Phobotic Centerpiece finally released


You can do 3S, you can do 4S. I actually prefer 4S for larger stuff (like GH4), but if it's GoPro or RX100 sized then 3S is fine.
In any case you're not going to see any difference.
 

Motopreserve

Drone Enthusiast
You can do 3S, you can do 4S. I actually prefer 4S for larger stuff (like GH4), but if it's GoPro or RX100 sized then 3S is fine.
In any case you're not going to see any difference.

Just a sony nex 5 for now. Motors are the iPower 4006 and 4008. I'll try direct with no regulator.
 

Motopreserve

Drone Enthusiast
Daloaf,

Do you have any photos of your gimbal? I am curious as to what dampening you are running. There has been much talk about the level of dampening that is preferred by the FW on the CP board. Just trying to get geared up in anticipation of its arrival.

Thanks,
 

jfro

Aerial Fun
Outside chance I might see mine on Saturday. Sounds like it's a pretty easy setup. Kind of like the xAircraft. Hook up the usb port. Drop the firmware on the usb port that pops up as a drive. Start it up. Hit a button and watch it autotune, then go fly. Or just hit one of the buttons on it and let it auto tune if you don''t want to use the interface or need to update firmware.

Hoping this is the next step in technology in gimbal controllers.

Sound like we are going to want to tighten up our mounting systems so they are firmer in the anti vibration department for the gimbal hangers.
 

Motopreserve

Drone Enthusiast
Sound like we are going to want to tighten up our mounting systems so they are firmer in the anti vibration department for the gimbal hangers.

Thats why I'm hoping for some photos/details of some successful mounts. There has been some back and forth about the stiffness, so I'm hoping I can do some tweaking before the arrival of the board.
 

Daloaf

Member
Daloaf,

Do you have any photos of your gimbal? I am curious as to what dampening you are running. There has been much talk about the level of dampening that is preferred by the FW on the CP board. Just trying to get geared up in anticipation of its arrival.

Thanks,
I'm just running the stock DJI S1000 ball damer vibration isolation setup. With the weight of the gimbal and batteries (6s 16,000) hanging on the vibration isolated rails, they are pretty stiff. I have been able to wobble the isolation of few times when I really really tried. Mainly fast forward to about 35-40mph and hard stops or turns, but even then, with the CP I'm only noticing bounces once in a rare while.
 

jfro

Aerial Fun
I'm gong to start by just taking some plastic screws or bolts, and tightening down some of anti vibration mounting balls.

I'm also going to try a firmer setup during auto tune and then fly (hopefully with some moderate wind) and check the footage. I'm then going to fly a 2nd battery with the mounts soft as before. Reading up, it may need to be a firmer mount, but it's worth testing.
 

Daloaf

Member
There is not really one setup that works. Most setups will work fine, but if you are getting any kind of sway from the vibration iso wobbling around, it will show up on the video. For my S1000 when I had the AM board on there, I needed to use the S1000 dampers plus silicone mushroom dampers that came with my AG1000 gimbal. Sense I started tested the CP, I have taken the mushroom vibration dampers off and using the stock S1000 dampers, it's been fine.
 

Daloaf

Member
I'm gong to start by just taking some plastic screws or bolts, and tightening down some of anti vibration mounting balls.

I'm also going to try a firmer setup during auto tune and then fly (hopefully with some moderate wind) and check the footage. I'm then going to fly a 2nd battery with the mounts soft as before. Reading up, it may need to be a firmer mount, but it's worth testing.
Test it out stock as you have it. If you see the gimbal swaying during autotuning, then they are too loose. If not, go fly and see how the footage looks. After that you can adjust your iso as necessary.
 

jfro

Aerial Fun
Test it out stock as you have it. If you see the gimbal swaying during autotuning, then they are too loose. If not, go fly and see how the footage looks. After that you can adjust your iso as necessary.

Sounds like a plan. I have 3 gimbals I'm going to test. 2 on my x8 and 1 on a low kv motor quad.
 

RTRyder

Merlin of Multirotors
Just handed to me by the FedEx driver...







Now to pull the Droidworx/MK hex off the shelf and swap out the old first generation Alexmos controller on the Nex5 gimbal for this one. If all goes well I might have it in the air later today, depends on how busy I get with paying work in the next few hours...

Ken
 

Daloaf

Member
Here is a video I shot today testing out the CP. It was a ugly day with moderate amount of wind (like 10mph or so). I did 5 short flights making changed to the follow mode and tilt speed, trying to get it nice and slow like I prefer. Its getting close, but I want to slow down the pitch speed even more and maybe adjust the acceleration on the follow mode. I love how you can change so many things about each behavior in the GUI. But I think the CP is now ready to take on shoots. In a week or two when angle mode RC control method is released, I'll have it working just right.


