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40mm retractable camera turret

Posted by UAS_Pilot on March 12, 2012 at 10:00am

I think that we need to restart the blog on this. 

This guy built a 40 mm ball turret that would work great in small UAS's. He said that he would not sell it but i think having him post details of how he built would be nice.

Here is a video of tit working.

If anyone has other turret systems to share of Pan and tilt systems please post... I am looking for a good design to integrate into my UAS...

Tags: 40, and, cam, camera, gimbal, mm, pan, tilt, turret
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Comments

  • Ellison Chan March 19, 2012 at 6:35pm

    Thanks Andrew!

  • Andrew Rabbitt March 19, 2012 at 6:10pm

    Here you go Ellison!  Have a go at printing this.

    http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:19519

  • Hunter Parris March 19, 2012 at 3:50pm

    I feel sorry for folks like us having to bow before large companies with ridiculous patents.  But I am a law-biding citizen (for the most part) and do see the reasoning behind patents.  I've had similar patent-infringing epiphanies on quite a lower scale.  For instance: While going through the drive-thru at a local fast food place, I used to hate the bags of fries they gave you since they would normally spill all over my car.  So I would always ask for a small, empty cup to transfer my fries to upon receipt of them.  I then would cut a small U-shaped lip for easy access.  I did this, so my rods of golden deliciousness would sit undisturbed in a spare cup holder.  after about a month of doing this, I thought to myself, I should really look into to patenting this!  Two days later, that same local drive-thru had the same exact design of my Cup-O-Fry holder!  This was a bit scary for me and I went through a small paranoia-phase thinking that the patent-police was brain scanning or spying.  I soon realized this was ridiculous and blamed it on 'Murphy'.  But I digress...

    I have been coming up with some similar designs through Autodesk Inventor, in my head, and on Food Court napkins.  I am a strong supporter of 'Open-Source' and would very much contribute any of my ideas to the greater good of the Community!

  • Ellison Chan March 19, 2012 at 9:23am

    Hey Jiri, I'm going to make a 3D printed version of the turret.  Can you give some of the specs?

    1. What is the size, and angle of the opening on top?
    2. What is the size of the camera hole?
    3. What thickness is the walls?  I need to print at 1mm wall thickness.
    4. Anything else that's important.
  • Jiri Pistek March 18, 2012 at 12:33pm

    A big one:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPVI4tsim-o&feature=plcp&con...

     

     

     

    I do not know how that was done without the DIY representatives’ knowledge – but it could happen again - the thread could get deleted……

    Who do you think pays the hacker?

     

    I loaded all the pictures of the turret to this web address.

    http://airview.rajce.idnes.cz/DIYcameraturret

     They are not in order there. Get inspired.

  • Jiri Pistek March 18, 2012 at 12:29pm

    I am so amased. I love the fact my design is attracting attention.

    But before I post anything, do you really want to me to be here?

    My first blog about the retractable camera turret got deleted by god knows whoom.

    The DIY Drones manager said it was weird. He was threatened by the BTC (patent holder) to delete it. He refused as he did not see any patent infringement (I stated clearly I would not sell the kit.)

    And for those who think I copied it I say NO I DID NOT. You may believe it or not I do not really care. Just realize – it was not only me but a whole community working on the original thread at RC groups. Read it, and see.

    When they sent the patent web address to me I was astonished how similar my design was.

    Well the construction is different, but the principle is the same.

    I have talked to a patent layer and was advised to forget about making a kit so similar to a patented design. I can still sell the parts like the sprockets, chain, and sphere. These things would not jeopardize the patent but greatly help while building your own turret. It is not difficult. I keep my fingers crossed for you. I am willing to make my CAD design available for free. I must find out if this is not a bad idea though.

     

    One of my first retractable designs used doors as well. The You-tube video showing our autopilot abilities (now very obsolete, but made by us), was made loooong time after I have pictured it in a local RC magazine.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snwp6onsyIg

     

    The mentioned autopilot performance

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uA6w5ow89Go

     

    I have made so many turrets. No wonder I came up with something that someone else had developed before. That happens and I am not the only one.

