# Thagerty's Mancave Home Theatre Gaming Room w/ his Race and Flight Simpit



## thagerty

Well I have had my mancave / home theatre room for years now. It has gone through changes and additions through the years... lots of pics here... I wanted something that was functional but fairly cheap...

This is half of my basement, the other half being the laundry room. There are no windows so it was pitch black all the time. The screen used to be a pull down screen, but I honestly found that to be a big waste of money, so all i did was paint the wall with a nice flat white latex paint. The frame around it is wood painted black. The black mask is manualy moveable and is made of black velvet. The sound system is 7.1, and the projector (DLP, 1024x768) was ceiling mounted. The screen size was 110 inches.



















This is my computer desk in the laundry room which was what my projector and sound system were connected to. This is where my movies and games were played from.










The top mask was attached to a metal pipe and rolled up and down. The sides of it had magnets that attached to metal strips (painted black)along the side of the frame. I just put it at the desired spot, and tightened the pipe! Quick and easy...










The bottom mask worked the same, but with no pipe and would just hang like a curtain.










With the lights on...










and the lights off...





















.... but not all things were meant to last! After two colour wheels and mutiple lamps for the projector needed replacing (very costly), I had it! So now the screen and projector are gone and replaced with a Samsung 61" LED DLP TV!

I love this TV! Yes the picture is smaller than my screen, but the colour is great, the movement is better than any LCD (including LED 120hz/240hz,etc) and plasma I have seen yet. The only drawback is the viewing angle as with any projection type tv. It also came 3DTV ready!, and there are no lamps to replace and the lightsource is all LEDs (not just backlighting like LCD/LED).

This is also my first Racing Simpit... keep reading to see how I got to my much better Racing Flight Simpit!










This is how it started...











...but then I wanted something much nicer for both flight and racing sims... so I started the new project..























































The rotating shifter/flightstick console...





















...and finally it was finished... after a few updates over the last year.


















...then when I want to play flight sims I loosen two T-nuts on each side of the console and lift the lid...










...then rotate the console...










...to reveal the flightstick...










..which works with the throttle console.










The switch panel turns on/off all usb devices and has a lock.










The gas,brake, and clutch were inverted and mounted independently...










The wii remote on a stand and this cap I made (with three battery powered infa-red leds) are used with Freetrack software for head-tracking. I wear this hat and the game will change the view of the driver/pilot in real time to match my head movement.










When the lights are out, the fligthstick and throttle light up!










I put my old car plates on...











Here's a Youtube video tour of the Race and Flight Simpit showing how the console works!







Now my PC is connected directly to the TV (not in the next room anymore). When I dont use the simpit, I move it off to the side of the room.










...this gave me room for a bigger movie and game shelf...











Needless to say, I live down here and love it!


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## mdrake

*Re: thagerty's mancave/home theatre/gaming room with his Race and Flight Simpit!!!*

Nice work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :T 

Everyman needs a man-cave.... :bigsmile:


Matt


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## bambino

*Re: thagerty's mancave/home theatre/gaming room with his Race and Flight Simpit!!!*

All these theater postings that i have been seeing lately is making me sweat to get to work on mine. seeing your projector in the dark also makes me hope i win the one being given away. That is one awesome man cave and i love the simulater chair that thing is the coolest thing i've seen yet


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## MatrixDweller

Um that sim chair you made is simply awesome! I like the masking idea also. Do you use magnets in the mask to keep it tight to the screen?

Glad to see a fellow Ontarian on here also.


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## thagerty

I used magnets only on the sides of the mask. The metal I used for the top and bottom of the mask pieces was "L" shaped and long (aluminum I think, it was real light). The L shape kept it nice and strong so it wouldn't sag in the middle. I trimmed off a little of the ends for the magnets, and the middle part was about 1/2 inch from the screen. It worked real well...

I originally had a straight metal piece for the mask that just attached to the back of my speakers with velcro, but it was still too far from the screen... left a small shadow... and sagged a little.

This newer version was cheap and real easy to adjust to ANY size, and you couldn't tell the difference between this and some professional job when the lights were off. 

I do miss it now that its gone...


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## spartanstew

You went backwards in the evolution of a home theater.


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## Matteo

Wow. That is some cool sim stuff. I have never gotten into the whole flight thing, but I can see the thrill of it. Very, very cool. I like the masking too. Gives me some ideas. 

matteo


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## thagerty

This is an update to my old mancave at my old house at this link that shows more of the build process:

http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=94941.0

My space is now referred to as The Modular Man-Cave.

The watching movies setup. The simpit is off camera on the left side of the room.










The triple screen "desk" I made out of pre-made shelf board. It's the closest I could find that matched the simpit. It's on casters so I can just roll it anywhere I want. When I don't want to use my simpit I can just roll it in front of my couch for FPS's and other games!










Using the simpit with my 61" LED 3D DLP TV, like I did before.










Using the simpit with the triple screen desk in front of the TV to make use of the 7.1 sound.










Using the simpit with the desk on the side of the room while the TV can be used to watch a movie.











I haven't had much time to play yet, but I'm loving it so far. NVIDIA surround using one single GTX 670 video card has been working excellent for all racing and flight sim games so far as well as FPS's!

I've put off getting 3 screens before because i didn't want to go the SLI route and I have my own reasons for not going with ATI Eyefinity. (3D being one of them). NVIDIA finally got it right!

With this Modular Man-Cave I get the best of all setups within a low budget!

I have an updated extensive video tour of the setup at my new house!

The Modular Man-Cave! Driving & Flight Simpit, 3x 27" screens, 61" LED DLP TV, G25, Saitek X52 Pro


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## See Double

That gaming chair is inspired!!! Awesome!


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## NBPk402

I love your cockpit seating, and the 3 monitor setup! I am stuck using my PS3, and Xbox 360 controllers for my racing games. The do look awesome at over 134" though. You gave me an idea that would be awesome if... : I could afford it, B: I had the space, and C: if it would work. The idea is 3 projection screens arranged like your monitors for a true life simulation.


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## Heath Cunningham

Haha that's off tap


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## zonecoaster1

ellisr63 said:


> I love your cockpit seating, and the 3 monitor setup! I am stuck using my PS3, and Xbox 360 controllers for my racing games. The do look awesome at over 134" though. You gave me an idea that would be awesome if... : I could afford it, B: I had the space, and C: if it would work. The idea is 3 projection screens arranged like your monitors for a true life simulation.


It is possible, and it is outstanding.

http://youtu.be/7Uh8HLvLWO8

Plenty of other vids available on YouTube showing other setups. The above is nice because it has the driver's seat view rather than the 'behind car' view, and because it uses the curved screen and three projectors.


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## NBPk402

zonecoaster1 said:


> It is possible, and it is outstanding.
> 
> http://youtu.be/7Uh8HLvLWO8
> 
> Plenty of other vids available on YouTube showing other setups. The above is nice because it has the driver's seat view rather than the 'behind car' view, and because it uses the curved screen and three projectors.


I see they are doing it with a single curved screen and 3 projectors. I just don't understand how they are dealing with projection beams crossing each other.


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## javiersc

It is a pity that you had those issues with the projectors, but If you play as much I imagine it seems to me as a better deal to do it with the TV.

I do agree the image with the TV is better but I am willing to sacrifice that in favour of the size.

Congrats !


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## mitja

Nice work !!!
Game on :T:T:T:T:T:T:T


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## tripplej

I agree with everybody. Very nice setup. The 3 monitor setup along with your seating is just impressive. Great use of space. The tv and everything is nice as well. Good job!


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