Being refreshedWe’re updating our project images and write-ups over the coming weeks.

Render of the steering kit with its wheel, gear train, clear front plate, motor, electronics and mounting clamps, isolated on a transparent background.

Sim4Stem Driving Simulator

A force-feedback steering simulator kit for children aged 8 to 11, taken from first concept to a plug-and-play kit manufactured in the USA for Sim4Stem.

Project stage
Production delivery
Work type
Client project
Client
Sim4Stem

The brief

Sim4Stem promotes Formula 1 motorsport among women in STEM. They needed a steering simulator kit for children aged 8 to 11. It had to be easy to use and quick to assemble. Volunteers needed to clamp it to desks and carry it to events.

We ran it end to end, from concept to shipping: the mechanical design, a custom plug-and-play circuit board, firmware, 3D printing and laser cutting.

Force feedback from printed gears

  • Renders and photos of the printed spur gear, the pinion shaft and the motor housing on the acrylic plate.
  • The printed gear stage under test, wired to a microcontroller board.
  • Printed drivetrain parts on a table: the spoked spur gear, pinion shafts and brackets.
  • Exploded render of the steering assembly, with its screws drawn out.

The wheel pushes back as you steer. A motor sends force through a printed gear reduction. Its spur gear and pinion shaft sit on the acrylic plate beside the motor housing.

Printing the stage keeps it cheap enough to reprint if a tooth ever strips, and spokes take mass out of the large gear.

A clamp for any desk

  • An orange printed clamp holding the kit to the edge of a desk.
  • A purple printed clamp tightened under a desk with a threaded rod and knob.

The kit is printed parts fastened to an acrylic base plate, so nothing needs machining. Two clamps hold it to a desk with hand-tightened screws.

After the first build we reworked the clamp body: a deeper throat, and the clamping load spread over a wider area.

Plug-and-play electronics

  • The custom shield board in its printed case, with USB-C sockets for throttle, brake and steering.
  • Render of the shield board.
  • The shield’s copper layout, with the throttle, brake and steering inputs labelled.
  • Render of a potentiometer board with a USB-C socket.
  • Two fabricated shield boards as delivered by the board house.

The first rig ran on jumper wires, which worked loose. We replaced them with a custom Arduino shield: throttle, brake and steering each plug in over USB-C, and each sensor sits on its own small potentiometer board.

Filtering on the inputs keeps the readings steady, so the car on screen doesn’t jitter. We wrote and checked the device software. We also supplied board manufacturing files (Gerbers), a parts list and component-placement files to JLCPCB. The layout passed design-rule checks before fabrication and assembly.

Built by volunteers, made in the USA

We documented the whole rig as an exploded assembly manual, so volunteers can build it on site. The kit was designed and developed in Pakistan, and it’s manufactured in the USA by trusted vendors.

It went on to a Girl Scouts STEM racing programme in Indiana, which WISH-TV covered.

Our role and delivery

We handled mechanical design, the custom circuit board, firmware and assembly documentation. The project progressed to a kit manufactured in the USA by vendors, with an assembly manual for volunteers. The sections above explain the clamp and wiring changes made during development.

Have a product in mind?

Tell us about it. We reply within two working days.

Discuss your project