So I decided to design and build my own two axis gimbal. This way I can tailor it to exactly what I want, save some money, and have some fun doing it. I start getting anxious if I haven't built something for a while so here we go again! Anyways, I took some of my design cues from the ever popular and proven "Askman F550 Gimbal". My gimbal uses the same reduction ratios driving the rotational axes. The structure, geometry, materials, and tolerances of my design will be different. I plan on making this a very rigid design with zero axial play and very little radial play along rotating axes at all bearing assemblies so camera movements are smooth as possible. The structure will be made of 2mm thick carbon fiber plate separated by aluminum standoffs that are tapped on either end. Exact same stuff used on standard RC heli frames. I have completely balanced all 6 motors/props on my HEX so I have no need for vibration dampening of any kind. Because of this I will not be adding in any grommets or vibration reduction bits. I will be using landing gear from quadframe.com http://quadframe.com/collections/frontpage/products/200mm-clearance-landing-legs and integrating this into my design. I have just completed the 3D CAD solid model of my gimbal. If anyone wants to view the "live" solid model you can go to the following path
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/91287103/NEILLS DIY GIMBAL.EASM
You can then save the file to your computer. This file is an edrawings file. You can then use a free version of edrawings to view the solid model, rotate, zoom in, zoom out, etc etc...
The free version of edrawings viewer can be downloaded and installed from: http://www.edrawingsviewer.com/ed/download.htm
Maybe my design will give you ideas for your own gimbal! I am in the process or ordering all my building materials and electronics right now and will begin building soon. I will post up my progress here, as well as setup and flight testing. The purpose of my gimbal will be for aerial video work for our small videography business "Gearheadflicks.com".
Cheers! Neill
(EDIT 8-03-12): My design has evolved quite a bit from my original REV when I posted this up. So the above description and model isn't completely accurate. Later on in the post you can find out what the gimbal has evolved into.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/91287103/NEILLS DIY GIMBAL.EASM
You can then save the file to your computer. This file is an edrawings file. You can then use a free version of edrawings to view the solid model, rotate, zoom in, zoom out, etc etc...
The free version of edrawings viewer can be downloaded and installed from: http://www.edrawingsviewer.com/ed/download.htm
Maybe my design will give you ideas for your own gimbal! I am in the process or ordering all my building materials and electronics right now and will begin building soon. I will post up my progress here, as well as setup and flight testing. The purpose of my gimbal will be for aerial video work for our small videography business "Gearheadflicks.com".
Cheers! Neill
(EDIT 8-03-12): My design has evolved quite a bit from my original REV when I posted this up. So the above description and model isn't completely accurate. Later on in the post you can find out what the gimbal has evolved into.
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