Home Made Brushless Direct Drive Gimbal

Today I took my new brushless motor gimbal system out for a first flight test. Although some additional PID tuning is still required, I was quite surprised by the quality of the results.
This video briefly presents the gimbal itself and shows the untouched footage of the first flight.
Although this gimbal was fully home made, it was largely inspired by the original idea of Alexmos as presented on his russian blog here: forum.rcdesign....
Additionally, there is now also a German forum on this subject:
fpv-community.d...

[@redline870]

very impressive that the whole thing is home made. very very nice job

[@fbicknel]

Most excellent! What a great leaf blower. A little back-end software and you can stretch out on one of those chaises and watch it clear your lawn for you.

[@ecoovert]

Well done. I have made 2 axis gimbals myself using the same aluminum strips I picked up at Lowe's but used them for hanging from kites. I used digital servos instead of brushless motors though. I have a couple videos here on youtube demonstrating one of them. Great job Copter 38.

[@TheCopter38]

No, the L6208 is actually designed for stepper motor control. In this gimbal system the motors are brushless motors ;)

[@Freefly619]

You my friend, are genius! That is a sweet rig!! Seems like Alex Mos is inspiring some quad manufacturers out there too with his work. I think there's a new FPVmanuals QAV540 due out in there near future with help from Alex Mos

[@HuylerBrooks]

Best homemade gimbal i've seen so far!!

[@TheCopter38]

These Dualsky motors open really easily, just take out the 2 black screws and pull the head of the motor out gently. Removing the old wires is no problem either. For rewinding, like many others, I use a syringe. There are plenty of videos available about this, just check it out. DLRK wiring diagram connected in star. Good luck in your project. I also enjoyed it a lot scratching my head on this ;)

[@olivierfromsouffel]

Hi, Dear TheCopter38, your Idea is just amazing, it looks very good and seems to by very efficient. Nice backyard too ;-) Good luck, and have fun. Olivier

[@gibsonpearl]

very impressed. was not expecting shots like that at all

[@TheCopter38]

Thanks Rutger ! I used 0.2 wire and tried 50 and 60 turns. Both work fine :) I believe the XM2812CA would probably work as well but it would certainly be a little bit more tricky to rewind. You really need to try it to be sure.

[@The208cvs]

Neighbors must love you. Good job

[@Ruzwa]

I couldn't wait so I orderd the 0.15 wire and two 2812's. Too bad I don't have the electronics yet, but in the meantime I can do me some rewinding and some gimbal-making :) Some questions: Did you have any trouble opening up the motors and unwinding the old wire? Did you use special tools for the rewinding? And what wiring diagram did you use? This is a really great project and I love working on it. Videos like yours and Alexmos are really promising. Keep up the good work!

[@TheCopter38]

Thanks Clive !

[@premkumar-pt1gj]

Updated details please sir

[@CuthbertNibbles]

Seeing that he custom programmed it using an Arduino board, I would think it to be possible. My theory: The board will have inputs. Two are for gyros, two are for your input, so you'll need four. In the code, find the variable responsible for final position of the motors, and change it by adding or subtracting the input from the RC. It has already been done, but they are custom built gimbals for ~$15,000. See if you can make a cheap one!

[@CliveOHagan]

That is superb. I would deffo buy one. Very neat and very precise. Well done.

[@ness176]

Many says they are about to release Alexmos powered gimbals... the 1st to effectively release it will make serious money. I Would buy one right away. (please make one specifically designed for DJI Phantom)

[@TheCopter38]

No, as can be seen in my video at position 0:33, the motors are controlled by a control board that was designed specifically for this application. In a gimbal system like this, brushless motors are position controlled, not speed controlled, hence, standard ESCs cannot be used.

[@TheCopter38]

Thank you for your congratulations Mateus. I do not wish to publish my controller board schematics as I may soon be offering this system for sale. However, if you wish to experiment and develop your own system, you may want to have a look at the open source project that exists on this topic. I have provided a link to this project at the top of this page.

[@TheCopter38]

You are right, there are no potentiometers used in this design! As already indicated by Beny, the position of the motors is computed from the IMU that is attached to the bottom of the gimbal. See my video at 0:27.

[@HalStaniloff]

The market is going towards these brushless systems for the GoPro. DJI is about to release one - perfect for my F550. There is another russian company about to release one as well. How about refining your design and selling it? Shoot for a target price of $349 US and people - like me - will buy it!

[@ThatHPIGUY]

DJI have sent me out the Prototype of the their brushless gimbal. It's going to be great to compare it to all those already on the market.

[@MurryBob]

Impressive work!

Your work is very good. Congratulations

[@SonGokusa666]

... isn't that the point? This type of unit is usually mounted on the underside of a tri- or quadrotor, so you'd want the camera steady while the flight platform moves above it.

[@SteinErikDahle]

Absolutely brilliant!!! I love it, its so much better than servo-driven units! And I guess its relatively low cost? A couple of BLDC motors, an arduino and the 6050, I love the (relative) simplicity! Have you thought about a 3rd axis? (This would probably require a separate cam pilot :-( ...)

