Gimbal designed for Betaflight / iNav / DIY drones.
See - https://youtube.com/shorts/iXlkazI-BYA
Updated to include a locking pin so that the pivot and housing lock together more easily.
Intended to be light weight and durable, a thrust bushing keeps the camera movement smooth whilst providing strength.
The gimbal fits a 19mm x 19mm FPV camera (HDZero Micro v2 or similar), the design makes use of widely avaiable generic SG90 micro-servos, the type avaiable on Aliexpress (10 units = £10) - see picture. Originally designed to fit an Apex 5" clone frame - note that these clone versions of the Apex 5" frame can be purchased on Aliexpress for less than £10 making them a great option.
The "base" part was designed to fit an Apex 5" frame, the part could be adapted to fit most DIY drones or perhaps added to the top of an existing frame. In future versions I may look to add a more universal mounting although it should be noted that the pan servo is mounted within the existing camera space so using a standard drone top plate would require a hole to be cut.
The design includes two types of servo horn fixings for the pivot and gear:
Servo horn insert - this is intended to be used with a cut down servo horn. A standard servo horn should be cut and filed down to approx 7mm (leaving just the fitting) and then pushed into the gear and pivot parts
Flight controllers - for Betaflight the custom firmware option should include "servo" within the code, I suggest using channel forwarding and then remap the servos accordingly directions can be found online.
Fitting:
Pivot, nut and canopy require the use of an M10x1.25 tap and die so as to ensure that the threads are clean.
The main retaining nut can be gently finger tightened using long nosed pliers or a very small 13mm socket - do not over tighten or this will rip the threads.
A locking pin is included, see the picture showing how the triangular shapped locking pin secures the locking nut once it has been tightened (note that there are three posible positions).
Camera mount through holes enable a mounting for the FPV camera.
Camera pivot parts incorporate threaded ends which are used to secure the camera unit. These require the use of an M4x0.7 tap and die very lightly used to refresh the start of threads which will ensure they fit corretly - they are unlikely to fit with being refreshed.
Apply some oil / silicon oil to the thrust bearing to ensure smooth movement.
Servos are screwed in place, the upper servo has mountings for small m2 nuts.
Ensure all parts are filed smooth.
The locking nut and the top of the main vertical pivot will need to be filed flat to ensure that they do not catch on the botton of the camera mount, the bottom of of the camera mount may need to be filed smooth for the same reason as tolerances are tight.
For printing I would suggest using ABS or a similar durable material.
The author marked this model as their own original creation. Imported from Thingiverse.