BOLTR: Robot Resolver. (What the hell is a resolver?)

Previously Unlisted: Industrial Automation Oddware. Behold the resolver, how it works and what it does. Is it better than an encoder?

[@unicornwithnohorn]

Have you had an increase in unsubs since your last video?

[@arduinoversusevil2025]

Naw, only culled a few dozen weirdos. *sad face*

[@1rstTry]

Nope! Up 13k

[@mulymule12]

AvE because 99% of you subcribers don't suck of pewdiepie or vlogers.

[@BRBTechTalk]

+Stratton Schippers Nope, he is on the upswing according to socialblade 13% more subs 33% more views

[@mikeyanderson6012]

I hope the votes continue to go up. He’s a smart guy that doesn’t try to make everything complicated to make himself seem smarter. He explains the shit the way a lot of people can understand. Keep it up uncle bumble fuck

[@Haywoodjablomie100]

Meanwhile in Kentucky, a local barber in my area just got arrested for selling drugs. Blew my mind. I've been his customer for years. I had no idea he was a barber.

[@guillaumefg]

"It flew, now it's aerospace grade" Well played, sir.

[@rodralston2279]

My company makes an ultra-precision wind direction sensor using a resolver. One of the advantages is no brushes or wipers to introduce friction - the wind vane has to move easily in order to respond precisely at low wind speeds. Cool!

[@rationalmartian]

Those MOFO springs still give me the willies. I used to do design and manufacture of lifting and lowering equip for TV and film studio, and that sort o shit. We used to use pairs and quads of the big fuckers for the small pantograph hangers we made. We would often do batches of 100 or more of the fuckers. And it was usually Joe Toss here who got lumbered with the pain in the arse "power end" (not actually powered as such just the springs) winding and installing the springs. Ya get damn good at it. But that's the problem. Ya get complacent, start thinking about other things or just chatting shit and and BANG, one of the cunts comes snaking out at 100 miles an hour, and them edges tend to be mighty fuckin' sharp to be whipping around. Fun times.

[@bashisobsolete.pythonismyn6321]

cunting right. the buggers.

[@N3tech]

My professor spent 20 minutes poorly explaining transformers today, and AvE spent 20 seconds... Why can't everyone be as beautiful as you?

[@arduinoversusevil2025]

I had the same professor!

[@felixar90]

Same lol, happened just yesterday. Since I already understood transformers well enough, I hit him with a few carefully selected questions to try and make him explain things in a better way for the rest of the class

[@Zoidberg227]

I don't get some professors. It should be relatively straightforward to explain the basic principle of operation of something like a transformer, even to a mechanical engineering student, but they just ... can't.

[@firebird8600]

Same here. Those electric pixies can be extra confusing when explained by a professor.

[@N3tech]

Zoidberg227 yeah, does getting a PhD in Electrical Engineering mean you loose the ability to talk to regular people?

[@glennburton1536]

Used to use resolvers in satellite antenna control systems on systems designed in the early 90's (still selling now!). You can get 15 or 16 bit resolution out of them if you treat them nice and connect them to a Resolver to Digital Convertor chips. (Expensive though!) They are great for use with long cables and resistant to noise pick-up too. We also used them in pairs with precision gearboxes to provide coarse & fine ranges, combined in software for 18 or 19 bit resolution. This can give you 0.0006 degree step sizes.

[@tommee10533]

They take impact, heat alot better than encoders also. We have alot of them where i work.

[@casholsen3202]

Resolvers are excited by a sine wave of 400 to 1000 hertz. The outs will also be sine waves with sine / cosine relationship rotated by the mechanical angle.

[@mikeselectricstuff]

A cool thing about resolvers is you can connect two back to back with a common AC supply, and one will follow the shaft position of the other. This was often used in olden times for things like aircraft instrumentation to transfer position information from one place to another

[@tmdcbass]

Waited 10 minutes only to see AvE draw a squiggly swastika on his bench top. Was not disappointed.

[@ZPositive]

Super secret unlisted BOLTR?! I feel like I'm somehow rubbing danglers with the mighty AvE.

[@wilbertbirdner1303]

keep it in your vice young man

[@jrsmile]

nearly fell of my chair when DAvECAD magically transformed to AvECAD :-) ill note that one down in my AvEEBlog

[@origamihawk]

Secret video! What are you trying to hide?

[@tomjagla6147]

HEY: Shhhhh....