    Finally I could have made some money on it.

    Basically I am turning down quite a lot of people. But not as many to make a fortune - for which one could be willing to risk a court with a big company.

    Therefore I just gave up. I think the patent is valid locally in the US only. Before any production can be started, a thorough research should be conducted to find out if somebody has not had a similar idea that got patented. This research is done by special companies that will cost you a lot of money.

     

    This is how the kit could have looked:

    http://airview.rajce.idnes.cz/DIYcameraturret#iDSC07201.jpg

     

    Turrets I made myself:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrUPf-v5JL4

     

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys0BMy3yuTE

     

    This go-pro mount I made is a funny one

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8blCWjZMTU&list=UU_XnhyGCfBQ_Dj...

     

    Another version of it

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1VGDQNSgzOc&feature=autoplay&...

     

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdL2-kfiiqc&feature=related

     

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaZ6DJtG84w

     

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3O8tyYdbMk

     

    A big one:

  • Andrew Rabbitt March 16, 2012 at 7:27pm

    When I say 'usually useless' above, I mean technically useless.  They are great for legally bullying people with, which is what happened in this case...

    Most people don't wish to waste time in court to find out whether someone elses patent rights are real, or not, unless there's a bunch of money at stake.

  • Andrew Rabbitt March 16, 2012 at 7:25pm

    For all those still arguing about the validity of the patent, you need to understand one thing about patents.  The only legally useful thing in them is under the 'claims' section, where they say:

    I claim:

    1. A camera mount comprising:

    a base;
    a yoke pivotally mounted to the base;
    a camera semi-shell pivotally mounted to the yoke;
    a pan servo to rotate the yoke with respect to a pan axis, the pan axis being perpendicular to the base;
    a tilt servo to rotate the camera semi-shell with respect to a tilt axis, the tilt axis being parallel to the base, wherein a rotational displacement of the camera semi-shell about the tilt axis is controlled by a control cable driven by the tilt servo, wherein said control cable is routed to the camera semi-sphere through a sheath passing through the center of yoke rotation; and
    first and second position feedback means for monitoring an extent of rotation implemented by said pan and tilt servos.

    They then go on to claim a bunch of variations to this idea in claim 2, 3, 4 etc.

    You must understand that it's the words contained within this claim that are the only legally binding part of the patent.  The figures, diagrams, preamble etc. are all useful stuff but carry virtually no legal usefulness in defending an infringment claim.

    In this case, if you were to make your tilt axis non-parallel to the base, your design would not infringe this patent.  This is why patents are usually useless.  Also, if you can demonstrate any prior art (i.e. stuff published anywhere before the patent priority date) that is similar to claim 1, the patent becomes worthless.

  • Ellison Chan March 16, 2012 at 6:38pm

    Seth, the point is that I don't feel the first blogger was copying anyone's design.  You can see from the thread that the whole idea was threshed out in the group, with design suggestions from all members.  You can't just prevent people from creating things, just because you have a patent that is similar.  Like I said previously, you have to patent a particular invention, not a design idea.  Camera turrets is a general idea, and you can't prevent others from making one.

  • Seth March 16, 2012 at 6:28pm

    I don't understand everyone's preoccupation with this one design. If you want a pan/tilt you can buy one from HobbyKing for like 23 cents.

    Making a small gimbal isn't hard. Instead of just blatantly copying someone else's design, like this:

    3692374541?profile=originalWhy not leverage freely available parametric CAD software like Autodesk's 123D, do some 3D printing and laser cutting through Ponoko, and pick out some hardware from ServoCity. What's the satisfaction in creating something wholly derivative of someone else's design? Why not make something new? Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but the BTC-40 isn't a particularly advanced design. It doesn't have continuous rotation, it's retraction mechanism won't passively retract if power is lost, it uses servos with low resolution potentiometers- fine for a camera with no zoom, but if you put a Sony block camera in it with 36x zoom..

    3689410595?profile=original

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