As used by the Marc VDS Moto 2 Team! http://www.marcvds.com/bike/
A Gyrocam supplied by us is featured in the videos below, shot whilst Alex Marquez and Tito Rabat were testing at the Aragon circuit in June 2015
A Gyrocam supplied by us is featured in the videos below, shot whilst Alex Marquez and Tito Rabat were testing at the Aragon circuit in June 2015
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How to make your own "Mosci" gyrocam for Gopro cameras
We've all seen the awesome shots of Rossi's behind dancing about on his M1 Yamaha pulling crazy lean angles and with the Gyro-camera technology, it seems to make the riding more awesome to look at with the bike basically laid across your 42" flatscreen TV!
Here is a build log on how to make your own version based on a design by Wolfgang over in Germany.
If you have built one and would like to send a donation to Wolfgang, contact us and we will be happy to help you do so.
Here is a build log on how to make your own version based on a design by Wolfgang over in Germany.
If you have built one and would like to send a donation to Wolfgang, contact us and we will be happy to help you do so.
OR visit his Facebook page: Motorrad Gyrocam
Design concept
The design is beautifully simple and elegant in its solution, basically a control board hidden behind the camera is monitoring its own angle in relation to the horizon. As it detects itself moving away from the horizontal plane, it drives the motor behind to compensate.
The board uses the "Aleksey Moskalenko" firmware as used by many of the RC hobbyists to control camera gimbals in all sorts of applications.
The board uses the "Aleksey Moskalenko" firmware as used by many of the RC hobbyists to control camera gimbals in all sorts of applications.
Gyrocam in action!
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Parts / Tools list 2016:
Build Instructions:
Stage 1: Motor preparation and housing
To avoid the motor slipping the outer magnets on the inner shaft after heavy vibrations or knocks, we firstly need to apply Loctite compound to the inner shaft. Start by removing the shaft lock grub screw from the motor, being careful not to drop it into the motor windings.
Using a screwdriver or something similar which will make good contact with the inner shaft, push the outside of the motor against the screwdriver so that the inner shaft protrudes from the motor by roughly 5 to 8mm.
The view from the other side:
Prepare your working area ready for applying the Loctite to the shaft. To apply the Loctite neatly, I used a cocktail stick so grab one of those and a paper towel to mop up any excess or spills.
Carefully apply the Loctite to the inner surface of the motor housing. DO NOT apply to anywhere else! You also do not want to drop any into the motor bearings for obvious reasons!
Now push the inner shaft back into its original position. I flipped the motor over so that the Loctite area was at the bottom against a piece of thin cardboard on top of the table and then gently pushed the shaft back into place. Wipe off the excess Loctite compound.
Screw the grub screw back into the motor with a small amount of Loctite applied to the thread. Wipe off the excess compound carefully.
Take the 3D printed motor housing and gently push the motor into it. Make sure to look at the back four holes to keep the threaded holes on the motor in position to accept the holding screws.
Using some optional Loctite 248, screw four of the M3 x 6mm screws into the motor. Tighten the screws evenly and until they are snug. Do not over tighten so as to avoid damaging the plastic.
Stage 2: Camera housing preparation and assembly
Using a 2mm drill, enlarge the holes of the control board, four in total, one in each corner
Lay the control board into the housing and push it towards the USB hole in the housing.
If the control board does not fit easily into the space provided, use some sand paper to remove a little material from the edges of the control board.
Check that the USB port fits the provided hole correctly.
Holding the control board with one hand, use the 1.5mm drill to make some holes ready for the screws. You only need to drill a short way into the plastic to accommodate the screw thread length, but if you happen to drill all the way through the plastic it doesn't matter.
Thread the three motor wires through the hole in the back of the housing.
Using the M3 "Torx" screws, mount the housing onto the motor. Apply some Loctite 248 to the threads if you like and tighten the screws evenly but not overtight.
You will see that the motor connector has been soldered onto the motor wires in this photo and covered with heat shrink tube.
You must do the same, use only the WHITE / BLUE / GREEN wires and make the other three wires safe from touching each other or anything else. Heat shrink can be used or some strong tape.