[@robertdalimata1349]

This was in my notifications. And I already saw it a while back. Unless I'm missing something.

[@rickeycallen]

New subscriber here, completely fascinated by your hilarity, I've literally watched every video you've ever posted, its taken me 2 weeks but I've watched them all, keepem choochin along, this channel is skookum as frig!

[@ExilSvensk]

>it flew, now it's aerospace grade Why I love this channel.

[@HindsightFPV]

I normally only have a slight idea wtf you're talking about but damn am I addicted to these videos!

[@GargamelThinks]

I always saw you as a sage. when you started calculating with both hands in the screen, you turned into a goddamn wizard. Blessed be, bro.

[@adamn4427]

i feel violated, WHAT ELSE ARE YOU HIDING FROM US?!

[@michaelvogels9905]

Secrecy aside, this is my favorite BOLTR. interesting product. well explained concepts. Now I'm wondering what other unlisted videos i've missed at the end of ANY AvE video thinking it was a link to a video I've seen

[@johnpossum556]

Unlisted pixies and schmoo! What foreign land have I landed in, eh?

[@sloantechnologies7068]

Welcome to AvE land. Hope you like to get technical.

[@johnpossum556]

Thank You! I'm all about the technical. I work for myself in technicals all day long & I went to college for Avionics. Stuff like this keeps me abreast of what is going on in other fields. PS if you like tube tech check out Mr Carlsons Lab.

[@junkyota]

3 new ave videos in 1 day, holy shit!

[@sloantechnologies7068]

I work for myself in technical stuff as well. I have an aircraft maintenance background as well. I went to school for industrial manufacturing. What kind of technical stuff do you do?

[@sloantechnologies7068]

OH HO. Mr Carlson is awesome! ...first video, 'tube amp repair.' The good stuff, thanks!

[@coccacola00]

The DAvE cad gag was great. Love seeing youtubers reference eachothers great content.

[@BarnacleBrown]

Oh man! Your explanation of a transformer and resolver was amazing. I'm not sure how you make it any easier to understand than that. I will be sharing this video a lot to explain that exact concept. Well done!

[@zajacmotorsports5910]

Excellent explanation of a synchro resolver. They were used frequently in aerospace for their extreme reliability and accuracy. They can also drive an indicator directly.

[@kenjett2434]

AvE i am truely amazed at your engineering knowledge and skill. I wish i had just a portion of your knowledge. I never had any formal training but years of what i call backyard experience. I have got by and at times done a few things that even surprised myself. So watching you is trueeducation for me thanks for sharing your knowledge with us.

[@ryanmorris2479]

Awesome description for this laymen. Really cool!

[@sarkybugger5009]

Why aren't all teachers like this bloke? I'd never heard of an industrial resolver before seeing this in my subscription list. Now I know what they are for, how they work, and what to do with any that I come upon. Thanks, AvE!

[@tomjagla6147]

WOW! Thank you again for another incredibly informative vijeo!!!! I am not too savy on this type of stuff -so I will watch this one many times again!! However, because of your skoochum vijeo, once again I just happily received an advanced course in both mechanical engineering and electronics. And I'm lovin' it! But yes...my brain-pixies do hurt a bit at the moment!!!...so I'll re-watch, process the information, and get my brain to skootch with your information. Thanks professor! Always GREAT stuff AvE!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!

[@brandonskelly35]

CNC field service here. I can't stop watching your videos! I felt like I was in a classroom on this one but by the end of the lightbulb went off ha ha! Good stuff thanks

[@davmanderstrom]

Awesome information! The battery powered 3 yard "scooptrams" at my previous employer had very high performance electric motors. Generally speaking the resolver was the most common failure on the electric motor. Swap them out and recalibrate, good to go again. In one instance I can remember on a Sunday evening our "Batmen" as in battery technicians were calibrating a machine with the help of the manufacturers head techie while he was on approach to LAX. The flight attendants were politely asking him to power down his laptop. What an age we live in!

[@davmanderstrom]

I might add the mine was in Northeastern Ontario. Calibrating an electric motor a mile underground from an airplane over a mile high >4500 km away...

[@WarpedPerception]

Wow that was greatness !!!. awesome demo of a resolver.

[@jhendren0001]

Yes sir I walked into the kitchen slipped turned my head and damn, the microwave exploded into a million pieces 😂

[@Knight_Astolfo]

This is where we find out that AvE and Dave are the same person. They're actually both played by the greatest actor on earth: Fred Savage.

