Building Plans for DIY G27/25 Inverted Pedal Rig

[conticreative]

I Have finally built an inverted pedal rig for my G27 pedals. I was given a free set by a good friend at iRacing and they sat for over a month in my office. Finally this past weekend I decided to start building it. I knew nothing and I had no plans so I went by trial and error.

At the end I decided to remeasure everything and then rebuild the plans so that others won;t have to go through the same ordeal I did. I actually built the rig rather quickly and inexpensively, but adjusting the pedals was a royal pain. I hope this plans will help you avoid that.
At the very least, you'll be able to set up the materials, cut the wood and assemble most of it without having to dismantle your pedals so you don't have to use your pedals to measure and cut and maybe miss out on a race.

Here is the list of materials and the text contained in the PDF:


Building this cage to invert the G25/27 pedals is rather easy and the result is very sturdy.
The base is a little longer in the back to brace it against the wall on the other side of my desk. Depending on your desk and the way you plan to brace the rig, you may need to change some dimensions, but you can still use the rest. For a stand-alone rig you may want to chop 6” from the back of the rig. No more than that or you’ll may find it harder to adjust the pedal's angle and distance.

In this built I found that having a support to elevate the feet rather than dropping the pedals 1” lower worked better. I guess you could use higher rubber feet to accomplish the same thing or you may want to modify the design if you sit lower than I do (regular office chair). I covered the particle board with 3” wide Black Gorilla Duct Tape. Feel free to use whatever you have handy. I had that but any other film-like cover will work.

Naturally, before you bolt everything up, test and then test again. It took me longer to adjust the pedals than to build the whole thing. Good luck!

Materials

A : 2 x 20” x 1.5“ Angle Iron with pre-drilled holes (base)
B : 2 x 15” x 1.5” Angle Iron with pre-drilled holes (pedal support)
C : 1 x 18” x 27” x 0.5” particle board or Plywood (base)
D : 1 x 17” x 9” x 0.5” particle board or Plywood (pedal support)
E : 1 x 13“ x 11” x 1.25“ Particle Board or plywood (foot support)
F : 1 x 8” x 0.5” pre-drilled steel bar (pedal support bracing)
G : 10 x nuts and bolts (size not that important as long as they fit the holes and they are not too long/short - also remember washers. I used lock nuts)
H : 2 x 17” x 1.5“ Angle Iron with pre-drilled holes (For pedal support cross bracing - prevents the pedal board from twisting - can also be used in place of the wood in the pedal board but I like the wood better as it hides the back of the pedal set)
I : Black plastic film or 3” wide black Gorilla Duct tape to cover the wood

[conticreative]

Forgot to attach a plain picture. The ZIP file in the previous post contains a PDF file designed in 1:1 scale. So 1" is 1" on paper

[BCRCFlyer]

Thanks for sharing your project. I've been meaning to build a cockpit, but wasn't sure how to go about setting up the pedals. This gives me a great idea.

[zild1221]

Love the design. Simple, cheap, and the materials are easily obtainable by anyone.

I am sure you will be seeing this design pop up here and there in cockpit pictures for years to come.

[conticreative]

I cannot fit a cockpit in my office. It just wouldn't work. But with some modifications my design could be easily incorporated in a cockpit with a seat and a steering wheel support.

I wish I had the space.

But before embarking on a project like that, I would want to take measurements of a commercial cockpit. The thing that surprised me the most while building this pedal rig was that even a small adjustment in the angle of the pedals made a great deal of difference in the ergonomics.
Even now, after driving it for a couple of evenings I realize I should lean the pedal board a bit more toward me. Luckily, that's very easy to do. I am glad I didn;t have the thing welded or it would have been impossible.

[brabham67]

Nice share! I'll be doing something similar in the spring. This gives me a good starting point. Thank you!

[conticreative]

I have a question for you guys. I was thinking to try to source the materials from suppliers that could provide a more refined look and then sell this design as a kit (some assembly required).

Basically, try to imagine roughly the same design but using veneered boards for the bottom and angle iron in powder coated bright red (or blue/green, etc) and very smooth corners. I would stick to angle iron because the multiple holes really help in fine tuning the position of the pedals. I would also add better looking nuts and bolts, all made to fit precisely.

The question is, what would you pay for a kit that required some easy assembly (mostly to save on shipping and packing, as well as not needing a place to assemble the parts).

