Av200 indirect drive brushless upgrade demo

Booma

Member
I shot this clip in less than 20 mins on a Canon 5D2 with an L series 17-40 zoom. A few of the shots were at 40mm, no post production stabilization has been used.

https://vimeo.com/79463907

This was a hand held AV200 gimbal with Maxon brushless motors and Alex Moss boards in Follow Me mode.

I have been testing variations of the indirect brushless AV200 for the last two weeks - firstly with Tiger motors and now the Maxons - I feel the Maxons are superior in that they have more torque and much less cogging.

This was pretty much my first real hit out at handholding a brushless gimbal - There is room for improvement both with my technique and the tuning of the gimbal but for a first up effort I was happy with what we achieved so quickly.

I really think these AV200 modifications have opened up a whole new world of low cost brushless stabilization and will sit very nicely in the Photohigher product line below the full blown Halo series gimbals. I certainly would prefer to use a gimbal in this price range on one of my multi rotors and I think they will work brilliantly - so that is my next mission, to get the AV200/Maxon/Alex Moss setup in the air !

A big thanks to Jess from www.sky-hook.tv for wandering aimlessly through the forest pretending she wasn't freezing to death !

Peace
 

Are you using the same reduction gears from the stock AV200 on all 3 axis? Can you offer some images o your setup? Is it difficult to balance the roll axis with the weight of the motor? Any photos of the set-up woul be great. It seems like it will be a fairly straight forward conversion. Nice example video by the way.
 

Booma

Member
Are you using the same reduction gears from the stock AV200 on all 3 axis? Can you offer some images o your setup? Is it difficult to balance the roll axis with the weight of the motor? Any photos of the set-up woul be great. It seems like it will be a fairly straight forward conversion. Nice example video by the way.

Hi Tahoe

I will post some pics of the setup when I get a minute.

DSLR seem to balance fine, there is just enough width in the tray to allow the camera to be shifted a little to the right and offset the weight of the motor - because of the reduction gears balance is not quite as critical as for a direct drive system, it is still very important but there is some room for error.

Yes all the reduction gears are the same except the tilt and roll are roller drives - we found a belt on the tilt was causing backlash and the roller drive was able to resolve that issue. With the Tiger motors I felt a need for a roller drive on the Pan axis - now I am not so certain. With the Maxons I feel there is no need for a roller drive on Pan and that the belt is quite sufficient.

Yes - the conversion is pretty straightforward if you are used to tinkering with the gimbal, I had to solder servo leads to the Maxons so they would plug easily to the Alex Moss boards. I have 2 gear trays on the gimbal one forward and one rear, the rear one fits the boards, a reciever, and has room for a downlink - the front one is for the battery.

Hope this answers your questions ?
 

Booma

Member

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xerofly

Member
Hi,
I have the same set up..but the pitch assembly is not good..hope you are not using elastic rubber otherwise it slips?what Maxxon motors are you using...I am using Tiger GB4006
Cheers
 

Booma

Member
Hi Xero

I asked Kimberly from Photohigher what Maxons they are and he said that they were manufactured specifically to PH specs - so I guess they do not have a product number sorry.

With the tilt you are right , this has been the hardest axis to tune however the roller drive has resolved all the issues we were having - there is no slippage at all and the setup is very robust with the drive shaft being supported by a bearing just next to the roller.

I will be doing more testing this week with the Epic - it seems to work fine with these reduction drives so we will see. Also I will get the rig in the air for a look.

Cheers
 

xerofly

Member
Hi,
Will PH sell maxxon motor as part of conversion kit or as spare parts...I am an end user of AV200 but though roll has been improved pitch needs improved...

cheers
 

Booma

Member
Hi Xero - yes they have the Maxons in stock and they can be ordered as part of the upgrade kit or as part of a complete gimbal.

I think the pitch is greatly improved through the roller drive - you just need to be aware that the roll axis is 10:1 gearing and the pitch is 4:1 so you need to be much more accurate with your CG on the pitch axis. I have found that when your gimbal battery is running low you can see it failing first on pitch due to the gearing.
 


Booma

Member
JC - My understanding is that the PH kit will not include Alexmos but will include Maxon motors if you require them. Best check with them directly.
 

jcmonty

Member
Thanks, Booma. I'll email Kim

Looks like they have mounted the RED upside down too. Wonder if that is for balance. With their "Epic" mount on the standard AV200, it hangs from the top 1/4-20s nicely.
 

Booma

Member
The Epic is not mounted correctly in that pic - they need to be redone - you are correct it still hangs from the top.
 

Booma

Member
Av200 idd test - canon 550d

Here is a test I shot yesterday with the 550D and 10-22.

https://vimeo.com/79614363

I am getting the gimbal tuned better and have sorted out the issue I was having where the gimbal would roll off when you panned quickly - this clip shows how the horizon is locked now during quick pans.



More clips coming soon.


Peace
 

jcmonty

Member
Here is a test I shot yesterday with the 550D and 10-22.

https://vimeo.com/79614363

I am getting the gimbal tuned better and have sorted out the issue I was having where the gimbal would roll off when you panned quickly - this clip shows how the horizon is locked now during quick pans.



More clips coming soon.


Peace

Looks pretty good. What did you change for the horizon locked? We have had that issue with some of the alexmos products as well. Generally the advanced cal helps, but not all of the time.

One question i have is if this is really sized for a RED? I have the 550d with that same lens, and the tilt axis on the RED is a whole other animal. Way more inertia due to the weight and the elongated fwd-aft axis. You expect to test with the EPIC this week?
 

kloner

Aerial DP
PH has a couple reds to the best of my knowledge, go borrow one of theres and show us whats up..... were in the market today and want to buy one but it's only purpose is to carry reds......

It takes absolute perfection in balance which is what i always thought was gonna prevent the av200 from becoming a contender in the brushless red arena. you need mm of adjustment in all axis.... unlike the origional we used to just get close with, the gimbals performance is directly related to the balance
 

Booma

Member
Kloner and Monty - you are right the EPIC will need to be balanced to the mm, that is certainly possible [but fiddly] to achieve even with the standard Epic tray - hopefully Kim will release an adjustable tray if there is enough interest.
With the EPIC you might have problems tilting up or down if your Z axis is not spot on. The Maxon motors I am testing with may or may not be up to the job but a simple solution would be to use a larger Maxon for tilt such as the ones that are used in the Halo series - these motors don't seem to have a problem with tilt so that may be your answer ?

From what I have seen so far cameras with a greater mass suit brushless stabilization well if they are properly balanced.
 



SMP

Member
Booma, do you have any basic PIDs on your 5D2 setup as a baseline?? Just got mine form Kim and will start putting together as time permits.
 


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