[@richfiles]

I used to build electric motors at my old job. We made one for GE Aviation that used a resolver. The motor was meant to operate flaps on a fuel tanker jet's refueling boom, to aim it at the fighter jets "special place" for aerial penetration. We used 400Hz sinusoidal AC for those resolvers. Hooking the Sine and Cosine outputs to a Scope and overlaying the two signals is pretty cool, cause it looks like you can see the waves rotating, even though it's a flat image.

[@Sacosniper]

ive never heard electrical engineering explained explained so thoroughly using the the term "thinga-ma-jig" you're a special creature, well played my friend.

[@jjr56991]

Thanks for posting the video. Awesome straight forward explanation. Answered allot of questions I had as to how these worked. BTW I've got a skookum as frig Ave t shirt. When people ask what that means, my answer is if I have to explain you wouldn't understand.

[@Mega98RP]

You teach better than some of my college professors... And i have learned so much from your vgo's! Thank You!

[@mavos1211]

I am astounded by how you can take something relatively unknown and deduce exactly what it is. To watch the process of discovery and almost see the lightbulbs go off above your head is something I could watch all day! I feel like I have learnt so much since watching your channel I just want to say thank you for Sharing.

[@mavos1211]

Also the combination of high intelligence and the inner mentality of a 10 year old letting out barking spiders and getting into general fuckery is not only probably highly dangerous but fucking funny!

[@K31TH3R]

Now that this video showed me how to make things aerospace grade, it seems many of my tools have been made aerospace grade considering they've flown around the room after I busted a knuckle. Good tip.

[@jerrylong381]

Hi Uncle BF, My job as a lead maintenance mechanic means I'm always trying to explain electrical, hydraulic, and mechanical concepts to the trainees. I love the idea of transformer as gear reduction, brilliant! I will be using that one. As well as the whole explanation of the difference between encoder and resolver. Thanks, Boney Snatches

[@tonyhern2647]

How do I miss this one. I've watched all of them

[@dingleburry7919]

tony Hern me too wtf?

[@tonyhern2647]

Right. And why did it have so little views

[@Atticblur]

Because it's unlisted for some reason.

[@dirkdalton8447]

I think Ave is forcing us to watch his vacation videos to the end in order to get the "secret link" videos

[@psil8600]

Same here. How many other BOLTR are we missing out on

[@mikeallan9574]

Excellent description of how a resolver works. Thanks for that.

[@michaeltrollope8048]

That's why I love this channel Learnt about something I didn't even know that existed 👌

[@brucewilliams6292]

Oh Hell Yeah! I love learning things from you!

[@truthspace5525]

You're explanation was excellent. I'm sure I will find a use for a resolver one day.

[@robr3015]

Well I am glad this popped up on my KZbin feed even if it is a year old. This thing is awesome. I had no idea this existed

[@ebrahimalfardan8823]

That's a very smart design and the knowledge you have is skookum af.

[@Hibbsi91]

As an engineering technician just starting my career, I can truly say I wish I knew you personally to share your wisdom of material science and industrial enginerd'ing. your patreon page was being slow a few days ago, I shall check it again.

[@zacharytaylor3009]

Literally the only explanation of a transformer that made sense to me! Thanks a million, eh!

[@nickgameplyr2613]

This is the most interesting video I've seen this week.

[@milldawgj9598]

In response to some of the comments below. I've been bumbling around as a mechanic for 20 years heavy industrial mechanic that is. And I love this channel I've learned some neat tricks that I've used at work once in awhile. I only subscribe to 2 channels and this is one of them. And this is my favorite channel to watch on the throne. A higher compliment I can not bestow. I find the general attitude of the channel awesome laid back hey let's tear schitt up and learn something keep up the good work. And some of the comments are f$&/info hilarious. Great channel please don't ever stop.

[@x9x9x9x9x9]

Weird I was just rewatching part of this last night. As its been on patreon for ages

[@trevorus]

x9x9x9x9x9 Yeah, I was just thinking I've seen this... That's cause I helped pay for it!

[@travisbulla1961]

x9x9x9x9x9

[@swarfmonster3998]

Outstanding! Thanks for the Information.

[@NGCaptainM]

Now this is the kinda teardown I want to see more of!