If your motor connector does NOT have coloured wires, make sure you only use the three wires on the left as you look at the connector like in this photo.
Stage 3: Electrical connections
Cut the RED and BLACK wire off the small PCB board that the control board is supplied with so that you have the same as in the photo on the left.
We will now be using a soldering iron to connect the power wires directly to the control board.
Take a good look at the photo here, you will see that you must solder the RED and BLACK wires to either side of the black component shown in the bottom right corner of the control board.
WE HIGHLY RECOMMEND THAT YOU PRACTICE SOLDERING ON SOMETHING ELSE FIRST IF THIS IS YOUR FIRST TIME USING A SOLDERING IRON ON A PCB BOARD.
The best method is to use the soldering iron quickly to make sure you don't over heat the PCB or the components on it. Also to put some solder on the the component first AND the wires so that they melt together much easier.
To add protection to these wires you can add some hot glue over the connections to give them more strength but not too much that will stop the control board from fitting correctly.
Remove the white plug from the other end of the RED and BLACK wires.
Then thread them through the hole in the motor.
Plug the motor connector into the control board, double check which way this fits because you can easily damage it if you try it the wrong way!
Now comes the difficult part! You must carefully move the control board into position and screw it into place using the self tapping screws.
You can see the motor cables are folded into the top corner, and the spare wires we don't use of the motor connector are folded behind the board.
Take your time to make sure the control board is not forced into position, carefully pull the RED and BLACK power wires thru the motor as you do this.
If you see that the control board has to bend to fit, STOP and try again after checking the cables are not getting trapped behind it.
The final step is to connect the power plug onto the red and black power wires. Here I will show you how to use the crimping tools which will result in a much neater, stronger connection.
Bare back a short piece of the plastic around the wire so that you can place the wire part into the shorter metal tabs. The longer metal tabs should then be in position around the outer part of the wire.
Repeat for the red wire.
Now take the metal piece and rest it into the "jaws" of the crimping tool. The metal tabs should locate into the top of a "mould" like this.
Feed the wire into the metal piece and carefully compress the handles of the crimping tool making sure the wire locates correctly. The metal part should fold over both the outer plastic and the inner wire like this.
Take one of the larger red plastic pieces and position it over the smaller red piece which is already connected to your power switch.
Don't push it all the way on, it is only a guide to show you which way round the black and red cables should go.
Then insert the wires into the red plug, you will hear a small click when the wire is positioned correctly. Pull the wire back gently to make sure it doesn't come back out.
The result should look like this.
And there it is! A built Gyrocam.
Next is the testing part, so mount the gyrocam onto your GoPro mount and get the 12V voltage source ready.
Stage 4: Checking the settings and testing
So now to make the adjustments to the control board so that it controls the motor correctly for this application.
To do this, firstly you need to download the programming software that is distributed freely from the "Basecamelectronics" website: http://www.basecamelectronics.com/downloads/8bit/
Please note, you only need the "GUI" software, NOT the items called firmware.
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At this moment in time the version you need is "2.40b7" which works with the control boards from the goodluckbuy sellers. So either find the 2.40b7 for yourself on their website or use this download link to get it from here:
(Right click and "Save as") |
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If this version doesn't work for you, try version "2.2b2" which may be needed if you received an older control board.
If that still doesn't work, make contact with the seller of the control board to find out which version you really need.
If that still doesn't work, make contact with the seller of the control board to find out which version you really need.
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Your operating system may look for and install the USB driver automatically when you connect the Gyrocam to your computer, if not, use the .zip file here and download and install the drivers.
(Right click and "Save as") If you aren't using Windows, check here for your driver version: USB - UART Drivers |
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When you have the GUI software opened, you can use Load this "Profile" to set all the necessary settings to how they need to be:
(Right click and "Save as") |
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Another option is to use these images as a reference on which settings must be changed.
Compare these to how your board is setup by the manufacturer and adjust them to match these images below.
(Note that you only need to look at the first two tabs of the programming tool)
PLEASE NOTE THE VALUE FOR "ROLL POWER" SHOULD BE "105" NOT "90" AS SEEN BELOW
Compare these to how your board is setup by the manufacturer and adjust them to match these images below.
