How to modify a Align DS510 servo for 270°/360°/continuous rotation?

[Mr.Biker]

Has someone ever tried to modify a Align servo for 270°/360°/continuous rotation?
I need to modify a DS510 (I have spare metal gears) so it can rotate 270° or more.

Is it actually possible to remove the built-in potmeter to use it externally? Lots of servo's need the potmeter
axis to make the gear work.
But there are some where you can actually remove the potmeter and the servo gear still works.

What about the mechanical limitation. Can it easily be removed?

Thanks in advance for helping me
out, I don't want to screw up a 60 euro servo...

 

[Bartman]

if you can get the servo apart you can probably make it work. each servo is different, some come apart easily, some don't. start slow, have a good light available, and look into the case as you go to make sure there's nothing being broken as you pry and lift to get it apart. never did this to an Align servo but I've done plenty of Savox and Hitecs.

Bart

 

[Mr.Biker]

Okay, thx Bartman. I'll get into it tomorrow, starting by taking the servo apart.

 

[Bartman]

good luck,

if you were closer to me i'd say send it to me and i'll take care of it for you.

bart

 

[jes1111]

Found this picture of the gear set for DS510: http://www.revolutionmodelsport.co.uk/prod-image/NewAlign/k10423a_3.jpg

Doesn't look good for modding: looks like the main output gear is moulded and the teeth don't go all the way around the circumference.

 

[Bartman]

yup...good find...that might be a common drawback with plastic gears. the metal ones will usually have a hardened steel pin that can be ground off to allow full rotation.

 

[Mr.Biker]

yup...good find...that might be a common drawback with plastic gears. the metal ones will usually have a hardened steel pin that can be ground off to allow full rotation.

Well, luckily for me, I bought the metal gear as extra gear set.
I don't think I saw that on the metal gear, I mean that the teeth didn't go all the way around the gear.

Let me look for a picture of the metal gear.
Aah, here I found one (my servo is not at home at the moment):

It looks like this can be modified.
And then I would still have the original gear if I would opt to sell the servo again

 

[Mr.Biker]

I will take some detailed pictures of the servo and the gear later on. You guys can tell me what you think.

 

[Efliernz]

They don't show the flat spot on the gear in the photo. I bought a DS510 and the gear has a flat spot / no teeth

Pete

 

[Bartman]

They don't show the flat spot on the gear in the photo. I bought a DS510 and the gear has a flat spot / no teeth

Pete

metal or plastic?

to grind the pin off the metal gear, wrap some tape around the bearing to protect it from the bits of metal grit or slide it off if it will come off easily. when you grind off the pin it has to be flush as it will likely be passing under the other gears in full rotation mode.

i've got a small batch of Savox SB2271SG servos that will be going under the knife this week. :devilish:

 

[Mr.Biker]

Pete, on the first picture you see the nylon/plastic gear. That gear does in fact have a flat spot.

The second picture is a pictures of the replacement metal gear. I just visually checked, no flat spot!
So I think I'm going to be able to make it rotate all the way.

I'll try to take some pictures later on.

 

[Mr.Biker]

Okay guys, time for an update.
The servo has been modified! :highly_amused:

It was a damn crappy job if I may say so, very stressy knowing that you could be throwing away 53 euro out of the window...
Taking apart the servo was the hardest thing to do.

Removing the gear was pretty easy.
The only thing that went wrong there was removing the lower bearing. In fact, I thought that it had to be removed, my mistake, it could have just stayed in place.

The pcb is hard to remove. The potmeter is actually soldered directly onto the pcb, so without wires.
The biggest problem was that the potmeter didn't come out of the housing. I had to try for a long time before it eventually came out without breaking the pcb.

Also the desoldering of the potmeter was hard, veeeeeeery little space. You need a good soldering iron to do it.
I removed the pot and soldered servo wires instead for an external pot.

After that the housing was adjusted for two servo wires, that went smoothly with my dremel.

