I crashed my aircraft and have found that it has erratic gimbal movement. I reviewed the videos online showing how to repair the gimbal but it did not fix my unit. Upon further inspection I found that the gimbal arm is bent in two directions (axis). An ideas on what I should do next and potential ways to straighten the arm.
Bent Gimbal Arm
- Thread starter wwjohn
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You are going to need to pull the battery before you attempt anything. Then remove the gimbal grey wire plugs. Remove the gimbal. Remove the gimbal control boards housing. Disconnect the ribbon cable. Loose the z axis motor shaft set screw. This will allow you to clamp that portion in a vise and straighten it out. Make sure to use a square or a jig to make sure your alignment is correct. Dont break anything.... Go slow. After you complete that reseat all the ribbon cable connections in all the controllers along with the brushless motor ribbons. Then put it all back together.
I prefer to remove the entire arm to straighten it. not sure if that is what is instructed above. be real careful that aluminum scratches up pretty easy, so protect it. i will try and add a couple pictures later todäy.
Mine was bent in a similar fashion and after I straightened it the erratic movement stopped and it functioned properly. Hopefully yours will as well.
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Mmm... I wonder if you are talking about CCDS (Crazy Camera Dance Syndrome)? Is the video tilted? You can try and straighten out the arm but you might end up breaking it.
Another approach - which might make things worse - would be to tilt the camera opposite to the bend in the gimbal arm.
This video shows a sample of CCDS and also shows how to straighten a tilted camera. You would basically have to do the opposite. You would need to tilt your camera to counteract the tilt induced by the gimbal arm.
See what you think...
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFxM8OOWRQc[/youtube]
Another approach - which might make things worse - would be to tilt the camera opposite to the bend in the gimbal arm.
This video shows a sample of CCDS and also shows how to straighten a tilted camera. You would basically have to do the opposite. You would need to tilt your camera to counteract the tilt induced by the gimbal arm.
See what you think...
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFxM8OOWRQc[/youtube]
Thanks for the responses but no luck with the erratic gimbal movement issue.
I noticed that there is a dent in the gimbal cover plate (see attached photo) in the swing arm area. Could this dent be touching the circuit broad inside the gimbal housing causing a short that causes the erratic movement of the gimbal?
I noticed that there is a dent in the gimbal cover plate (see attached photo) in the swing arm area. Could this dent be touching the circuit broad inside the gimbal housing causing a short that causes the erratic movement of the gimbal?
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Rbhamilton, thanks my camera was skewed off straight horizon was driving me nuts until I read your fix. Thanks the hardest thing is getting the screws put back in the back casing. Camera is now aligned with the horizon.
Hidesert said:
If you are talking about the 3 little phillip head screws that hold the back of the plate on the gimbal. The center or top screw is a different size then the 2 screws that go in below.
I had a local copter repair shop look at it and here is what they found needing to be replaced.
R-axis motor $230.00
Fpc black ribbon cable : $100.00
R-axis motor $230.00
Fpc black ribbon cable : $100.00
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wwjohn said:
Wow..... $230 for the motor? The shafts cost $45 on ebay but are the wrong size and you have to rework them. The control boards usually have a broken potentiometer than costs $4 and then they are good to go. Ribbon cable are $85 from ATK drones.
