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I bought a Gimbal for my 3DR Solo a couple of days ago new from Amazon. I tested it for a first time today and realised that there is a nasty shake on the yaw, I have tried moving any cables that could be touching the Gimbal away from it, factory resetting it and re calibrating everything on the solo but this has had no effect. Does anyone have any ideas about what I should do? Thank you for any replies.
 
Quick opinion is that your HDMI cable is transmitting vibes onto the gimbal. Likely contacting the side wall of the body prior to its connection with the gimbal. If you do a top down install, battery tray removed, you'll have a better understanding for how the hdmi cable is interacting with the gimbal. The key is to get the hdmi cable to float out and around the gimbal, at least to the front of the frame.

Not suggesting you need to follow this linked mod, but the videos provide an idea how things interact.

Macro vibe reduction?

Also you may want to consider balancing the props and/or motors, this will reduce the source of vibes.

Good luck.
 
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Thank you for your quick replies,
I moved the HDMI cable so that it is not contacting the walls of the drone but this has not made much difference if any at all. looking closer at the gimbal I noticed that it really easily moves around on the yaw and if you push it too far to one side it starts oscillating. Could this be the issue or is it normal?
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Also how would I balance my props or my motors?
 
That doesn't look good at all... Either the gimbal is tilted in some way, not sitting on the dampers correctly or the yaw arm is bent. The yaw arm should be vertical when the bird is on all fours.

You say you bought new?
 
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The gimbal doesn't seem to be tilted, I cant see a bend in the yaw arm and it sits nicely vertical when the drone is on all fours. What would I be able to do to check how well its sitting on the dampers?

Yes I bought new from amazon.co.uk but the box had previously been opened so I guess maybe it wasn't so new.
 
I would but unfortunately it was the last one they had, they are now sold out.
 
Then return and buy somewhere else. There's no need to spend $100's on something that isn't working right. Sorry that happened to you. I bought one from eBay never worked sits in the office on the shelf.
 
I've got that option but as I got it for a price that is much better than anywhere else I'm looking to see if it is possible to fix.
 
I'd return as well, seems you got what you payed for... No bargains with Solo gimbals these days. Buyer beware.

The gimbal may be fixable, but it's hard to trouble shoot over the net... I'll post up some photos of a straight gimbal tomorrow, seems to be a common confusion for what is correct.
 
That's a great idea Rich. If you can do it against a gridded background from each angle it might increase the usefulness. Especially if you had a standard size grid like 1/4".
 
All out of grids, so you'll have to deal with brown paper... Besides, the camera parallax would not represent well with the parts.

These are images from a yaw arm that was bent and then straightened. I use guide rods to provide a reference to measure from and then use as a visual reference for aligning. Not the best of tools, but for what I've repaired to date it works for the most part.

Typically a bent gimbal is in the yaw arm. The roll arm can twist as well, either up or down. The roll arm is a little more intuitive for what is bent and how to align.

The first image shows the vertical alignment from the yaw shaft to the arm. Typically a bent arm will twist along the horizontal portion just prior to the 90 transition, basically where the ribbons mates to the arm. If this alone, it will affect the yaw stability.

P5280354.JPG

Second image is a side profile of the yaw arm. Two points where the arm can be bent, which will affect either roll and/or yaw orientation. At the 90 you can get an acute compression of the arm, again typically at the ribbon cable entrance. The roll arm plate, that houses the bearing, is another location that can be twisted down and right. The yaw arm should be relatively flat when placed on its spine.

P5280353.JPG

Another thing overlooked, once all is straightened, is that the motor shafts can be bent. If that is the case replace the motor. Otherwise you'll just be pissing in the wind.
 
I ran that video thru Prodrenalin V2...cleaned up the vibrations quite a bit...not saying this is a solution...but worth noting.

I use Prodrenalin often to clean up my Solo's "microshakes" (your shakes are larger and of a lower frequency than what I think we usually call, "microshakes").

Anyway...

Gimbal shake 1-Prodrenalin.mp4
 
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I ran that video thru Prodrenalin V2...cleaned up the vibrations quite a bit...not saying this is a solution...but worth noting.

I use Prodrenalin often to clean up my Solo's "microshakes" (your shakes are larger and of a lower frequency than what I think we usually call, "microshakes").

Anyway...

Gimbal shake 1-Prodrenalin.mp4
The OP has a mechanical/electrical issue with the gimbal, has nothing to do with "typical" vibrations.
 
Sorry I didn't comprehend that you had corrected his video, didn't watch it initially. Pretty amazing considering the original video quality. I guess, if you have no other choice...
 

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