So I finally have a few minutes of spare time to swap out my red vibration isolators for an as-yet-to-be-determined "recipe" of red, blue and black bands. So, I remove the gimbal and pull the isolators, and I look at the bottom of my Cinestar center hub, and I am shocked. I have probably close to 100 flights on my Cinestar (the majority of which had a camera hung on the gimbal) with the bottom plate installed upside down. The little retaining bolts are pointing down (upside-down in this photo). That means the gimbal has been held on by...what? I guess those little bolts are inset in the frame pretty well. Wow. I doubt that has anything to do with the stability issues I've had (unless one or more of these might be loose), but suffice it to say I am so very grateful that the gimbal stayed on all these months. Geez...
There must have been quite an expletive issued. You are very lucky. Congrats and thanks for sharing. This reminds me that every time I get in there to do something, I should sanity check everything I see. -m
You dodged a bullet there, Squire.....Holy crap......I get goosebumps just think about watching a camera gimbal separate from a Cinestar that's only 100 feet up.....But I second Mike's sentiment of appreciation for sharing with the forum members. It would be easy to make that mistake and not realize it until itwastoolate.... Mike: Given that I'm insane, how can I possibly sanity check anything? Andy.
Time to flip that plate over. I've installed those press nuts and it is a good set of pliers job so not surprised that they held onto your camera. But it won't take long to flip it over if you have a power screwdriver like the Hitachi.
I am still trying to figure that out. I went all blue and it footage was garbage. I did combinations of the two, not real good either, I reverted back to all reds and lowered the pan gain a bit. So I will see what happens. I still get chatter at real low pans, which do not exert to much pressure on those as do faster pans. I suspect that I have reached the limits of the gear driven system. Here is hoping after NAB, that there is a direct drive conversion that doesn't cost a gazillion dollars to upgrade.
Yeah, my first attempt today (with the 5D Mark III) was to do this with all the isolators: 000000 The result was too jittery, so I'm going to take out the blacks and go for just a couple blues like this: 000000 And I echo your sentiment WRT the gimbal. My hope is that the gimbal itself can be upgraded with Radians in place, but I somehow doubt it. Hopefully we'll know more next week.
The plate is flipped. That wasn't easy. Basically had to take the whole damn copter apart! And when I put it back together, I got it rotated wrong (off by one boom) so that the vibration isolator was bumping into the bolt heads on the boom. So I had to take it all apart again and rotate it. But it's working now and back in the air. I'd love to have those two hours and those brain cells back.
See! See! That was the penance for have the plate on the wrong way around. Not that I've ever done anything like that, you understand. Well, not recently. Andy.
My buffoonery this week was trying to juggle the CS in one hand and the DX8 in the other, while calibrating the compass. Ended up switching the AC to mode 1. I had to go back and reset my board.
Shaun The calibration juggling act is tough. Almost a two person job with a 3-axis. What I do, based on lessons learned, is set the transmitter on the ground or a table. There is no hurry to pull the sticks for the next steps. Leaves both hands free, nothing around the neck and from a safety standpoint I'm not holding the copter next to me with the off chance that I snag a stick and have a motor start. Maybe someday we can get rid of the mag compass calibration. It's been awhile since I have seen them do a compass calibration on a Predator. They needed cranes and hoists and a whole bunch of people to spin that thing. Somehow they got it done and said they only have to do it once a month or if they relocated more than 4000 klicks.
I was thinking about turning an old camera tripod into a "boom rest" so that I could rest either boom #3 or #1 on it and just spin the copter. It would just need a U-bracket that mounted with a 1/4 x 20 on to the tripod. It's tough to calibrate with a 5D Mark III on it -- must be impossible with a Red. But I also take the Tx off and put it on the ground rather than wrestle with the Cinestar/Gimbal and Tx all at the same time. It tends to worry the spectators (if any) and frighten the horses -- especially when my forearm gets wedged between two prop. blade tips. Andy.
Agreed I thought maybe it would be easier with gimbal off I did not put the gears back on. I ended up doing again with gimbal attached and my camop assisting. Lesson Learned.
Andy I built two "heads" to put on cheap tamron tripods using screen door bottom rollers. It works really well to balance the copter because they cradle the booms with low friction bearings. I am away from home but when I get a chance I will take a photo. Would work great for the other hand or hands for calibration gymnastics. Joe
That's the second great idea you've had since I've been moderating, Joe -- the first being your Azzarelli Gauge for motor alignment, and now this. Aren't you on some kind of quota for the number of good ideas you have per year? Love to see some images. Andy.
I was able to get wifey to take some quick photos. At first she did not know what was 'up', but you get the idea. Bracket and ball bearing rollers were off the shelf at Home Depot in the screen door repair area. I did cut the V in the bracket. 5/16" bolt hardware and of course 1/4"x20 nut to secure to tripod. I used little Tamron tripods but can be put on any. Booms cradle nicely. Use 2 tripods to balance N-S then E-W. Joe
Very strange, because I can see them. Steve... are you still having problems seeing the images? Nice work on the ACCCA (Azzarelli Copter Compass Calibration Aid), Joe. Andy.