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What is THIS Simulator Contraption? - How is it rigged?

 
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mamero



Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Posts: 380
Location: Vancouver, Canada

PostPosted: Wed Aug 09, 2017 3:01 pm    Post subject: What is THIS Simulator Contraption? - How is it rigged? Reply with quote

I've been putting some thought in to a windsurfing simulator. A small project to work on in between sessions.

I stumbled across this old-school video in my Youtubing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJMCx4x-XF4

What the heck is THIS contraption?

The board is just a glorified swivel. However, I find the pulley system for the rig quite fascinating. It would be quite simple and inexpensive to put together if I could just figure it out. I've watched it several times even in slow motion. The video is so grainy it's hard to tell how the pulley system works; not to mention my French is weak.

Could someone tell me how the pulley system is rigged? Thoughts?
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dmilovich



Joined: 19 Jul 2009
Posts: 99

PostPosted: Wed Aug 09, 2017 4:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The guy who could analyze this in great depth is our Mr. Cgoudie, who engineers flight simulators and other cool stuff for a living. But meanwhile, I'll take a crack -

Far as I can tell in a 60-second look, there are three things at work:
1. Pneumatic "donut" springs, such as Firestone Airstroke actuators suspend the board right under our suave instructor's feet. You have most likely seen them under a bus driver's seat. They are providing the compliant surface that allows the board to be tilted fore/aft and side to side. The small shock absorber dampens the movement so it doesn't go all jittery.
2. Four or so casters under the mounting of the donuts and the shock, under the bottom board, provide bearing so the board can rotate. The Board Lady has an even more elegant design made of plywood and golf balls that performs the same function - google it if you want to see.
3. There is a weight-counterbalance to the small rig. It provides pull in one direction. By moving the boom/sail, one can get a force that rotates the board from left to right. I didn't look hard at how it's rigged, but it's likely to simulate some balance in the twisting of the rig.

(later) OK, looked again at the pulley set up since that was the crux of the question you had which I neglected. I'm guessing the line from the clew-end of the boom is of fixed length to the pulley. The more you pull the clew in, the more the center of effort moves forward to simulate the wind force. See how when the sail is "luffed", that line goes slack and the CE is straight back over the clew, pulling on the mast?
I think I see there's another pulley on the mast tip. Just get some pulleys and start trying to mimic it. You'll figure it out. But you probably won't look as cool as that dude surrounded by four people with microphones.

The somewhat fun thing is that since the board is mounted on the "soft" surface of the donuts, one can get the feel that mimics "buoyancy", while getting some pull similar to wind force, which can also result in some rotation. However, I don't see any mechanism that couples the tilt with rotation which would simulate how carving the board rotates it as well. But by having the springy surface and the ability to rotate due to the "wind", it probably comes closer than anything else has that isn't actually in the wind.

(Why am I not working right now?)
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isobars



Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935

PostPosted: Wed Aug 09, 2017 5:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A handy, cheap, ready-made substitute is standing on a flat-side-up BOSU and holding on to separate handles (or to a bar) hooked to weighted cables. After some practice, you can:
• jump, jibe, and jump AND jibe.
• pump the "sail".
• jump back and forth over a 20-foot lateral range (on the floor, not on the BOSU), limited in height only by the cable tower height and your leg power.
• jump from one BOSU to another (I suggest round side up for safety, at least at first).
• adjust the weights to vary the amount of power in your "sail".
• do carved or pivot turns from 90 degree slashes to 180 degree jibes.
• vary your footwork all over the surface of the BOSU base.
• do laydowns.
• crank up the music, the weights, and/or your rhythm to suit your mood, energy level, and workout objectives.
• work the living hell out of your entire core, torso, arms, shoulders, legs, back, and more.
• get some slack-jawed stares from other gym users (some of who call this set of exercises, particularly the flying leaps, the "Superman").

Hmmmm ... I hadn't even thought of adding footstraps to the BOSU.



While you're at it, use the BOSU for pushups, base up ...


Then do them plyometrically, taking the BOU with you into the air.
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manuel



Joined: 08 Oct 2007
Posts: 1158

PostPosted: Wed Aug 09, 2017 10:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It's awesome! He is saying that the weight gets heavier the more you pull thanks to a pretty smart pulley design (there are technical terms used here, I can look them up if you want).

Now if only it could teach us to loop!

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mamero



Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Posts: 380
Location: Vancouver, Canada

PostPosted: Wed Aug 09, 2017 11:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

manuel wrote:
It's awesome! He is saying that the weight gets heavier the more you pull thanks to a pretty smart pulley design (there are technical terms used here, I can look them up if you want).

Now if only it could teach us to loop!


Thanks manuel. I would be quite interested in those technical terms if you'd be so kind.
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mamero



Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Posts: 380
Location: Vancouver, Canada

PostPosted: Wed Aug 09, 2017 11:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here's another video about this indoor simulator.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11u_kbe0Sds
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mamero



Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Posts: 380
Location: Vancouver, Canada

PostPosted: Wed Aug 09, 2017 11:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

From what I can tell for sure:

1. There is a single rope permanently fixed at the clue.
2. There is a pulley at the tip of the mast the rotates 360 around the mast.
3. There is a rope that goes around the pulley at the mast.
4. There is one rope coming from the counter weight.
5. This means there are the TWO rope ends from the mast, a single end from the clue, and single end from the counterweight that all meet in the middle in someway.

WHAT I can't quite see is how these four leads interconnect. It's clear that some are wrapped around a pulley and some are not.

I'm determined to solve this.

Could it be that the rope that wraps around the mast pulley is actually a LOOP of rope? And, there is a pulley at the end of both the clue rope and counterweight rope where they all meet? These two pulleys (clue and counterweight) "float" along the mast rope loop? Does that look and sound right or does it look like it works different to you?

From other angles it also kind of looks like the Mast rope and clue rope could be one rope. It's so hard to tell by these old videos.
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manuel



Joined: 08 Oct 2007
Posts: 1158

PostPosted: Fri Aug 11, 2017 5:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ok I'm going to write out all that I hear, if I can't translate something then you can use linguee.fr to determine the one that best fits:

- système à contre-poids variable
- simulates the wind direction
- simulates winds of different forces
- the more we pull on the winchboom (hee hee!), the heavier the weight feels
- système de démultiplication par poulies et taquets coinceurs

Now do you want to info from the "board?"

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ctuna



Joined: 27 Jun 1995
Posts: 1125
Location: Santa Cruz Ca

PostPosted: Fri Aug 25, 2017 11:33 pm    Post subject: Better still Reply with quote

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTrBA0RgRRU
or get a land skate setup . Essentialy a skateboard with
a sail attached or a Turfdog.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCIDFsxi9o8
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isobars



Joined: 12 Dec 1999
Posts: 20935

PostPosted: Sat Aug 26, 2017 3:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Don't be dismayed that you find this contraption mystifying. I took a lesson from a Gorge shop many moons ago on their similar setup, and the instructor had no clue how to operate it. Worse yet, they still charged me for the lesson.
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