Developer Comment by R_Lefebvre on June 14, 2012 at 12:40pm

Looks pretty good to me!  But I guess it all depends on the cost.

Comment by jim C. on June 14, 2012 at 1:01pm

great job, what would the approximate price?

Comment by Matthew Schroyer on June 14, 2012 at 2:41pm

Very interesting!

Do you have any video taken from the gymbal itself?

Comment by Malcr001 on June 14, 2012 at 5:39pm

Looks great, please make a light weight mutlcopter version.

Comment by Grips on June 14, 2012 at 5:42pm

I'm hoping to see it released officially as it looks like a very tidy system. I'm also interested in the camera that is utilized. You might want to release a version to add your own 540'ish line camera. Have a 1280 on the gimbal pointing at something or a GPS point, then FPV with 5.8ghz or 900mhz.

$150 or less and you could make money from it. It might be considered a low-ball but this is a DIY community. People expect things at DIY prices :P

Developer Comment by Randy on June 14, 2012 at 6:26pm

very nice and very professional!

Comment by Michael Pursifull on June 14, 2012 at 7:09pm

@Grips: lol. We'd be lucky if $150 paid for the slip ring inside, never mind the camera, servos, structure, IMU or dome....there is wishful thinking and then there is something else entirely. 

Comment by Hein du Plessis on June 14, 2012 at 10:36pm

@Mike Good point, but one can use DIY compoents:

- Slip ring $18 (https://www.adafruit.com/products/736)

- Camera $ 40

- Servos $5 for 2 (http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=662)

- IMU $15 (http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=...)

Thats $78 for the expensive bits at retail prices, the rest is plastic & labour. I think it can be done!?

Comment by Michael Pursifull on June 14, 2012 at 11:12pm

@Hein - sure, but there are a few important nuances with the gear you've suggested

That type of slip ring is often not used in this type of product because of noise and wear and size. Typically the designing engineer selects a smaller, higher wear slip ring product, and those normally start at about $100 and up. But point well taken, I have, myself, considered using the very same adafruit product, at least in my next prototype.

The demonstrated technology includes a continuous rotation servo, so you will need to modify or select different servos. You might also have a problem with those servos in term of torque, resolution, and speed of rotation.

The camera in the demonstrated technology includes a zoom camera, and the camera itself is most likely a higher quality than one you can get for $40. 

I like your selection of the KK control board. I assume people have written their own code to these? It works well because it has the pwm outputs and inputs, is small, has demonstrated performing performing the translations required. It would really be perfect if it could piggyback on the GPS tx data from the aircraft, and that would allow it to perform "point here" operations.

Certainly it could be done, with some of these ideas in mind. Many of us have our own designs, and some people are sharing, too. I like the Pan/Tilt design that Hooks not only put together, but also gave out the STL files so we can all build it. I'd like to see more of these published, and the more we see published, the more varieties and iterations that people here will create. I hope many of us will design and build (and share!) different gimbal systems. 

Comment by Marooned on June 15, 2012 at 2:39am

One can use also 1-turn servo that is still proportional so you control a position, not a speed as with modified servos. Example: GWS S125 1T. Or it's brother GWS S125-3T-D/2BB which has 3 turns. $15 doesn't hurt so much so it's still in DIY area.

We have talented guys here. Maybe it's a good idea to join the efforts and create free open-source projects of some goodies? Take as an example guys who are now working to create their own CNC machine. After project is finished it could be open so everyone will be able to print some parts and DIY or just order it from your shop.

Just a thought...

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