Here is what we were trying to duplicate.
It's a great system, but the camera he was using was going to be much too heavy to use on it, and it's somewhat pricey.
So step one was taking measurements of his camera and coming up with a acceptable base plate.
(The posts should be at the corners, oops)
Now to take a chuck of aluminum and make it look like the CAD drawing.
First operation
Second operation
It's starting to take shape, now come the holes to reduce weight, the spot in the middle is where the holes will go to allow to camera to attach to the baseplate.
Next I drilled the holes for the rails to slide through and for the camera to mount. (I had also beadblasted the baseplate by this point)
Now I needed to make the gimbal that the handle would attach to, but still allow the baseplate to move freely.
The holes on the side are off center to allow clearance between the gimbal and the baseplate.
Next I press fit a bearing in to allow the gimbal to spin freely.
The last parts required were the outside rail holders that would have a turnbuckle in them and allow precise movement of the baseplate in an X and Y direction across the gimbal. This was to adjust the center of gravity and allow the camera to stabilize.
I drilled the holes first and then cut out the center.
Two, finished and ready to go.
A quick recap, here are the four parts made so far.
See how the gimbal has a handle attached now and an u-joint. This allows it to move in all directions freely.
Now you can see it coming together, the gimbal is attached to the X axis rails. Note the turnbuckle which allows it to move along the all-thread rod.
And here it is attached to the Y axis and baseplate, it can now be precisely adjusted anywhere on the bottom .
I had to rush and finish the last part of it since he was leaving to go out of state to use it. So the metal arm and weight at the end need some work, but you can see how it operates. No matter what angle your hand is at the baseplate (and camera) stays perfectly level.
Where did you get the handle assembly?...BTW great work.
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of u-joint type thing did you use? I was thinking of using a u-joint from a socket set, they are nice and heavy duty.
ReplyDeleteGimbal, gimbal, gimbal! :P
ReplyDeleteOther than that, nice write-up of a cool and useful project!
One thing, though... Was machining out the middle part completely necessary? I think it might have been a tad easier/cheaper to start with thinner stock and just attach some corner-blocks. It probably would have been easier to repair/modify later, too.
It's still a very impressive final product, though! Keep 'em comin' ;)
(BTW, I found this through Hackaday.)
The handle my friend picked out, it's actually from Lowes from their universal file system.
ReplyDeleteThe U-joint is from a nitro R/C car, any hobby shop will have them in stock.
Spell check, thanks! gimbal
What software did you use? Looks a little like solid works. This look like a job for my CNC too:-)
ReplyDeleteLooks like a 1/8 buggy, truggy, or monster truck cv joint to me. Great design, BTW.
ReplyDeleteJacob, I used Cobalt to model the parts, I've used Solid Works and I like it, but I learned on Cobalt so it's my standby. http://www.ashlar.com/sections/products/cobalt/cobalt.html
ReplyDelete