Then the adjustment of the main gear was up. I taped off the bearing and used a dremel to remove the mechanical end pin.

Putting the servo together also went well.

I didn't get the chance to test the servo yet, but I would say all-in-all it went well.

So you can actually leave the potmeter out of the servo. That's because the main gear is held by two bearing that fit in the housing. (some servo's use the potmeter as an axis, this one doesn't)


Tomorrow some testing!

 

[Bartman]

Okay guys, time for an update............................Tomorrow some testing!

Biker.......sorry, Mr. Biker
in the Savox servos the pot is on legs that are soldered to the pcb. you can snip the legs and solder the extension wires directly to the legs so you don't have to touch the board. maybe you could have done the same thing with the Align servo?

congrats. it's a fun little challenge getting into a servo and modifying it, eh?

 

[Efliernz]

Pete, on the first picture you see the nylon/plastic gear. That gear does in fact have a flat spot.

The second picture is a pictures of the replacement metal gear. I just visually checked, no flat spot!
So I think I'm going to be able to make it rotate all the way.

I'll try to take some pictures later on.

Thanks. time to visit my local shop...

 

[Mr.Biker]

Biker.......sorry, Mr. Biker?

Nah... Not Mr... Just call me Jo. :nevreness:

in the Savox servos the pot is on legs that are soldered to the pcb. you can snip the legs and solder the extension wires directly to the legs so you don't have to touch the board. maybe you could have done the same thing with the Align servo?

I know, but my first thought was to save the original potmeter in it's original state.
In the end I did infact cut the legs a little. Should have done that from the start.

congrats. it's a fun little challenge getting into a servo and modifying it, eh?

It is! :tennis:
I'll be glad when it's working alright. Guess I will find out today.


@ Pete: Good luck modifying the servo, it can be done. Let me know how it went.

 

[Mr.Biker]

It works like a charm!
Really nice servo too, very steady main gear, not sloppy at all.
I'm not really sure if its going to be fast enough, it doens't seem that quick.

Today I'll have to modify my outside gear. I bought a 32 teeth mxl gear that was supposed to have a standard Futaba spline.
Well it doesn't, it maybe a Futaba spline but not standard Futaba size spline. It seems to be smaller...
Still have to figure out how I'm going to do that.

 

[jes1111]

It works like a charm!
Really nice servo too, very steady main gear, not sloppy at all.
I'm not really sure if its going to be fast enough, it doens't seem that quick.

Today I'll have to modify my outside gear. I bought a 32 teeth mxl gear that was supposed to have a standard Futaba spline.
Well it doesn't, it maybe a Futaba spline but not standard Futaba size spline. It seems to be smaller...
Still have to figure out how I'm going to do that.

By how much is the splined bore too small? I've heard of (but never tried it myself) people successfully using heat to press a plastic bore onto a spline. Presumably heat the male spline then press the item onto it - and probably best to never remove it once it's on there Maybe Google/Youtube can turn up something.

 

[Mr.Biker]

Actually it did fit. My mistake.
But it was a little weird. Weird in a way that the gear wouldn't easily go onto the servo spline like a normal servo horn would.
Because it seemed only a little too small I put a little bit of pressure on it.
You know what, it fit like a charm.

I now have the perfect mechanism and servo for a gear driven tilt compensation on my gimbal!
I'm getting really curious of what the result is going to be like.

I used to have direct drive for my tilt, but it stuttered along the travel because of the weight of the Sony Nex5N.
I'm kind of hoping that this stuttering will be gone and that the travel is going to be smooth all the way now.
We'll see...

 

[Macsgrafs]

Bart, I noticed you mentioned savox servos...I have a new 1257tg here, have taken screws out & a few gear wheels..but how the hell does one get the board out? I removed the 2 tiny screws holding the motor in place, but the case is to small to slide over the PCB
How does one get the pot out of the top...it seems stuck there & the PCB wont move enough for me to see whats behind


Ross