AZ ChopperCam
07-14-2006, 09:57 AM
Yes.. by mixing the best of both designs you have one Super, Mega design!! Seriously though I love this thing.
here's what it is.
Askman, widely known over at RCG as master maker of helicopter and fixed wing camera mounts, had come up with a unique idea to attach a gimble to a Raptor. If the stock servo tray was removed in lieu of a TPPacks.com eCCPM servo setup it leaves alot of room up front for camera assembly while also pushing the CG further aft. Both good things for what we want!
So when I saw a couple of Askman's protoype pics I immediately got in contact with him and he very generously contributed a mount frame set to the cause.
His frames mount up to the stock servo tray holes with very little modification. there are 6 hard moints. I was a little concerned at first about vibes since the frames are hard mounted but the rest of that story in a second. His frames put the camera gimbal centeline at 11.5" in front of the main shaft. That's exactly were mine was as well... how convenient!
Like my gimbal which has a sliding servo assembley for belt tension adjustment, so does his for pan belt adjustment. Nice! His pan axis uses flange bearings to support the shaft. An NAS-4 aircraft bolt is used as the pan axle and it's a tap in fit to the bearings. Gotta love NAS/AN hardware!
Th pan pullies/belt are the same size as tilt. another bit of luck... I had all the parts I needed on hand. My shop is like a camera mount oasis! LOL
Vibration isolation is handled (and very well I might add) via 3 neoprene vibe mounts. Much to the pleasure of Anthony (Artistic) I am putting these mounts in thier prefferred method of loading which is in compression. This required a 3-stack carbon plate arrangement. Kind of hard to explain how it works.. better to just look at the pics.
The weight of my aluminum tubes/dampers is about 9oz. Askmans frame assembly is about 5.5 . By the time I add the servo, pulley and belt the weight is nearly the same but with the benefit of pan. Even though the weight comes out to the same a change in CG happens due to pan mechanism weight being way out front that requires me to now run a RX out back ont he tailboom if I run a camera heavier than 1.2lb. I could also make a new flight pack tray and slide them back about 2". May do that later.
The only thing I miss on this design is the soft spongy feel the camera gets with the aluminum tube design on the dampers. Hard landings on that system are like a Trophy Truck jumping in the Baja... soft! But you try not to have hard landings so it's worth the risk.
Ok... flight report. Does it vibrate? Nope. Not even a little bit? Nope. One test I do for looking for very small vibes is to point the camera into the sun and loko at the lens flare artifacts on the image. If they move around in little circular motions yuo've got a small vibe. I pointed this beast into the sun and the artifacts just sit there like you had the camera on a tripod. No $hit. It's that smooth. Now, don't get me wrong. I have spent weeks fine tuning this Raptor and it was the smoothest Raptor north of the Rio Grande before starting. Don't expect smooth results first flight out. Won't happen.
I will be talknig with Askman today or tomorrow. There are a few minor changes I'd like to see made. Nothing major just a few dimensional changes to increase rigidity.
So.. where does this lead? I'm going to place an order with Askman for about 15-20 of these and I'm going to have the 3-disc carbon vibe system cut from Mark at MJP Carbon. I know it seems like I'm never finished with anything but that's only because it seems like I'm always on to some new projects... sheeeeesh! But for those of you who have purchased the gimbal kits (which are shipping Monday BTW) and are planningon running a TPPacs eCCPM mod, I say sit tight for a little bit longer if you want this system. I'll have the carbon discs cut when the next batch of arches are cut so it just depends on how soon Askman can come up with his frames.
And to Askman.... thanks buddy! you've got a finely engineered front mount arm that compliments my arches wonderfully!
I will post up the video test once I get to work and capture/compress it.
http://www.azchoppercam.com/raptorcam/askman_az/1.jpg
http://www.azchoppercam.com/raptorcam/askman_az/2.jpg
http://www.azchoppercam.com/raptorcam/askman_az/3.jpg
http://www.azchoppercam.com/raptorcam/askman_az/4.jpg
http://www.azchoppercam.com/raptorcam/askman_az/5.jpg
here's what it is.
