How do you choose Steering Wheel?

[DesignProject]

I represent a university design team, currently designing a steeering wheel specifically for formula student cars. We were wondering amongst you who makes the "make/buy" decision about steering wheels and what influences that decision? we want to know what the most important factors are for you guys when you are thinking about purchasing a steering wheel.
thanks
Joel

[DesignProject]

I represent a university design team, currently designing a steeering wheel specifically for formula student cars. We were wondering amongst you who makes the "make/buy" decision about steering wheels and what influences that decision? we want to know what the most important factors are for you guys when you are thinking about purchasing a steering wheel.
thanks
Joel

[Fyhr]

On our first car, it was as easy as: "Oh any normal steeringwheel is too large anyway, lets make our own"

But seriously, if you're not planning on adding alot of "gizmos" to your steeringwheel, consider whats cheaper in the costreport, to buy one or to make a similiar one.

[Composites Guy]

Some karting wheel would probably be your cheapest solution. I like a good suede leather wrapped wheel for its feel. Making a nice one can actually incur more time and headaches than you might think. Its difficult to make a nice material/leather wrapped handgrip unless you know a good seamstress or cobbler. Believe me I've tried! Fyhr makes a good point about cost report. Personally, if money is no object, I like the Sparco 260 wheel.

http://www.sparcousa.com/productImages/266.jpg

I suggest too that you not skimp on your steering wheel quick release. Over time cheap quick release solutions tend to develop slop. We used Mark Williams quick release for years, but it tended to become one of the largest sources of slop in the system. I suggest a Racetech or Spa quick release.... the racetech can be ordered directly for around $130 US dollars.

I guess it really depends on whether your team is banging out a rough first car and trying to fit a tight budget, or whether you are are trying to build the best car possible with tons of money. Thus cost is probably your biggest factor.

[rjwoods77]

10" diameter wheel is pretty standard for fsae. Make sure you use a splined quick release. Hex quick releases are dog shit. They dont work well when they get a little banged up.

[Cakemaker]

It's just another thing you can design. Every part is a part you can gain experience from. I have been concentrating on the ergonomics and for that it's great to put the knowledge itno use.

There are lots of scientific articles to read about, implement and test.

Things to look at:

Steering wheel diameter

Thickness

Center of turning

Grip

Overal thickness

Volume of the holes

These are one of the things I look at. With grip and diameter you look at how much torque you can create and this also comes with the grip and grip thickness.

[Composites Guy]

I guess it depends on how many people work on your car. Here... about 5 actually design and build the car... another 5 occasionally help. That makes such detailed analysis of a steering wheel seem like a HUGE waste. Do you honestly think reading papers, etc. is going to lead you to make a significantly different wheel than the ones you can buy?

I've made two wheels... I copied an existing store-bought wheel for excellent ergonomics. The existing wheel was aluminum based, so I matched a carbon sandwhich panel to its out-of-plane bending stiffness... did a quick calculation of strength for the skins... and that was it for analysis. The difficulty is really in the manufacturing... and I guess someone could learn a lot from that... but if I were a captain I'd insist that that time be place somewhere more effective.. unless everything else is near perfect (F1???)

I'm not at all putting down your enthusiasm... that's a great thing! But a main part (and often unspoken) of the learning done in FSAE is that "things must be completed and on-time" and "the right projects must be chosen" so that a limited amount of time and money may be used effectively.