Gimbal Design Options: Wire vs. Steering Linkage vs. Direct-Drive/On-Servo vs. Geared Drive

I want to cover why I have been designing gimbals with wire linkages, and discuss some of the potential advantages and disadvantages of some of the best alternate design options, and why I may start to adopt them. Wire Linkage: The main advantages of a a wire linkage are durability, flexible application, good performance, andContinue reading “Gimbal Design Options: Wire vs. Steering Linkage vs. Direct-Drive/On-Servo vs. Geared Drive”

Do You Need a Head Tracker?

No, there’s a limitless selection of alternatives that will work to control the gimbal/servo, and you can also set up a switch that changes control of the gimbal from various inputs. For example, a three-position switch can change control between the head tracker, a slider on the transmitter, and a constant value. What else wouldContinue reading “Do You Need a Head Tracker?”

FPV Gimbal – Camera Mount Options

Many of the open source gimbal designs share the same 20mm bearing housing, this means that for most designs the only frame-specific part is the base, while the top/camera mount is cross-compatible between all designs that share the 20mm bearing housing. This doesn’t mean that they will all work perfectly on any base/frame, this justContinue reading “FPV Gimbal – Camera Mount Options”

New Capabilities of FPV Drones with Head Tracking Gimbals

FPV drones have been limited in the types of footage they can capture, unable to replicate what standard cinematography drones can create. The addition of a gimbal on a FPV drone allows it to seamlessly transition from dynamic “proximity” flying into more traditional (non-FPV) drone shots, and vice versa, as well as a whole newContinue reading “New Capabilities of FPV Drones with Head Tracking Gimbals”