At some point in my life, I got interested in camera quadcopters. Although I couldn't own one, I noticed while watching Youtube videos that during flight although the wind would make the drones shake, the video would stay smooth and level. As it turns out, drones have small gimbals attached at the bottom that stabilize the camera. It seemed almost like magic, and I was intrigued. I decided to see if I could build my own standalone gimbal that I could use with my phone.
I had three main criteria I wanted to meet:
Unfortunately, I have very few photos from the build process of the gimbal and taking it apart to show the parts would put it seriously off balance.
The gimbal itself in all its glory.
In the case there's a Lithium Polymer battery, the charger, the gimbal itself with a detachable handle, and a 4th axis stabilizing arm.
A closer look at 4th axis arm. It's using the arms and springs from an old lamp to reduce vertical vibrations when walking or running.
The gimbal with the 4th axis added on to it.
This is the software used to program the gimbal and do things like adjust PID settings, calibrate the accelerometer and gyroscope, and more. The control board and firmware are designed and programmed by OlliW and is called the "Storm32" controller.