 
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RTRyder

Merlin of Multirotors
In order to do a comprehensive comparison yesterday I did a couple quick test flights with my Droidworx/Nex5/Alexmos controller/Gotheli gimbal to establish a baseline. Used both the 16mm wide angle lens and the kit 18 - 55, each for one flight. Looking at the video afterward I was a bit surprised at how good it actually is, I never did much work with this particular frame/flight controller (MK)/gimbal combo as the Nex setup primarily lived under the Cinestar frame for most of it's life. I did the swap a while back when I was going to do some close quarter video where I felt the smaller AD6 frame would be a bit more manageable. It was, though that was a while back and I don't really recall what the raw video looked like since my attention was refocused on other things shortly afterward and has remained there since.

So now that I have some reference video from a known frame gimbal setup that is fairly well dialed in, I'm in the process of swapping out the Alexmos controller set for the Phobotic Centerpiece. It's going to taker a bit longer than it should as I'm also doing the CAD work and prototyping for a set of cases to contain both the controller and IMU. The IMU case is on the printer now, the controller case will be next as soon as I finish the layout and prep the file for printing. Once that's done I'll put it all back together and start the process of doing the software setup and tuning. With a little luck and no interruptions I might even get it ready to go before the daylight fades, if not I'll have plenty of time tomorrow to give it a good workout then compare the video done with the Phobotic to what I got with the Alexmos.

Stay tuned...

Ken

P.S. if anyone is interested in cases for the controller and IMU, let me know. If these come out the way I want I'm going to print up a batch to sell, pics once I have a set completed.
 

fltundra

Member
P.S. if anyone is interested in cases for the controller and IMU, let me know. If these come out the way I want I'm going to print up a batch to sell, pics once I have a set completed.
I'm interested, It would be nice to have another option if TP's out of stock.
 

RTRyder

Merlin of Multirotors
I'm interested, It would be nice to have another option if TP's out of stock.

These will be better and less expensive. The TP cases are 3D printed and I know quite well what they cost to produce at least for me on my equipment, $45 for both is about 100x the cost of materials that goes into making them!

What I'm currently printing will be standard ABS colored filament for the case and Taulman TGlaze clear cover so the LEDs can easily be seen. Will also have threaded brass inserts for the screws and the screws will pass through the cover and board before hitting the inserts. Should have a finished IMU case that I can take pics of shortly...

Ken
 

fltundra

Member
These will be better and less expensive. The TP cases are 3D printed and I know quite well what they cost to produce at least for me on my equipment, $45 for both is about 100x the cost of materials that goes into making them!

What I'm currently printing will be standard ABS colored filament for the case and Taulman TGlaze clear cover so the LEDs can easily be seen. Will also have threaded brass inserts for the screws and the screws will pass through the cover and board before hitting the inserts. Should have a finished IMU case that I can take pics of shortly...

Ken

Thanks for making these available!
 


Daloaf

Member
These will be better and less expensive. The TP cases are 3D printed and I know quite well what they cost to produce at least for me on my equipment, $45 for both is about 100x the cost of materials that goes into making them!

What I'm currently printing will be standard ABS colored filament for the case and Taulman TGlaze clear cover so the LEDs can easily be seen. Will also have threaded brass inserts for the screws and the screws will pass through the cover and board before hitting the inserts. Should have a finished IMU case that I can take pics of shortly...

Ken
It's easy to say TP's is charging way more then the cost of the plastic when your printing just a few off. When when you have to print 150 of them at a hour each or so, I think you need to charge more then the cost of the ABS. He's running a business, your just printing a few one off's. That being said, it's cool that your hooking guys up here :)
 

RTRyder

Merlin of Multirotors
It's easy to say TP's is charging way more then the cost of the plastic when your printing just a few off. When when you have to print 150 of them at a hour each or so, I think you need to charge more then the cost of the ABS. He's running a business, your just printing a few one off's. That being said, it's cool that your hooking guys up here :)

Agreed, although including the printer run time and post print handling you still don't come close to that amount. I have three printers that I run 8 - 10 hours a day producing parts for clients so I'm well aware of the costs and what a realistic price should be so you aren't giving away your time and are recovering costs of maintenance and electricity. Still, Shapeways, which is probably about the most expensive place you could go have something 3D printed charges as I recall approximately $1.75 per cm3 of material. My slicing program tells me there is approximately 16 cubic CM of material in the controller box so if you do the math, they'd be making a good profit charging roughly $28 per controller box.

I'm not against anyone making a profit, but charging an excessively high price just because you can and most folks don't know any better is quite another story...

Ken
 
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