FatShark 600tvl pan/tilt camera mount

[joshuabardwell]

I am so tired of the FatShark pan/tilt camera mount for the 600tvl CMOS camera. It is fantastic in every way EXCEPT that it uses oddball servos with non-standard tooth pitch on the output spline. As a result, when you break the servo--and you WILL break the servo--you cannot replace it with a cheap three-dollar throwaway, nor can you replace it with a decent metal-gear that will be less likely to break. You can't even replace that one gear that always breaks with one from a three-dollar servo, because the drive gears also have a different pitch.

So when a servo breaks, you basically have no choice but to pay $10 to buy the exact replacement servo. It's really frustrating that a high-stress usage like a pan/tilt mount would come with flimsy nylon-gear servos, but if that's going to be the case, the LEAST they could do is let me swap them with three-dollar cheap replacements every time they break.

I cannot recommend this mount to anybody who is considering getting it. Buy one that uses standard nine gram servos, and you can have your pick of expensive digital metal-gear ones or cheap analog nylon ones. I hate, hate, hate expensive proprietary equipment that locks you into a single vendor's ecosystem.

EDIT: Incidentally, the pan/tilt/roll (three-axis) mount may be better, as it seems that the pan servo at least is metal-gear.

EDIT 2: It seems like that servo may have the same non-standard tooth pitch that fits the pan/tilt mount's base, so maybe that would be a good solution to getting at least one metal-gear servo into the pan/tilt mount.

 

[marc60]

And it's not even the promissed 180 degree servo

 

[joshuabardwell]

And it's not even the promissed 180 degree servo

I think this is more an issue of marketing. It is a 180 degree servo in that it can rotate through a bit more than 180 degrees. But it is not geared up to do that on the standard 1000-2000 us PWM timing that comes from a receiver, so you need a "servo stretcher" to sit between the receiver and the servo. The servo stretcher extends the PWM timing wider than the receiver is capable of putting out. If you use a standard servo, it will hard stop at a bit more than 90 degrees. The FatShark servo has its hard-stop adjusted wider, but not its gearing. I don't know if this is the usual definition of a 180-degree servo or not, though.

 

[PHugger]

So this is for Head Tracking (FPV) and not Stabilization (Video recording)?
All this technology and so little time.....



Best regards,
PCH

 

[joshuabardwell]

So this is for Head Tracking (FPV) and not Stabilization (Video recording)?
All this technology and so little time.....

Yes, exactly. The FatShark camera is an FPV camera, not a HD recording camera.

 

[Basscor]

I recently bought the pan/tilt from GetFPV and it has 180 MG pan servo. Bummer to hear about the tilt servo though, my wife dropped the FPV pod I had it on and it landed on the camera and busted the gears. I will look into getting that fixed with a cheapy, understanding that I will have to modify it. Maybe open up the servo and take out the final gear and put it in another servo?

doh! just read that the drive gears are odd too, double bummer....

anybody have a 3D file of the bit that mounts on the output spline?

 

[joshuabardwell]

doh! just read that the drive gears are odd too, double bummer....

Exactly!! It's always the 2nd gear from the final one that breaks. If that were standard, you could just swap in from a standard servo. But it didn't work, if memory serves.

 

[Basscor]

So after work I came home and tried replacing the whole server with a tg9e and it all fits



The splines on this servo aren't standard either, some sort of a polygon shape rather than splined. But it does work, maybe a newer version of the pan tilt?

 

[herk1]

Hey joshuabardwell, have you noticed this?:

http://www.readymaderc.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=11_408&products_id=3474

Note how it says "V2 now with 180 degree metal gear servo."

And here's the replacement metal-gear servo part for eight bucks:

http://www.readymaderc.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=165_107&products_id=2664

Sorry to hear that the pan/tilt I got is likely to break (mine has been OK so far), but at least a proper fix is available now at a reasonable price.

 

[joshuabardwell]

The splines on this servo aren't standard either, some sort of a polygon shape rather than splined. But it does work, maybe a newer version of the pan tilt?

I'd love to see more detail of how you did it. The hexagonal thing is not actually the output gear. It fits over the actual output gear of the servo.

 

[Basscor]

Right I understand how the mount works...
As for more detail, I literally just stuck it on and then tested the servo. The tilt moves just fine.

Here is the servo "splines" on the TG9e

 

[joshuabardwell]

Okay, well, that's weird. That's not what the output gear on my servos looks like. I have an HK 15178 servo, and the output gear has teeth. Yours looks like it's sort of a rounded polygon. Is that right? I can see how the hex adapter from the FS p/t mount would slip onto that with a good friction fit. Maybe if I were to just squeeze the hex adapter onto my servo, it would work, even though the teeth would be damaged in the process.

 

[Basscor]

That was my thought, I figure that servo is going to be there until it breaks and I won't need it for anything else if it does. Once the screw is in it doesn't move.

It's not rounded, just a polygon on the whole shaft instead of splines. Probably and off batch as some are like this and the others are splined.