A couple of mount questions

[Nitrospazzz]

I got my Canon rebel mounted up to my M1 carbon mount this morning. Made a mount for the downlink camera (bwav) and the trigger servo. Now I have a couple questions.

I had to mount the camera a little forward of center, because of this the gimbal the camera sits on is front heavy. Even with the downlink gear and battery on the back of the little platform there. Should I add weight or get a bigger battery to attempt to balance it?

With the camera and all the downlink equipment on the camera mount it balances at about the point where the front skid mount is. Should I be adding weight to the back of the mount in an attempt to balance the mount as a whole? I would like to be able to put it on facing forwards and backwards depending on the shot.

Last questions...for now. Where are people buying their eyetops for the downlink? I see helihobby has them but I have heard of people having issues with odering from them in the past. Is there any other place that people are getting their eyetops?

Thank You. If everything goes as planned I should be posting the first shots from the Red Cedar Aerial Photography Helicam by the end of the weekend

[Menno]

Hi Nitrospazzz,

The official Eyetop website is out of the air for some time now so maybe the production of the Eyetops have stopped. You could try to order one from Bill at Black Widow. He still has the Centra version on his website http://www.blackwidowav.com/productaccessories.html.

As far as the balance on your mount. You could drill another hole to mount the gimbal a bit further back. This improved the balance on my M1 Carbon 30. I know know this is done by a few other people with AF mounts. I don't think beeing a bit nose heavy is much of a problem though. You can see a picture in my gallery where the mount is still nose heavy.

I would not put the mount on backwards. I thought about it in the beginning but now I think that when I hover with the nose in it is easier to aim the camera.

Menno

[Nitrospazzz]

I have the camera mounted as far back as I can get it. The tilt servo is in the way if I move it back any farther. Looks like it will have to stay as is unless I go with a bigger pack to power the downlink. Thank you

[Menno]

Hi Nitrospazzz,

I'am not sure where are talking about the same thing. Do you mean the balance of the camera on the gimbal or the balance of the entire mount?

In case your talking about the camera on the mount. On my mount I needed to rotate the gimbal 180 degrees to mount my Rebel XT. This way the servo is on the left side giving more space to position the camera on the carbon plate. See attached picture.

If it is the entire mount you can bolt the complete gimbal further back on the centre square bar of aluminium. I don't have a picture of this right now, but you can see it a little bit on the mount of Jeff Scholl in the folowing link. http://www.gravityshots.com/heli/dsp_root_pop_image.cfm?image=11-23-04_vertmount1.jpg


Menno

[Nitrospazzz]

Ah never thought of putting it on backwards. Great tip. I'll look at that and see how it would work.

To clear things up I was talking about the balance of the gimbal and the balance of the mount. I might try moving it back but that would limit how far I could pan without seeing the mount in the frame.

Thank You

[Nitrospazzz]

Mounted it backwards like you suggested. Thing balances good now. I'll have to pick up a bigger battery for the downlink or just put a couple ounces of lead back there if I want the entire mount to balance. However right now the heli balances perfect, can't wait to test fly it tomorrow morning.