[@mduvigneaud]

Very interesting! One thing to note, though: there are absolute position rotary encoders. They use multiple sensors and usually use Gray codes to eliminate slight sensor misalignment, but they have a fixed resolution that is determined by the number of sensors built into the encoder. I believe the device here is often called a quadrature encoder and the resolution is mostly only limited by the input signal and external ADCs: more expensive but more better!

[@1776TomPaine]

Great video. Quite an interesting piece of gear.

[@frankiethebear]

I've been an avid watcher of your vids for a couple of years now and all I can say is that I still have no fecking clue what you are talking about half the time. When I say about half the time, I mean all the time. All I'd like to say is that you, sir, are an educator. Fill every school, college and Uni with copies of you and the world would be a far better adjusted shit heap than it currently is. In my work I need to be able to communicate with folks who run the entire spectrum of intellectual/educational levels and if I were able to do what you do in the way that you do it, then my work would be so much easier and I would be more successful. Keep doing what you do and do so well. The world is a better place with you in it. Take it easy and stay safe matey.

[@ziggassedup]

It never gets boring.

[@davekimball3610]

Many lolz to the DAvECad/ AvEcad reference.

[@davidfowler332]

love this guy . great vids .

[@zenzen9131]

Resolvers and Synchros were extensively used in aircraft navigation equipment and auto-pilot systems from the 1970s onwards. They were used to determine and control the position of shafts and flying controls within the aircraft systems. (ex RAF Navigation systems engineer) :) Btw you could still use this to produce more than enough accuracy on your 48" milling table by having it operate multi-turn. It is not restricted to just providing output for one rotation. If you did this then you would also need another encoder (like a potentiometer) to give you a rough position and then just use the resolver output to measure the fine position. I remember back in the day with one analogue type aircraft altimeter (clock faced ones) that the resolver would do one turn for every 12,500 feet that it indicated. There was an additional course potentiometer which could be read to tell you which segment you were in ie 0-12,500ft or 12,500 to 25,000ft or 25,000 to 37,500ft etc etc :) funny how you remember all this shit lol

[@jamessolarz3027]

Extraordinary. Fascinating . Outstanding presentation. Peace.

[@spectre6000]

Describing the electrickery LEGOs in terms of mechanical devices is exactly the sort of thing that makes it all click in my brain.

[@jbones123]

I must have taken an extra tab and fell down the rabbit hole to end up here.

[@NotRealNamesAgain]

Seems like the kind of part that would report back to the computer in an airliner on flap/rudder angles, etc- and with the VERY strong tensioner built in, maybe even landing gear.

[@CaptainStuban]

I like the analog A.C. Synchro. Has the same features as far a positioning memory, but has an A.C. voltage output. I think the Synchros are way more sensitive. Cool stuff Ave.

[@doorguner01]

Wow you hit the jackpot!

[@umbrefawx]

Oh I used to love playing with these. Think I still have a few syncro resolvers floating around too.

[@TheCrazycatfisher]

That is great stuff. I've never heard of a resolver.

[@raymondmucklow3793]

Your explanation of transformers is awesome.

[@217raptor217]

That spring is called a mainspring! They're not that nasty to get out, ones in windup clocks are made from THICK spring steel. You unwind it from the center, and use your thumb to make sure it only comes out a half turn at a time. Hard to explain in writing, but you just alternate left and right thumb, and it works its way out. Now, winding it back in, is a massive pain in the ass..... Source: Clock and Watchmaker

[@sergeygromov6900]

Definitely works for a watch spring. Might work for a clock spring. But for this beast you'll need some 200 pound gorilla's thumbs, and hide behind a blast door while he's at it.

[@217raptor217]

Nah, the spring here is made from thin metal, it stores all the energy from many winds, while a thicker spring gets more energy from less winds. Most clock mainsprings are 15-20 thou thickness, but you basically just unravel it, and the only part that takes muscle is getting the first loop in.

[@3dsman]

Yeah, but what does it do? I guess it keeps 'back tension' on something so that if there's a gear involved it will eliminate any slop... but with a spring that large they're looking to do that over several revolutions. Am I even remotely close?

[@Max_Marz]

That was really weird, I saw this like earlier this week and went huh... I don't remember this, figured I must have watched it before and didn't but now its back with a fresh upload date...

[@jcc1391]

got my first mill today. your videos inspire me. thanks bud

[@area46241]

That some cool stuff there padna...