[@DavidKull]

Very good video. It would be nice to get the parts list, software and cost on this project. How long of a flight can you get out of it? What is the range. Have you considered adding a FPV transmitter?

[@TheCopter38]

Your are absolutely right and I am very sorry to have been away for some time, no providing feedback to the many comments published here. In fact I am still busy further working on this project. I should be in a position to publish an update on my work soon... ;)

[@rayrsa]

Excellent! Well done

[@TheCopter38]

The 2 motors I have used are rewound DUALSKY XM2815CA-24T. Other similar motors will also work!

[@rogerleblanc-717]

Wow! This is pretty impressive. Are you considering selling some units? If not, where can I get additional info about getting all the components? Nice work!

[@TheCopter38]

Thanks for your interest Lucas. Please refer to my other posts regarding your question about buying a unit.

[@TheCopter38]

Thanks for your support Andrzej ! However, as already indicated here, this project is not yet ready for a commercial launch ;) Regarding your other question, yes, I believe this is feasible. It'll be the next step of this project, once the GoPro version is complete.

[@TheCopter38]

The total weight of the unit shown in the video is 340g. This weight includes the aluminium gimbal frame, the 2 motors, the control electronics with IMU and wiring, the 1000mAh battery and the GoPro (with its own battery installed).

[@mateusfreitas29]

hello my name is matthew'm from Brazil and would like to congratulate him for the creation, and excellent product, I realized that your board electronics and house-made you have the layout, with the list of components to be able to do mine? thank you

[@AeroFotografie]

Good result!

[@Tabasconate1]

great job man

[@55Henni]

Great gimbal I use a similar one on my Quadcopter for aerial fotage with the mobius action cam, here are some flights through the woods: Let´s Fly #4 Flying in the Woods with a Quadcopter

[@Theeslickness]

Well done! I'm waiting to build my own asap. Did you use a 12 pole BL motor?

[@doctorvox]

Really excellent work....well done!

[@najmisafwanfpv5294]

hello sir..can you share the code to mode..i like to build one..:) you did a great job..thumbs up,,

[@choc0chips91]

Hi, im from the future. In the year 2019, this particular technology has been commercialized. It is sold worldwide by many gimbal companies associating with dslr cameras, mirroless and smartphone videography

[@goosenp]

Is the lipo battery necessary? I'm wondering if this can run off other batteries, since I'm assuming the current draw isn't so high

[@TheCopter38]

Thanks! Yes, your are right, there were still a few things to improve on this first prototype ;) I should soon publish some progress update.

[@TheCopter38]

The form in which this may be proposed for sale is not decided yet although I think the complete gimbal would probably be best.

[@gaetanboiv]

Fine product. Better than what we could buy on the web in this format. Thinking selling kits?

[@ouderkirk022]

this is awesome how did you put the motor control board together? or could you point me in the right direction to learn how to make one?

[@Ruzwa]

Great results. I'm waiting on alex controller and i'm planning to build a gimbal like yours. What diameter wire did u use (0,15?) and how many windings?. I see there's also a XM2812CA-33 which is even lower than the 2815, Do you that one is ok, or is the 2815 the minimum height required for the windings? Thanks in advance, Rutger

[@criviznatz]

Hey TheCopter38 ! I'd be interested in one too, if you ever decided to produce more of them ! Thanks

[@ct026]

That's awesome. Well done.

[@pmessinger]

Nice, but you're moving the mount around the axis' of the camera rather than around the axis' of the mount. Swing camera from point at or above mounting plate.

[@LexxBravo]

Не обращай внимания на комментарии идиотов . Система отличная . Нормально работает при ветре , в отличие от стедикамов . Успехов !

[@wshultz55]

Would you do some tutorials on how to do this? Or is you have some links, I'm interested. Impressive!

[@OU812I81B4U81]

Beautiful work.. I just made a 2 axis with metal gear digital servos running @200hz, It's OK~ But not 100% happy with it. I was thinking of trying motors next, Do you know if the Naza-M would power your motors? Would it just be a matter of replacing the servos with motors? I'm new to this end of things. Regards..

[@cacasododom]

Great job, man!

[@t.g.9973]

Well done! Can you make some sort of tutorial how you did this awesome gimbal? Including a list with components and connection diagrams etc,? :) Thanks in advance and a happy new year ;)

[@DobyxRC]

Nice work indeed. I am very interested in buying one of these. Can you tell me how I can go about doing that.

[@humanmissile]

can you have a seperate camera operator with this gimbal? like using another reciever just to control gimbal?

[@TheCopter38]

Thanks for your comment neoirto. Just to confirm, the copter was never held in anybody's hands during the entire flight sequence shown in my video!

[@AndrzejMrotek]

I'll buy 3 of them today! Think you could make a larger version for my t2i or 5D mark 3? I'd buy a couple.

[@yuri1s]

This is brilliant make do you have a blog post or anything where it describes in more detail how you make this????? plz plz send me link if you do.

