don't want to have to push forward on the pedal if you are real
high).

Jesse Black

I know that there are socks out there that have special soles that are
non-slip, I even remember a couple years ago I had some that had the #28 on
them, hehe, sim racing and real racing all in one package.
-Stuart Becktell

Sedan pedals are hinged at the top because that is the cheapest and most
effective way to design the linkages and cables for a front engined car.
In addition to what Jesse said about F1, I seem to remember my old rear
engined Beetle having pedals that hinged at the bottom.  When the cables
have to go under the car, hinging at the bottom is easiest.  When the
cables go up to a high mounted throttle and clutch and you are trying to
press on a high mounted master cylinder with the brake pedal, then
hinging at the top makes more sense.  So top hinged pedals has nothing
to do with ergonomics.  For ergonomics, bottom hinged makes more sense.

I feel your pain.  :)
I went through this same problem last year when I made my
pedals.  I used two commercially available gate hinges of
the type that have springs build inside of them (to close
the gate automatically).
So anyway, these hinges are good, and I have the setup with
the hinge at the bottom... but they arent great.

Improvements:
- Reduce the travel.  You mention that you want a lot of
travel, but my experience is such that I'll be modifying
them in the near future to have very little travel.
- The heel problem.  Instead of resting your heel on the
floor, I'll be adding a little lip at the base of the pedal
so that my heel rests on this little flange at the base of
the pedal.   So my heel can never slide down off the pedal.
I got this idea after seeing a Jaguar F1 set of pedals.
- The left foot problem.   When I'm not braking, I dont really
have anywhere to put my left foot.    I cant rest it on the
pedal since the spring isnt hard enough.   I will be making
the spring much harder to move so that I can rest my foot
on the pedal without it registering any movement.

cheers...

I wear Chinese slippers, get the one's with canvas soles not the ***
one's. You can get them from any marshal arts shop. Very light, very
combatable & very cheap (about 5 UKP).

Mark Aisthorpe

P.S. and very good for your GPLRank, just check my handicap history over the
last few months for proof.