[@ExtantFrodo2]

Quick point - when checking unknown wires into a black box with an ohmmeter remember to also check in reverse because lots of components have a bias.

[@africanwizz1842]

thats a pretty good way to explain it, thanks boss

[@alex-9533]

Couple of things to point out: 1) To find what the measurement resolution on the Bridgeport would be, you need to divide the distance travelled during a single rotation of the lead screw by the resolution of the encoder. e.g. If it moved 1mm per revolution and the the encoder/resolver had 100 steps then your resolution would be 10um per measured step (1/100 mm) 2) Also absolute encoders exist, the optical ones have a number of rings with lines on them. The rings are designed such that each combination of lines only exists at a single orientation so you know at exactly what angle the encoder is at without needing to know the angle that it was previously at.

[@sloantechnologies7068]

Yeaaaa!!! Finally; lets get in to some robots.

[@mysock351C]

Same method they used to use in old analog automotive gauges - sine/cosine coil. Varying the voltages on each coil would position the needle on the gauge. Caveat is that there is a 180 degree ambiguity with a sine-cosine coil like that drawn on the table.

[@ckbhack]

Love the Picquic screw driver their stuff is awesome.

[@ecrusch]

You lost me about a minute in, but it was still interesting as hell hearing you describe it.

[@tomholmez1236]

Who ever invented this resolver is an an actual genius. Im sat here at uni studying aerospace engineering and watching this(not at the same time). Brilliant

[@JimGriffOne]

Where did you download that workbench version of DaveCad? I couldn't find it on thepiratebay.

[@rlobster88]

so the robtic/hydraulic bar tender is how far away? the pneumatic rubber hose hands come to mind along with a few other things

[@MartinKellinghusen]

Super awesome video!

[@silveravnt]

Great explanation of transformers for those of us still confused by light bulbs!

[@houstonOLED]

@AvE how can we recommend a video? Like a torque wrench comparison with Hazard Fraud v some big boys...and there is a new Bosch impact that is a combo, 1/4 inch hex and 1/2 inch square drive impact. Very interesting, would love to see how she chooches.

[@JohnDoe-zl6qw]

_"Those sound to me like very good features to have in a hydraulic bar tending robot."_ I smell a new project on the horizon in AvE land ;)

[@motormaker]

John Doe New? Really? He’s been talking about the hydraulic bar tending robot for at least four years.

[@sasjadevries]

It has basically one spool that gives the x-axis and one the gives the y-axis, some sine+cosine and you get the angle. Which means that the measured _angle_ doesn't have a linear precision, it will be more precise when one of the axes is near zero and less when X_value=Y_value OR X_value=-Y_value. I'm just thinking: this would make for a good exam or exercise for a mechanical engineering faculty

[@deadprez1985]

Long time listener, frist time caller. I'll be honest I don't know a damn thing your talking about AVE, but I love your videos I look forward to the next because I might learn something. Keep the rolling out and I'll be watching. Thanks

[@donniesheele5567]

Always amazed with what crawls out of the empire of dirt you sir are the snake plisken of skookum

[@christopherraynor6437]

"There it flew, it's aerospace grade aluminum". That's one of the funniest things I've heard right next to the "Saskatchewan socket set".

[@jjmonns]

You should see if you can find an old FM Tachometer. I really like your example of what a transformer does. Very good analogies.

[@glennburton1536]

I suspect that the big "watch spring" is wound up to remove / reduce backlash in any gear chains involved in the assembly.

[@listerofsmeg1609]

Im an automation engineer and It's been a while since I've seen a resolver. Great explanation of how it works 👍. This technology is super old school and now days you would use an absolute encoder.

[@Slleepy3]

No, it depends on the usage, Resolvers are still current.

[@jyzoomer]

Is rms significant if the waveform is somehting other than SIne (or cosine)? I think, forty years ago i learnt the derivation of root mean square and it was reliant on the mathematical function..

[@Wen6543]

What an incredible piece of hardware, aren´t humans marvelous?

[@HamiltonSRink]

Very cool! In the words of Ralph Wiggum:" I'm learnding!"

[@BryceAWD]

Transformer = torque converter. Brilliant! Never thought of it that way.

[@butilikethecookie1]

I watched this video last week, KZbin recommended it to me, even though I am subscribed. Anyway as always I enjoyed the vid.

[@neilbarnwell]

Came for the weird gadget, stayed for the Airplane! reference.