Balancing Your 3DR SOLO Gimbal When Installing A Filter

Rycoh · Jul 2, 2016

Hello everyone here is a little quick and easy tip on balancing the gimbal using only one 6g weight. This is how I did it on my SOLO using a Hero 4 Silver. I only used a piece of velcro tape measuring 1"x1". Stuck the soft part of the velcro on the back of the gimbal closest to the motor axis. The rough velcro piece I stuck on the 6g weight on the flat side for more surface contact. It's a matter of preference you can use either side of the weight for this, unless you plan on using the weight on in the future as a screw in weight for a gopro hero 3. Last step, once you have installed the lens filter, on the back of the gimbal you will stick the weight as close as possible to the edge near the axis motor on the velcro. You can relocate the weight to shift the center of gravity if needed. I hope you guys find this helpful.

Maddog · Jul 3, 2016

Rycoh said:
Hello everyone here is a little quick and easy tip on balancing the gimbal using only one 6g weight. This is how I did it on my SOLO using a Hero 4 Silver. I only used a piece of velcro tape measuring 1"x1". Stuck the soft part of the velcro on the back of the gimbal closest to the motor axis. The rough velcro piece I stuck on the 6g weight on the flat side for more surface contact. It's a matter of preference you can use either side of the weight for this, unless you plan on using the weight on in the future as a screw in weight for a gopro hero 3. Last step, once you have installed the lens filter, on the back of the gimbal you will stick the weight as close as possible to the edge near the axis motor on the velcro. You can relocate the weight to shift the center of gravity if needed. I hope you guys find this helpful.
View attachment 3705 View attachment 3706 View attachment 3707 View attachment 3708

Thanks for sharing! I have one concern which may not even matter but here is my concern.

In order to balance the gimbal with just one weight, you used a 6 gram weight. That means the motor used to move the camera up/down now has to contend with an additional 6 grams.

Some people, like myself, did the same thing with 2 pennies which weigh 2.5 grams each. One penny is mounted almost directly behind the lens. The other is on the end of the gimbal opposite the HDMI connector.

That way each motor has to only contend with 2.5 grams. Even though the gimbal is now balanced, the respective motors need to move the additional weight.

I'm not sure if any of this makes a hill of beans of difference in the long run. The gimbal motors strike me as "not very powerful" so I'm trying to lighten their load as much as I can.

I'm not criticizing your approach, I'm just wondering how all of these balancing options affect the longevity of the gimbal motors.