Help Please Gimbal Repair Crazy

[Newt59]

I rebuilt the gimbal arm after a major crash. New arm components and ribbon cable. I Still have some work to do on craft itself, but powered it on to test gimbal operation. Camera is jumping all over. Spins and beeps.

Now I have many years as an electronics tech servicing high end Canon and Ricoh copiers back in the eighties and nineties. So I have at least a bit of experience in these sort of things. This looks like the motors are seeking a home reference point and are unable to find them. Like they were not set at the proper start point when I reassembled them. But I did not see how to do that when I was putting them back together.

Is there a “home” reference point that they should be set in during reassembly? Or is there a process for establishing the home point orientation after reassembly. An initialization process?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Alan Russel]

What error message are you getting on the display? is the set screw (on upper part of yaw arm) set correctly on the flat side of rod (under board).

 

[dazmatic]

Sounds like the motors are positioned back to front.

The flat on the motors should be facing in towards to the main circuit board and not out towards the edge if memory serves me right

 

[Newt59]

The screw is installed correctly on the shaft. To the flat side. I thought the motors would only mount in one direction. I will double check that.

Thanks

 

[dazmatic]

The screw on the yaw motor can only go one way, however on the roll and pitch motors, they can go either way. I'm pretty certain that if you removed the backs of the pitch/roll circuits, you'll find that the flat of the potentiometer is facing the wrong way. Had that with a recent repair. Somehow completely botched it and got the motor shafts 180 degrees out of sync, gimbal went batshit crazy on start up.

 

[Nightwolf]

Dazmatic. Thanks for the timely response. I was in the process of my own repair and saw this just in time. I was indeed putting it together wrong and can confirm that the flat point towards the circuit board.

 

[Newt59]

That sounds exactly like what I have done. I don’t suppose you have any photos of the motors and their orientation do you dazmatic?

Thanks loads for the help!

 

[Nightwolf]

That sounds exactly like what I have done. I don’t suppose you have any photos of the motors and their orientation do you dazmatic?

Thanks loads for the help!

Here's how I set it.

 

[dazmatic]

^^^
That

 

[Wrecked]

On the pitch motor you have to fit the screw to the curved side. The flat side should be pointing back when the camera points forward. Messing this up will make it crazy.