Crash Worthy Gimbal

[sundance2013]

How crash worthy are gimbals. Obviously you don't want to crash but it's gonna happen. Are the Carbon fiber or aluminum the best?

Thanks

 

[Gizmo3000]

I don't think anyone's really done crash-testing with gimbals.
on the Phantom, they're actually somewhat protected by the landing gear.

But in rough landings/crashes, I've had mine pop out at the rubber isolation mounts.

Carbon Fiber is pretty strong stuff as well, and lighter than Aluminum, but imagine they both fare comparatively in crashes.
tho imagine CF is lighter, which might make it more desirable overall aside from crashes.

 

[Roadkilt]

My aeroxcraft gimbal looks completely fragile with an exposed circuit board and fine wires hanging out. I've crashed twice, once into the ocean. Washed off the seaweed and sand with fresh water, dried it out and it keeps on running. So it's not as wimpy as it looks.

 

[sundance2013]

Glad to hear, I'm getting better but I sure am not crash proof yet.

On the popping out of the rubber shocks, I almost lost my GP3 because of those things. Maybe the 2nd flt. with them I crashed and picked up the craft, walked off ready to fly again ...not noticing the GP was gone, I freaked out. I headed back to the crash site a few yards away and luck me it was still there. I'm going to put a long screw and nut with 2 big washers in two of the grommets so if they do pop out the camera mount or gimbal doesn't totally depart the craft.

thanks

 

[Driffill]

Glad to hear, I'm getting better but I sure am not crash proof yet.

On the popping out of the rubber shocks, I almost lost my GP3 because of those things. Maybe the 2nd flt. with them I crashed and picked up the craft, walked off ready to fly again ...not noticing the GP was gone, I freaked out. I headed back to the crash site a few yards away and luck me it was still there. I'm going to put a long screw and nut with 2 big washers in two of the grommets so if they do pop out the camera mount or gimbal doesn't totally depart the craft.

thanks

Not that I've done this myself, but I thought about using small gauge cable ties and feeding one thru the top of a grommet then going across to another grommet and coming back up thru the other grommet then zipping it with some slack, and repeat for the remaining grommets. This should tether the two halvs of the gimbal together should the grommets pop open. And it should only add a few grams of extra weight, depending on just what size cable ties you use.

 

[sundance2013]

Not that I've done this myself, but I thought about using small gauge cable ties and feeding one thru the top of a grommet then going across to another grommet and coming back up thru the other grommet then zipping it with some slack, and repeat for the remaining grommets. This should tether the two halvs of the gimbal together should the grommets pop open. And it should only add a few grams of extra weight, depending on just what size cable ties you use.

That is a good idea, would be a little lighter than screws but small screws wouldn't be but a few grams as well. We have some real thin washers at work that I don't think would weigh but a 1/4 gram.

 

[miskatonic]

I think you should re-examine the question and ask something along the lines of: Which gimbal is easy to repair if it become damaged? The answer to that is to check online and see what kinds of spare parts are available for your gimbal. If you can build your gimbal from scratch with the available spare parts then I would place a bet on that gimbal.

The answer that I have found is that Tarot makes a fairly solid gimbal. Tarot makes about a half dozen products and their vendors have spare parts to make repairs on just about every piece of the gimbal.

The absolute best thing you can do is to perform regular maintenance on your Phantom to make sure that it stays in the air. That and avoid trees and power lines. If your Phantom hits the ground hard enough things are just going to break and there is no way around it. Just be sure that you can find the parts to fix what is broken. :mrgreen:

 

[simonthk]

One that protects the gyro meter.

I bought one that is placed underneath´, and it broke at a rought landing

 

[fly-catchers]

Mine crashed really hard due to a motor short. Bent the landing skid, scarred the gimbal arm, took a chunk out of the top of my GoPro. I put in a new battery and kept flying.

https://vimeo.com/72165505

Was the motor short in the Phantom or gimbal? Do you know what caused it?