Blogs

You need to be a member of diydrones to add comments!

Join diydrones

Comments

  • Emin Bu March 24, 2013 at 5:16am

    i am building one myself...all information about simple brushless gimbal can be found here,i sugest using russion version (and translate google)of web page bcs it contains more information

    http://www.simplebgc.com/eng/

    more information about it is this thread on rcgroups suported by Flyduino and Viacopter.eu

    http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1815204

    nowdays more and more motors are avalible

    http://flyduino.net/Flyduino-GBM4008-021mm-150-Turns-Motor-for-Alex...

    http://www.rctimer.com/index.php?gOo=goods_details.dwt&goodsid=... (i rewinded this one myself,still testing but i think it will be able to swing bigger cameras too)

    also tiger motors looking good 2208  10 Ohm = 30$
                                                4006  20 Ohm = 48$

    3692662178?profile=original3692662124?profile=original

  • Emin Bu March 24, 2013 at 4:27am

    RobertL and GregF..here is part of Simple Brushless Gimbal Controller tuning manual

    "

    EXTERNAL FC GAIN – this setting is required, if you were made optional connection to flight
    controller. This connection helps to improve stabilization quality. Many flight controllers have output
    to camera gimbal servos for ROLL and PITCH axis. You should configure this outputs to about +-30
    degrees range and connect to SimleBGC according to connection diagram. Then follow the next
    steps:
    ◦ Activate cam stab mode in you flight controller (read its manual how to configure and activate it)
    ◦ Disable all filtering and compensation, if present, to make linear response.
    ◦ Connect SimpleBGC to PC, run GUI and press START button. If all connected properly, you will
    see response from flight controller in EXT_FC_INPUT box. Check if it reacts to frame tilting.
    ◦ Controller should be tuned and powered on. Camera stabilization should work. Press AUTO
    button and slowly tilt copter frame by each axis forth and back about 20~30 degree. Repeat this
    5-10 times for each axis (all takes about 30 seconds).
    ◦ Press AUTO again. Calibration stops and estimated settings will be read from controller.

    and manual itself

    http://www.simplebgc.com/files/v10/SimpleBGC_manual_1_2_eng.pdf

    http://www.simplebgc.com/files/v10/SimpleBGC_manual_1_2_eng.pdf
  • Emin Bu March 24, 2013 at 4:23am

    This gimbal is looking nice and not too expensive but there is one thing is missing and that is possibility to adjust COG on pitch..it is useless that way bcs most important thing is to have everithing in perfect balance....

  • Developer
    Jani Hirvinen March 23, 2013 at 7:16pm

    Greg, only problem with ArduIMU is that there is no power driver at all. ESC might be one way but then you need to have 2 custom flashed ESCs and they all eat power. Having custom made controller board like this BLGC board does not waste so much power. Also it has external Mini IMU that goes under camera plate while main electronics is staying further away and not creating extra mass for gimbal. 

    jDrones rev 1.3 BLGC gimbal controller with IMU

    jDrones-BLGC_With_IMU_V13.JPG?width=500

    jD-main
  • Greg Fletcher March 23, 2013 at 12:39pm

    Robert,

    You are absolutely right. Its just that the only example I have seen were just keeping level. I have been looking at some open code that runs on a 328P and mpu 6050. It could be modified to run a mpu 6000, which I think is I2C and the other is SPI. Then it should run on a Ardu IMU 3. You're also right about the Mount code. Makes for less work on the APM. We just to take the poll/tilt/pan_control_angle and send it thru a spare serial port to the imu 3, at 50 Hz and it would use these as the control setpoints. Outputs using the 3 pwm outputs on the 328p. Some one needs to  write some code for a flash-able esc to control the motors.  With motors now available and the smoother performance over servos, these things will soon be the standard gimbal control method.

  • ionut March 23, 2013 at 12:18pm

    This controller:

    http://flyduino.net/Alex-Mos-Brushless-Gimbal-BLG

  • Rob_Lefebvre March 23, 2013 at 9:43am

    My understanding is that you simply feed these controllers two PWM signals which represent the pitch and roll targets.  (Actually, roll might be fixed as "level" so only requiring a single PWM?)  

    So, I don't know if the APM will play nicely with these currently.  The APM would need to calculate a geometric reference for pitch, and output that, with NO frame stabilization in it.  If the target is 50m away, and the copter is at 50m altitude, the APM would compute a 45° downward pitch, and send that signal to the BLGC.  The BLGC will handle the stabilization from there.  I'm not sure if the APM Mount controller can do that.  But it should be easy to fix, as we're just removing the stabilization portion, not adding anything.

  • Gary McCray March 23, 2013 at 9:06am

    Josh,

    Definitely no bandwidth in APM to run these and also to slow a refresh rate.

    They need a separate controller / motor driver board, but they probably are the way to go.

    At least 3 Companies are gearing up with brushless gimbal motors and although they are technically a stepper motor using an analog microstep, their inter-step behavior tends to be smoother than conventional steppers.

    Real steppers could certainly work as well.

  • Noth666 March 23, 2013 at 7:14am
    The controller with the driver and separate IMU board are about 110r or so, viacopter.eu for example sells them. They are plug and play if the motors are wound the right way, and the IMU is sngle mpu6050 based.
  • Jethro Hazelhurst March 23, 2013 at 7:04am

    I agree! My dream setup: APM3 ( PX4 Hardware, built in brushless gimbal controller), brushless gimbal, hand held ground station with 3D joystick, antennae tracking and fpv head tracking, with an HD video link... oh yes, and a titanium Sponge 3D printed Frame!

This reply was deleted.