[@automateanything]

great job. it seems to only faulter slightly when you fast yaw? ive subscribed, please take more videos of progress. thanks

[@TomislavReskovic]

Great vid! What code do you use, alexmos's, german, or some new written by you? Thanks :)

[@TheCopter38]

I do not foresee to do that, no, but there are plenty of resources on the internet about this subject ;)

[@ThePaulifra]

Can you use this gimbal upside down ?? I mean the part that's in your hands is fixed mounted on a tripod or dslr rig, and the camera is above.

[@wshultz55]

Thank you! I was wanting to learn from your rewinding video but couldn't find one in english. Unfortunately, I don't speak other languages.

[@topgunm]

Thanks for that! That will work fine with the Phantom! Please keep the Phantom in mind when selling. There is a HUGE market for Phantom gimbals. Right now we only have NAZA-M gimbals, which are not ideal. I will buy one from you! Will you make a webpage so we can keep us updated on this gimbal? I want it yesterday! :)

[@avtpro]

Outstanding.

[@Pillowcase]

These results look great! is there any post production stabilization on the video?

[@TheCopter38]

Yes in deed! The version presented in the video was a 100% home made one. I have since had a few produced industrially ;)

[@topgunm]

Sell these ASAP please! This looks perfect for the DJI Phantom. What is the weight?

[@JCRC]

Well done. Great job. I'd be very proud of myself if I did that :)

[@mdrm8]

Well done TheCopter38!! What MOTORs are you using, looks like a NTM but its not one I know of!!??

[@hopsenrobsen]

I try to follow the BrushlessGimbaldiscussions worldwide, u might be the first with smooth working roll and tilt-axis. Great work! What do you think about sharing the details of the setup? Greetings from Cologne, Germany.

[@geraldcauman]

nice job sir. your control board is also dys?

[@Nandox7]

Good work, seems to work really well. :-) Are you using the rewinded motors or the reversible ESC code from Simon?

[@ferrabras]

Awesome job!

[@xnct]

Very nice, do you plant tp sell your design . Control board or complete Gimbal?

[@REMYDEMORAS]

I'm very interrested too. I need such a device to be a able to be fixed under a drone but also to be hand holded for a Gopro, but not only. A kind of an universal stabilized gimbal multi purpose with an universal fixing set, for light cameras (Sony HDR for exemple). A kind of light hand steady cam you know? Would you be able to provide it? Or would you resale the plan and furniture list to make it? An what about the price? Such a thing does not exist on my mind.

[@artadams1]

works fantastic!

[@TheCopter38]

Thank you for your positive comment (and patience ;) ). The brushless gimbal system presented here operates totally independently from the multirotor platform it is attached to. Due to the very specific operation principle it's not just a matter of replacing servos with motors. This gimbal system requires the use of a specially developed motor controller (and software) that will operate the brushless motor in position control as opposed to speed control like ESC's do.

[@TheCopter38]

I do not sell this system for now as development is not completed yet. However, once finished and fully tested, it is likely that I will propose this for sale in some form or another.

[@TheCopter38]

Please see my answer to Soldier53flyer's similar question. Regarding pricing, it is still a bit too early for me to be able to answer that one, sorry. However, I foresee the price to remain well positioned compared to other similar systems based on more "traditional" approaches.

[@JustifyJustin]

Very impressive - my only concern would be that it looks really heavy...

[@deepsenseproducao]

JustifyJustin well you can try to buy a old gimbal with the main boatd broken and modify

[@haraldosoares]

Very Nice!!!

[@utubevanrobert]

Very cool, awesome results! will you share the arduino code?

[@ARTVchannel]

You can connect the two motors directly to the NIC naza-m quad?

[@derekvc]

awesome! thecopter38 / are you making for sale these gimbals now? if so, I would love to know how much?

[@rahmatyt]

Amazing! Are you share the electronics circuit or the Code of this gimbal?

[@TheBackyardProject]

nice one! how much did it cost in the end?

[@JeromeDemers]

I would assume you use the same L6208PD for your motor controller like Alex.

[@my73737373]

How does the motor know what position it is in like a servo I did not see any potentiometers?

[@xmodsfan]

like it - if the price is not to high you will have one more buyer es soon as you can sell it in serial production :-)

[@Ninjazzx]

Hallo, can you tellme a component and all is need for made one?sorry for my english...thanks

[@mdrm8]

I suppose you did a rewind of the motor?

[@nathanweasley4580]

Hey I'm really interested about how you drive the motor such smoothly in such low speed I'm using 3-phase SPWM without Back EMF detecting, but the motor ran like there is ripples in torque. Can u share your algorithm with me ? Thanks a lot

[@JeromeDemers]

oups it's the L6205 Alex Moskalenko use that chip in his brushless gimball. There is also the L6234 that I saw in a someone else schematics. I was wondering what chip you use or did you simply use transistors and mosfets?

[@linksfueszigerdog]

I need this!But I cant find any tutorials or a list of material to use...can you help me please??

[@TheCopter38]

Yes, in deed, that's the main advantage of direct drive based gimbal systems...

[@DudeWithDogs]

wow, thats awsome! Gratulation!!!

[@guytisdale]

Got a build write up on that? I would like to build a couple units, one for my phone and another for my DJI Phantom II