Askman, widely known over at RCG as master maker of helicopter and fixed wing camera mounts, had come up with a unique idea to attach a gimble to a Raptor. If the stock servo tray was removed in lieu of a TPPacks.com eCCPM servo setup it leaves alot of room up front for camera assembly while also pushing the CG further aft. Both good things for what we want!
So when I saw a couple of Askman's protoype pics I immediately got in contact with him and he very generously contributed a mount frame set to the cause.
His frames mount up to the stock servo tray holes with very little modification. there are 6 hard moints. I was a little concerned at first about vibes since the frames are hard mounted but the rest of that story in a second. His frames put the camera gimbal centeline at 11.5" in front of the main shaft. That's exactly were mine was as well... how convenient!
Like my gimbal which has a sliding servo assembley for belt tension adjustment, so does his for pan belt adjustment. Nice! His pan axis uses flange bearings to support the shaft. An NAS-4 aircraft bolt is used as the pan axle and it's a tap in fit to the bearings. Gotta love NAS/AN hardware!
Th pan pullies/belt are the same size as tilt. another bit of luck... I had all the parts I needed on hand. My shop is like a camera mount oasis! LOL
Vibration isolation is handled (and very well I might add) via 3 neoprene vibe mounts. Much to the pleasure of Anthony (Artistic) I am putting these mounts in thier prefferred method of loading which is in compression. This required a 3-stack carbon plate arrangement. Kind of hard to explain how it works.. better to just look at the pics.
The weight of my aluminum tubes/dampers is about 9oz. Askmans frame assembly is about 5.5 . By the time I add the servo, pulley and belt the weight is nearly the same but with the benefit of pan. Even though the weight comes out to the same a change in CG happens due to pan mechanism weight being way out front that requires me to now run a RX out back ont he tailboom if I run a camera heavier than 1.2lb. I could also make a new flight pack tray and slide them back about 2". May do that later.
The only thing I miss on this design is the soft spongy feel the camera gets with the aluminum tube design on the dampers. Hard landings on that system are like a Trophy Truck jumping in the Baja... soft! But you try not to have hard landings so it's worth the risk.
Ok... flight report. Does it vibrate? Nope. Not even a little bit? Nope. One test I do for looking for very small vibes is to point the camera into the sun and loko at the lens flare artifacts on the image. If they move around in little circular motions yuo've got a small vibe. I pointed this beast into the sun and the artifacts just sit there like you had the camera on a tripod. No $hit. It's that smooth. Now, don't get me wrong. I have spent weeks fine tuning this Raptor and it was the smoothest Raptor north of the Rio Grande before starting. Don't expect smooth results first flight out. Won't happen.
I will be talknig with Askman today or tomorrow. There are a few minor changes I'd like to see made. Nothing major just a few dimensional changes to increase rigidity.
So.. where does this lead? I'm going to place an order with Askman for about 15-20 of these and I'm going to have the 3-disc carbon vibe system cut from Mark at MJP Carbon. I know it seems like I'm never finished with anything but that's only because it seems like I'm always on to some new projects... sheeeeesh! But for those of you who have purchased the gimbal kits (which are shipping Monday BTW) and are planningon running a TPPacs eCCPM mod, I say sit tight for a little bit longer if you want this system. I'll have the carbon discs cut when the next batch of arches are cut so it just depends on how soon Askman can come up with his frames.
And to Askman.... thanks buddy! you've got a finely engineered front mount arm that compliments my arches wonderfully!
I will post up the video test once I get to work and capture/compress it.
http://www.azchoppercam.com/raptorcam/askman_az/1.jpg
http://www.azchoppercam.com/raptorcam/askman_az/2.jpg
http://www.azchoppercam.com/raptorcam/askman_az/3.jpg
http://www.azchoppercam.com/raptorcam/askman_az/4.jpg
http://www.azchoppercam.com/raptorcam/askman_az/5.jpg