Frequently Asked Questions

Why haven't I heard about Sigma before?

Sigma is a product focused company that has been working in the vehicle and simulation space since 2009.

Being a product focused company, we chose to reinvest all our profits back into product development, or making our products better value for our customers. We spend almost no money on marketing, advertising, sponsorships, licensing and instead reinvest back into our products and our customers long term satisfaction. This is how we provide a truly unique product to the market, at such an unbelievable price. The only company in the space to provide billet made actuator bodies for better haptics, using premium American made motors and our own in-house motion algorithms.

So although you may have not heard about us through traditional means, you will eventually hear about the value of our products.

Buying Direct from Sigma vs. Buying from Resellers

Buying directly from us, the manufacturer saves you money and gives you a better quality product and service.

We are not buffered from our customers by our integrators, and so all support and post sales activities go back to us, the manufacturer of the product, so we can have an accurate idea of how our products are performing in the market. This allows us to immediately respond to issues, comments, concerns or even suggestions.

This is also why we don't call our integrators resellers or distributors. They don't just resell our products but properly integrate them into their products.

What's the difference between the DK products?

The DK2 is our professional motion solution for home setups with 500lbs or less. It features 2" of travel and uses the same algorithms as the DK2+ and DK6 to accurately represent motion or what we call Motion Integrity™. The DK2+ and DK6 use the larger Technic motors, with more torque and can better represent motion requests with more weight on the chassis or up to 800lbs, and hence are better suited for heavier rigs or for sim racing centers where the final sim rig weight is unknown. The DK6 uses the same motor as the DK2+ but has triple the stroke or travel and is better at representing the natural suspension travel and flight simulation telemetry. More technical details can be found here: DK System Comparison - Sigma Integrale

What makes Sigma's DK motion systems unique?

Sigma focuses on three key aspects of the motion control science to make a completely turn-key motion systems. We closely control the Mechanical, Electrical and Software aspects of engineering and their "Integrale" or integration to ensure optimal signal processing or what we call Motion Integrity™. Mechanically this means engineering and actually building our actuators in-house from billet aluminum, 2" steel pistons and over-sized ball screw design. This than means combining our USA made actuators with USA made motors and electrical power units that offer 3x the performance for their size and accurate, reliable and measurable performance metrics compared to other foreign brands. This is then combined with our in-house built controller, where most of the signal processing happens in our embedded Texas Instruments real-time controller running over an ethernet connection for best stability and compatibility.

What other hardware do I need?

The DK motion system connects to almost any typical aluminum extruded chassis. Aluminum extruded rigs are the most popular type of material and can also be easily built into bases to hold tubular or other chassis designs. Sigma includes four brackets with each order. The power and data cables are also designed to snuggly fit inside the aluminum extrusion channel, making cable routing clean and easy. We typically suggest and use the following dust covers to hide the cables inside the extrusion: https://www.mcmaster.com/5537T319-5537T25/

I don't have a free Network port on my computer. What now?

Yes the DK motion controller connects to your computer via a network cable and requires a network adapter or a free ethernet port on your computer. We use a network connection because it allow for greater lengths and better quality of signal that supports our philosophy of Motion Integrity™. USB connections are great for standard peripherals but have length limitations and other challenges. If you do not have an additional ethernet port on your computer, we do recommend a USB to Network adapter. Almost any adapter will do.

What are the shipping costs and duty charges for my address?

Shipping costs change all the time and its best to go through the checkout process on our website to determine what your actual shipping and tax costs will be. For international shipments please check what your import duties are for your country as they do vary. A quick google search can tell you what the duties or import fees are for your particular country or region. You can also visit our resellers page for local regional resellers, here RESELLERS. For all international shipments we use UPS expedited service which covers the clearance fees but you will be responsible for your countries import duty. :-( Please see this page for our Shipping Information and Policy.

Whats the length, height and width of the mounting bracket for a DK?

What is production time and shipping time?

Each DK system is made to order and the production time is the time required to build, test, pack and ship your DK motion system. The shipping time is how long it takes you to receive your DK system. You can select several shipping options during checkout, but typically all domestic orders within USA are 3-5 days and international orders are 5-7 days.

How objectively loud is the DK system?

This questions depends on some other factors, but in our internal testing, the DK6 system at full settings runs at about 60db max or equivalent to a quiet office setting. Video link of the test here. Other considerations that matter is how high your settings are set in our motion software and what environment is the DK sitting in. High settings, specially road and engine vibrations will resonate a lot more than lower settings with smoothing applied. Additionally, hollow floors, walls and thinner structures will reverberate more than solid concrete floors and walls, which tend to absorb sound much more. In addition installing gym mats or floor pucks underneath the actuator feet can dampen a majority of the sound and reverberation coming from the haptic system.

Does the controller consume any significant CPU processing power?

Not a significant amount. The DK motion controller does the real-time processing of the motion signals and removes it from the gaming PC and the Windows operating system. The Windows OS is a non-deterministic system, meaning processing of data cannot be trusted as it cannot 'schedule' priority over various tasks and background processes. So processing motion data in the Windows OS doesn't match our idea of Motion Integrity™, and so we push the data to our own embedded micro-controller which can provide real-time processing and positional information to the servos/motors/actuators.

Why are you not FIA licensed?

The FIA license is a commercial license that is only granted to 1 company or vendor, without testing or subject to any criteria set by the FIA. The license should not be seen as an endorsement of any kind over other motion systems or any sort of certification, despite what the licensed manufacturer and its resellers state in their marketing.

We remain in contact with the FIA and hope that in the future they will create an actual certification, much like safety equipment, that is open to all manufacturers and is not an exclusive marketing tactic.

Do you offer discounts or deals on your products at all?

Discounts, promotions and sales are great!

Due to the nature and in-house manufacturing of our products to keep quality high and costs low (still the only company that makes actuators from billet aluminum for strength and best haptic experience). We want to ensure that the demand and supply of our products is flexible and stays in line with real-time market demands.

Over supply of products just leads to irregular discounts and higher, often hidden costs which are eventually passed onto the customers. Under supply of our products leads to long lead times and disappointment. Keeping our inventory on a per demand basis allows for the best product at the best price for our niche market, with stable pricing, so you are always getting the best price, regardless of the time of year or what anyone else is doing. No need to time your DK purchase based external factors or a special time of year.

What are the extended and compressed heights of the DK2/DK2+ systems?

These are the measurements of the DK actuators when fully extended or compressed.

DK2 Motion Actuator:
Fully compressed from base to top of motor: 14.5”
Fully compressed from base to top of bracket: 10”
Fully extended from base to top of motor: 16.5”
Fully extended from base to top of bracket: 12”

DK2+ Motion Actuator:
Fully compressed from base to top of motor: 14.75”
Fully compressed from base to top of bracket: 12.125”
Fully extended from base to top of motor: 16.75”
Fully extended from base to top of bracket: 14.125”

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