DIY Pan Tilt Head on Jib with Canon 7D - Motorized Remote Control

This is my version of a pan-tilt head that I designed and built in about a week. Most of the parts were from mcmaster.com or servocity.com. I would have normally purchased the aluminum stock from onlinemetals.com (who have always been awesome), but my local Ace Hardware had what I needed.

I built the jib last year and had always intended to consturct this pan/tilt. It was just a matter of momentum to get it started (an object at rest tends to stay at rest...)

For this demo I had to operate the jib and the remote control which is pretty tricky. Normally I would have someone operating the jib and someone else operating the R/C joystick.

-Servos are Hitec HS-85MG's modified for continuous rotation. I may change these out with digital servos in order to increase the resolution.
-Servo gears are 20 tooth 48 pitch from servocity.com
-Large 120 tooth 48 pitch gears are from servocity.com

Hitec HS-555 receiver I had lying around
Futaba 9C radio (that was also lying around since it's been too cold to fly)

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• jib
• camera crane
• pan tilt
• head
• diy
• do it yourself
• remote control
• joystick
• r/c
• rc
• motorized
• pan/tilt
• dslr
• canon
• 7d
• camera
• mount
• basement
• workshop
• servo

[ViralClipsTV2]

ServoCity???

[CountHasimirFenring]

@ViralClipsTV2 Google it.

[rozzers13]

Hi, don't suppose you could give me a parts list for the jib? Trying to build one with carbon fibre tubing but its very shaky, what's the aluminium box like?

[CountHasimirFenring]

@rozzers13 I don't have any plans or parts list, but the boom is 1 inch square aluminum with a 1/8" thick wall.

[SunnyShawFilms]

where did you get that motor and remote ?

[CountHasimirFenring]

@SunnyShawFilms

The servos I ultimately used (they're different than what's shown in the video) are HS-5485 Hitec Standard Digital servos. They have more resoluction than the analog servos that are used in the video.

The remote is a Futaba 9c. I fly model airplanes (hand-launch gliders, mostly) and had most of this stuff lying around my shop from past projects.

[VexedFilms]

wow. I am making this, but uh I think I'll wait til I've made a jib first.

I'll be back! I'll ask for tips!

Cool vid

[CountHasimirFenring]

For this video, the servos were analog Hitec HS-85MG. They lack a bit of fine resolution, so I've since replaced them in this setup with inexpensive digital servos, which by my measurements offer almost 4 times the resolution. Even smoother pans and tilts with the digital servos.

[MIKEY19900]

DIGI SERVOS???

ANOLOGED SERVOS????

[CountHasimirFenring]

Thanks. I intend to paint it black, but that would mean that I have to disassemble it to do that, and I haven't built up the desire to do that just yet.

Yes, the servos make the setup a bit noisy - a result of the gearing inside them. I figured that any shots in which I'm using this rig I would have to carefully mic, or just dub the audio. It's a shot that doesn't get used a lot, so when it does, it's very effective.