DIY mechanical gyro

[Weithy]

Has anyone tried making a mechanical gyro to stabilize an AP camera, like the Kenyon KS-2 ?
A LiPo powered brushless motor spinning a flywheel or two, might help remove the video wobblies.

[Weithy]

I found another example of a small one here...
http://maxx300.com/

[jrohland]

Most of us try to keep the unneeded weight off our helis. Since the electronic gyros are light weight, simple to use, fast and pretty accurate, I would stick with them.

[furyphoto]

Originally Posted by Weithy

I found another example of a small one here...
http://maxx300.com/

at 250g less than the KS-2, and one 10th the price. This looks like a pretty tempting piece of gear to try out. It should run for about 20 min on one of my existing cheapo 3s lipos. for $112 it's practically free.

As soon as I build a bigger bird I will almost certainly try one. Electronic gyros can maintain the direction of a camera, but they don't have the shake and vibration reducing properties that a real spinning gyro does. I know some AP pilots have used them, but my guess would be that a combination of both would be best, electronic on the tilt, roll and pan, and a mechanical gyro on the mount, to steady any vibrations. (this is just a theory of course)

-A

[Windbreaker]

An electronic servo/gyro system is dependent upon the resolution of the sensor, controller and servo.

To properly stabilize a video camera, and keep a horizon perfectly level, a stabilizer system would have to respond instantly and accurately. With small adjustments, the reactions would have to be subtle, too.

A well-balanced mechanical gyro-stabilized mount could do this easily. Artificial horizons and gyro compasses in aircraft accomplish this all the time. I would guess that an electronic equivalent to do this for a video camera would be very costly. Gyros used in the hobby market don't seem to have the kind of fast response, sensitivity, accuracy and resolution needed to do a truly high-quality job of keeping a camera stable.

It would be interesting to see what the Max-X can do.

[ZarbeL]

i really want to buit a small mechanic Gyro, do you know people who've try?
maxx300 look good, but it really work in photo or gyro stuff?

[smankleo]

Have a look here these web
http://www.myresearch.lt/blog/onboar...djustmen-27843

I hope help .Wait for a good news.

[R_Lefebvre]

I'm still looking at doing this. Counter-rotating gyros would eliminate all the precession forces, so the camera will be rock stable in 2 axes. A gyro coupled to the motor drives through a V-tail mixer could be used for yaw control. So you can have rock-solid roll and pitch stabilization, combined with the ability to control and stabilize yaw without any servos.

If one adds the ability to twist the gyros axis with a simple servo, you can also achieve pitch/tilt control in addition.

I'm hoping to try this soon with some simple and cheap outrunner motors.

[SeismicCWave]

Originally Posted by R_Lefebvre

I'm still looking at doing this. Counter-rotating gyros would eliminate all the precession forces, so the camera will be rock stable in 2 axes. A gyro coupled to the motor drives through a V-tail mixer could be used for yaw control. So you can have rock-solid roll and pitch stabilization, combined with the ability to control and stabilize yaw without any servos.

If one adds the ability to twist the gyros axis with a simple servo, you can also achieve pitch/tilt control in addition.

I'm hoping to try this soon with some simple and cheap outrunner motors.

Are you sure? I thought Kenyon has two gyros at 90 degrees to each other.

The mechanical gyro we had for our RC helicopter tail didn't have two counter rotating fly wheel. They have two fly wheels spinning in the same direction.

[R_Lefebvre]

No, I'm not sure, but I believe it to be true. I believe Kenyons are contra-rotating on a parallel axis. That is why you often see then installed with 2 units at 90° to eachother.

The comparison to a mechanical helicopter gyro is apples and oranges. One of them physically stabilizes the item by gyroscopic forces. The other uses gyroscopic forces to actuate an electromechanical circuit which in turn controls a servo to stabilize the helicopter.

[Weithy]

http://www.kenyongyro.net/kenyongyro/id2.html
I remember seeing a picture of the insides of a kenyon somewhere, but this history page was all I found this time. Maybe the patent has details.

I think that two flywheels spinning opposite direction on one axis will cancel each other, because the reaction to force is 90 degrees apart on each flywheel, therefore 180 between the two flywheels.

http://www.nauticexpo.com/prod/seake...12-242078.html

http://www.antirollinggyro.com/CMS/00015.html

A ship gyro for reducing roll has the flywheel axis vertical, and the flywheel housing can rotate on one axis which is across the boat. there is a hydaulic dampner on that movement. That transfers the roll motion into pitch motion.
I think there is a two flywheel version, with the flywheel housing rotate axis at 90 deg.

[KENYON GYRO]

In response to the question of how the wheels spin and their orientation inside the gyro, I am posting to this site. The wheels do counter-rotate, spin at over 20,000 rpms and are on the same plane inside the gyro case. Any questions? Call me (Randy), at (860) 345-2097 or toll free in the US, 800-253-4681. We rent and sell...rental fee can be put towards purchase.

[Weithy]

DO you have a picture of the insides?
There is probably a good market for a gyro to suit RC helis.

[POWERFTK]

R YOU looking forDIY!!!!!!!!!!!!! VOILA

Hexacopter flight with disk drive gyroscope - Part 3 (3 min 56 sec)

Hexacopter flight with disk drive gyroscope (4 min 8 sec)

[quadman]

KS2 and KS4 from KenLab have been widely used on RC Helis and works very well on both roll and tilt if setup properly.

The problem with creating a huge DIY flywheel that can stabilize a SLR camera, will be a huge challenge to make it balance and vibration free. You will induce another source of vibration.

Probably best stick with Ken Lab gyros, which produce near zero vibrations, Which nearly impossible to achieve unless with specialize equipment and experience.

The flyWheels inside the KS2 and 4 continue to spin for another 10 to 15 minutes after the power is shut off, it's hard to achieve that type of smoothness and fraction free.

[beamen]

Does anyone have a video of a AP rig with a KS2/4 gyro? It would be cool to see how the video turns out.

[PhotoShip One]

[ame]http://vimeo.com/5509396[/ame]

[beamen]

Very nice. When the KS is mounted, can the camera still be pointed down/up and left/right? Is it a worthy upgrade in your opinion?

[Weithy]

http://www.gyroscope.com/d.asp?product=GYROSTABILIZER
spotted this Gyrosteady while webbing

[Mapoff]

This thread is old, but the answer was never given for the question. Do roll and tilt still work, or does the gyro resist so much that movement isn't possible.