I don't have a cost of goods yet, but materials should not run too high if bought in a decent quantity. The only really expensive thing will be the painted angle iron and the veneered particle board. I am really good at technical writing and I am confident I could write good instruction anyone could follow and assemble the unit in under 20 minutes.

I am, also working on a full cockpit design along the same lines. It would be a bring your own seat, wheel and computer deal, but otherwise it would use similar construction.


By the way, I am not going to go forward with it unless I find someone already in the business that can take care of the sales and the marketing. I can help there, but I don't have the time to follow up in the day to day. But as far as designing and sourcing the materials, I have a lot of experience.

Anyway, if you could give me a (realistic) idea of what you would pay I'd be grateful.

[Dimebag]

I'm thinking that anything under $100 depending on the the looks and the quality naturally, will be a hit...
I reached an age where things in that pricerange just becomes... must-haves... if you know what I mean...
At a pricepoint below $100 it's just something I buy if I want it...
...and if it doesn't work out for me, well, thats not a big loss either...

To be honest, I don't know at all, but I have the feeling that quite a big part of the sim-racers are pretty much like me in that regard...

Now, get a EU distributor, ok??? ;-)

[conticreative]

A bit too early to get a EU distributor at this stage :)

I have been sourcing better quality perforated angle iron, possibly powder coated. No dice so far. I can get angle iron from chine, but I have to buy a ton at a time and I have a feeling that would be too small of an order for these guys.

If I left the kit blank metal, I am positive I could sell it sub $100 ready to assemble. In fact, I think that bare metal would retail direct for $80 (the rule of thumb is usually material + labor x 2.2)

I have no idea what the powdercoating would cost but I am sure more expensive than $10

I may make a few in kit form with bare metal and relatively less fancy material just to see if there is interest and what the price points are.

I know that if someone would have shipped me what I built ready to assemble with a fw screws and bolts, I would have easily paid $100 for it. If you have the plans, the tools and the space it would not be worth it. But if you don;t have much of the above, then it takes you forever to build something like this to fit. Easily I spent more time adapting it to my measurements than building and cutting.

[newtonpg]

@conticreative
Thanks a lot for sharing your project!
I was also planning to invert G25 pedals under a 60º fixed board.
Your soluction is very much superior than mine.
Thanks also for the comments about ergonomics!

[Eurostc]

Nice info !!!!!!

[charlie99]

is the H demension the angle iron that goes from side to side that the pedals mount to?

[conticreative]

Yes it is. When I finished the rig, upon pressing the pedal I noticed that the particle board I used was a bit flimsy and it warped a bit, so I braced it in the back with 2 angle irons.

However, you can also use angle iron exclusively and I think it will still be stiff enough. The advantage there is that you can then reposition the pedals in respect to each other more easily. The reason I used the board in the first place was angular stiffness (you can do that with the angle iron using a couple of angled iron bars) But anotehr reason was that this rig fits under my office desk and behind it there are all sort of wires and stuff (you get the idea) With the black board it looks a lot neater as well.
Incidentally, tomorrow I am going to change the way I bolt the pedals to the board. I am going to pre-drill several holes in between the clutch and the gas and change the bolt and nut assembly to a butterfly nut.

On the pedal side I will glue the bolt right on the pedal so I can undo the butterfly nuts slide the pedal out and reposition it left or right as needed more easily than now.

I have a G25 wheel but my pedals come from a G27, so the pads are adjustable sideways. That's nice, but it is just as laborious as unscrewing the entire pedal and move it sideways.

The reason for that is that a) I just mounted a load cell brake and makes accessing the lower nut on the pedal very hard (I have to basically disassemble the pedal to screw it to the board), so gluing or double bolting the screw to the pedal would be nice as it's hard to keep it still while I screw on the other side.

b) I drive the Star Mazda at iRacing the most, and that's a Left Foot Brake car. However, I love driving the Power & Glory mod, as well as other cars that use the clutch and the pedal position for these type of cars is very different.

On the Star Mazda the accellerator and the brake should be spaced wide for comfort on long races (and proper braking angle) while most older cars need a good old dose of H&T and for that the brake and gas need to be spaced closer. So I need to find a way to quickly switch from one to the other.