(Note that you only need to look at the first two tabs of the programming tool)
PLEASE NOTE THE VALUE FOR "ROLL POWER" SHOULD BE "105" NOT "90" AS SEEN BELOW
Video with a quick setup guide for setting the parameters and using the calibration tools:
How to do a six stage calibration for increased accuracy. Not essential but easy enough to do!
Stage 5: Using the Gyrocam
Here are some general tips and tricks on using the Gyrocam and making sure your videos look as good as possible!
1) If you have been using the Gyrocam before but then on occasion you power up the camera and the Gyrocam settles into a level position BUT the camera is upside down, simply power off the Gyrocam, return the camera to the correct level position and then turn the Gyrocam back on again.
Also, ONLY power up the Gyrocam when it is perfectly still, the sensor will not complete it's bootup procedure if you keep moving the Gyrocam OR the engine is running.
2) When you use a 1000mah Lipo battery with the Gyrocam you can expect the battery to last for upto 120 minutes, however the voltage supplied by the battery will drop over time. As the voltage drops the performance and strength on the motor will slowly become less efficient until the battery needs to be charged. The Lipo battery should NEVER be flattened completely, after using the battery for 90 minutes, we recommend recharging the battery or switching to a fresh one.
3) Reasons why the Gyrocam may occasionally not keep the Horizon pefectly level:
VIBRATIONS! IF your Gyrocam is not performing as well as you'd hoped, check and adjust the following:
a) Always try to position the Gyrocam on the bike in a place where it is least affected by road vibrations. The tail of the bike moves a lot more than the tank area so first re-test with the Gyrocam in another more stable position.
b) Don't use any extension arms with the mounts, just screw the Gyrocam on to the clip with no extra arms between.
c) To reduce vibrations from the bike's engine and road / track surface, you can modify the GoPro mounting clip like below to make sure the clip can't move around in the GoPro base. Use a strip of soft rubber or cork so that the clip cannot move up and down when in the base. Alternatively you can place a strip of duct tape onto the base over the ridge in the middle.
d) As a last resort, you can run the GUI program and re-calibrate the ACC and GYRO settings. But it is rarely a problem with the calibration, 99% of the time it will be due to the Gyrocam suffering from external influences like the vibrations.
1) If you have been using the Gyrocam before but then on occasion you power up the camera and the Gyrocam settles into a level position BUT the camera is upside down, simply power off the Gyrocam, return the camera to the correct level position and then turn the Gyrocam back on again.
Also, ONLY power up the Gyrocam when it is perfectly still, the sensor will not complete it's bootup procedure if you keep moving the Gyrocam OR the engine is running.
2) When you use a 1000mah Lipo battery with the Gyrocam you can expect the battery to last for upto 120 minutes, however the voltage supplied by the battery will drop over time. As the voltage drops the performance and strength on the motor will slowly become less efficient until the battery needs to be charged. The Lipo battery should NEVER be flattened completely, after using the battery for 90 minutes, we recommend recharging the battery or switching to a fresh one.
3) Reasons why the Gyrocam may occasionally not keep the Horizon pefectly level:
VIBRATIONS! IF your Gyrocam is not performing as well as you'd hoped, check and adjust the following:
a) Always try to position the Gyrocam on the bike in a place where it is least affected by road vibrations. The tail of the bike moves a lot more than the tank area so first re-test with the Gyrocam in another more stable position.
b) Don't use any extension arms with the mounts, just screw the Gyrocam on to the clip with no extra arms between.
c) To reduce vibrations from the bike's engine and road / track surface, you can modify the GoPro mounting clip like below to make sure the clip can't move around in the GoPro base. Use a strip of soft rubber or cork so that the clip cannot move up and down when in the base. Alternatively you can place a strip of duct tape onto the base over the ridge in the middle.
d) As a last resort, you can run the GUI program and re-calibrate the ACC and GYRO settings. But it is rarely a problem with the calibration, 99% of the time it will be due to the Gyrocam suffering from external influences like the vibrations.
