Bicopter Camera Mount

[Kevin_Erik]

Yesterday I had some spare time so i made a ruff-draft for the Bicopters Camera mount. Keep in mind that I have yet to test fit this so expect changes to the basic design. May even change the cameras location depending on other considerations. Printing from ABS it should weight around 2 Grams. However i recommend printing this from TPU as it will help stabilize the camera.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3161809

This should work for a 19 x 19 mm camera such as the Runcam Micro Swift.

@David Could you please you shoot me the frames sketch files so I can ensure a proper fit?

-Kevin

[BLeeK]

Will there be a servo for camera- to try & counter the body pitching to some extent?
From a spectators view, it would kind of float on point like the barrel of a tank when it covers rough ground- would give it even more a alien-esk presence… 😀 😉

[Kevin_Erik]

@BLeek That’s 100% possible but i need the frame drawings from @David to be able to draft that. What I have made thus far is sorta a stop gap measure until thats available.

Edit: My concern about the Camera-Servo, isn’t that it’s not possible or too heavy. Rather, its the cameras response to extreme maneuvers. That could send it flying around or worse yet, oscillate. Case in point, Yaw too fast while in forward flight (without first leveling out) and you’ll see the Bicopter’s nose suddenly drop into flip-roll. (instant Split-S) This isn’t a tune issue but rather the auto-leveling freaking out that its losing stability. Now imagine the Camera Servo trying to compensate for this while your flying FPV?

Kevin

[Kevin_Erik]

Installed the prototype and it fit first try!

Prototype was printed from PLA and thus is not made to take a hit. Obviously I’ll thicken some of the areas that need it and then reprint from TPU or Onyx filament.

[jstremmler]

Think this position of the camera, especially when adding a servo will change the CG significantly to the front.
So why not positioning the camera on top of the bicopter approximately at a position where the arms are to keep the influence of the camera to the CG as low as possible?

[jstremmler]

So here is what I have in mind.
A simple universal camera mount including a servo which corrects the camera for pitch moves of the bicopter. The gear will fit exactly a 27 teeth servo and hold the camera with 3mm cylinders in the bracket. The bracket itself is for a standard size camera of 26mm width, which I have in stock:

Attachments:

1. 

   Camera-Mount.jpg
   

[Kevin_Erik]

I’m thinking you’ll see a lot of Jello with the camera mounted on top near the props. Worse yet, if the camera Oscillates from all of the prop-wash this could translate into the Copters Gyro reading this and responding.

Anyways, I made a thicker version of my initial mount as parts of it were too thin. While this mount isn’t perfect, its the best i can do without having accurate measurements from the entire frame. When I get the DXF files I’ll be able to make something that replaces most of the canopy. This will allow easier access to the Flight Controller and provide a much better mounting location for a camera.

Attachments:

1. RCE_Bicopter_Camera_Mount_Stronger_10-23-2018.zip

[jstremmler]

Think I will not see any jello with my camera. If prop-wash would cause jello with a camera then nearly any FPV camaera in a quad would show some jello because all of them are influenced by the props-wash coming from the front motors. And in contrast to everybody else I have done the maximum in softmounting my FC. And now I will profit from that….
I can mail you the *.dxf files for the frame because before mounting the frame I have scanned all parts and redrawn them with TurboCAD.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 1 month ago by jstremmler.

[Kevin_Erik]

Sure post the DXF files and I’ll see what i can do with it.

[Kevin_Erik]

Reinstalled the camera mount with a micro VTX.

TX200U https://shop.runcam.com/runcam-tx200u/

Attachments:

1. 

   IMG_1282.jpg
   

[jstremmler]

Kevin, thin I need David’s agreement for sending you any DX file, because then verybody could mill with a CNC machine the bicopter frame out of CF. And I don’t want to harm David’s business. But here is a simple example:

[Kevin_Erik]

Completed the Bicopter FPV flight today!

The following video was recorded with an external DVR so the image quality is pretty bad and the sound is really loud : https://youtu.be/SP13wYarKFM
That being said, the image quality on my end was some of the best I’ve flown with.

Now as for the mount there are two major issues:
1) The screws can easily pull out of the printed material causing the front panels to oscillate during flight. (I could hear them moving)
2) The camera angle is too low and would require +20 degrees of up-tilt to be really effective. Even still, the FPV was usable and i didnt get sea-sick from the copters motion.

Kevin

[Kevin_Erik]

Made considerable progress today. I’ve posted my first draft and am looking for further feedback.

A few things of note:
-Camera will have from +40 to – 10 tilt.
-Frame can manage a 19 mm wide camera such as the Runcam Micro.
-Top of the canopy is make to flip up to easy access to the FC.
-The front area where there are two gaps are for aluminum spacers.
-Canopy is made to slide over the top of the frame and carbon rod for easier installation.

Cheers!

Kevin

• This reply was modified 4 years, 10 months ago by Kevin_Erik.

Attachments:

1. 

   Bicopter-Canopy-WIP-24-Jan-2018.jpg
   

[Kevin_Erik]

Here are more pics of the work in progress.

[Kevin_Erik]

Cleaned up and simplified the design. Made the appearance semi-translucent in the viewer to allow for more detail to show.

[Author]

Posts