The new camera gimbal

The Cave quad is designed as a payload carrier, strength, reliability and durability trump weight and performance.

The old camera gimbal was a cheap hobyking thing, and while it worked, it was never straightforward, and it didn't take a big impact to break it or make it fall apart. It also suffered from a limited range of motion in both directions.

The new one is direct drive, using much larger servos. The yaw servo has been modified to be continuous drive, so we should be able to look around 360 degrees, and the device is designed to be self contained, so it can rotate continuously in one direction for as long as desired.

The parts:

• Yaw servo (modified for continuous drive)
• Tilt servo
• Receiver
• Flip 32 flight controller
• Video Camera (Mobius Action Cam clone)
• Video transmitter
• OSD for Video
• 350mAh 3S battery
• 4 LED spotlights
• 2 voltage regulators

Using the FC to pass through the servos also has the advantage that the gimbal will be self stabilising to some degree, although the use, and effectiveness of that remains to be seen. 

V2.0 cavequad

Spontaneous Projects is a chronicle of all of my projects, a reference for me, and a way to prevent others from making the same mistakes. 

The cave quad 1.0 had a limited payload, and is designed as a race quad. The particular flight that these are designed for requires a stable and controllable platform which is resistant to light impacts with the walls, and can run into the ceiling safely. 

It also needs to carry a lot of lighting and a large number of cameras and recording devices. 


V2 was designed ground up for this purpose, 600mm prop to prop with 11" props for stability and payload. 

• Lighting is provided by 3 sets of 4 parallel LED's driven at about 1A
• A single Flight camera facing forwards and looking down from near the rear of the quad to offer better perspective
• a recording camera located just under the main camera
• A gimballed camera on the front wit
  
  h its own lighting rig with a tighter beam, 
• Protective cage to reduce the chance of clipping a prop
• DVR recording on the ground, in case the whole quad is not retrievable

• Parachute to make a freefall from 100m with a broken prop non-terminal

• In theory it also has an on screen display that will be recorded on the DVR

The evolution of cave quads

V1 - Jaycar helicopter

• Very little lift - no payload for camera or lights beyond those built-in. 
• Unbalanced with an extra battery, and untested
• Flown line of sight
• No recording
• Very inexperienced pilot

V2 - 250 class quad

• 4 superbright LEDs
• no recording functionality, (camera got wet on the way in)
• Unstable on the descent
• FPV flight
• Quite experienced pilot
• Fits in a pelican case