By the way, I am trying to source some angle aluminum bars to build anotehr prototype. The reason is that aluminum will not need painting. as it looks nice bare. If that works out, I may build a limited number of rigs like mine to sell. The price will be
(cost of material + labor @ $10hh) x 2.2 which usually for a manufacturing concern translates into the wholesale price. I think that if done in quantity this wholesale price (or direct price) will be below $100 + shipping. I am not sure 100% but maybe it will be even less.

If I get some people interested I will definitely go ahead but I will build 1 prototype for sure so I may put that up for sale regardless.

When I did it on my own, if someone had a tested, functional rig, I would have gladly paid $100 for it. As it turned out, between making the plans and building it I spent about $20 in materials (I already had some, like the boards, nuts and 1 piece of angle iron) but about 7 hours in labor. Since I make $75 an hour in my freelance job, if someone sold me the rig for $100 it would have been a much better deal for me :)

Naturally, I understand a lot of guys want to do it themselves. I did and it is fun. But some people simply don;t have the time or the sklills, and that would be the market for that.

With the plans (in case you want to go ahead and do it) should take you no more than a couple of hours, except for the trip to Home Depot. That is if you have the tools, a workbench and are somewhat handy.

If I make my prototype, it will ship partially assembled and the buyer will need to mount the pedals and screw in a couple of bolts (4, actually).One thing I will do also is mount a channel for the wiring which is very delicate.

Anyway, I'll keep you all posted and if any of you makes the pedals from the plan, post some pics. I'd love to see them.

[c0rn]

Hi there,

I like the idea you have and have been thinking about something along the same line for a while and even registered a domain for it but just started a new job so I have not had to time to make the web site yet (www.homesimracing.com). Will be making the site sometime during May I hope (getting married in May so that could move forward I guess). I made a wheel and pedal stand for a friend of mine that he uses infront of his tv in his living room and it has been "wife approved" hehe. Ill post some pictures of it when I get a cam this weekend. Its just a "prototype" so its not the best looking thing at the moment hehe.

Maybe somehow sort this together? Im a computer tech and have been for 16 years going now so the wiring and stuff is easy =)

Could be a fun project I guess.

Get back to me and we can see. If you get somebody to do the marketting and selling for you this could cost you extra. I was more thinking along the lines of a place where people that like building and wants to help the racing community can have a place to sell their stuff and not a place for me to earn loads of money (even if that would be cool hehe). Does that sound like a good idea?

Would love to see how its going with your cockpit plans =)

Regards,
/c0rn

[conticreative]

That actually sounds very attractive. The problem is that I don't have a lot of time to dedicate to this for now and for the next 3 months at least. At that point, my wife will get a new job (she is studying for it) and I may be able to relax my current workload.

I have been thinking (under the suggestion of some posters) of switching to an aluminum construction, which should solve the problem of appearance (the angle iron looks terrible and would need to be powder coated, while aluminum may be good enough with a coat of clear finish).

Anyway, as soon as my wife starts earning some money I'll revisit the issue and I'll be happy to get in touch.

[Terry Schmidt]

I inverted mine about the same way. It works great. Here is a pic.

[PhoenixWylde]

Sweet setup.

[mud1m]

I am doing this off of your drawing, I am changing it up a bit though. Check it out. was going to powder coat it but going to just sandblast and paint it and see how it goes. I am using carriage bolts and stainless steel Allen head bolts. going to be a very nice design when done. http://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/cc419/mud1m/IMG_1289.jpghttp://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/cc419/mud1m/IMG_1288.jpghttp://i1210.photobucket.com/albums/cc419/mud1m/IMG_1280.jpg

[conticreative]

Very nice work. I am sure it's going to look great. I may be redoing mine as well eventually since when I built it I did without plans and I only designed it afterwards to give the community what I would have liked to have before I started.

I love the long slots for adjustments. That was in my wish list but I did not have the tools to pull that off, but it certainly would be a better solution to adjusting the rig.

Good luck and show us the finished one.

[bobste]

Here are my inverted...scroll down the page...

http://www.ballspelsy.com/racingsim

[hueyhy]

Thank you for the post. after seeing this, I immediately decided to get a G25 (I was driving with a DFGT which has poor plastic pedals and no clutch)
Done the project following your idea, and it works great!
So much more fun driving with H shifters and steady pedals
Materials from my local home depot cost me about $50, but definitely well worth it.