Pan & Tilt Servo Bracket Controlled by Arduino

Intro: Pan & Tilt Servo Bracket Controlled by Arduino

Hi, in this instructable i am showing you how to build a very nice and very sturdy pan & tilt turret for your rc / arduino projects.
(Please don`t judge my english grammer etc. i`m from holland)
The things that you need for this project are not expansive or hard to find so it should be easy to build.
You don`t need expansive tools or anything to build this, just use your imagination and some handy hands :D

STEP 1: Materials

The materials and tools that you're going to need.

Materials:

- Arduino Uno (or other)
- example code (included)
- 7 wires
- breadboard
- camera tripod (i used a small one)
- aluminum plate (1mm thick)
- 4 miniture nuts and screws
- 8 (3x10mm) allen screws and 8 nuts
- 1 servo horn at least with 4 holes
- 1 big nut for the tripod (i got this from an old camera)

Tools:

- miniature jigsaw
- ruler
- pencil
- the design of your brackets (included)
- sandpaper
- drill
- screwdriver
- vice (for bending)

STEP 2: Design

First you need to draw the disign on the aluminum. 

STEP 3: Jigsaw

Now you need to saw the design out of the aluminum very carefully with the jigsaw.
try to make the saw lines as smooth as possible so when it's done it looks really nice.

WARNING !!!

Mension that in the second picture there are no holes for the screws to mount the servo, i've done this because the dimensions of every servo are slighly different !
So you must figuer that part out by yourself !

STEP 4: Bending

Now you're already at step 4!

These are the thing you should have done already:

- draw the designs on the aluminum plate
- cut out the design with a jigsaw
- cut out the holes for the servo`s
- drilled holes for the servo screws (you must do this last 2 steps by yourself because the dimensions of every servo are different

Step 4 includes bending the aluminum plates you've cut out in step 3.

For the bending i used a vise, just align the plate to the vide and bend it over (SLOWLY) with a  piece of wood (plank)

STEP 5: Assembling

These steps are all about assembling your pan & tilt bracket to your servo's.

1. mount the main bracket onto the tripod with the golgen nut :)
2. mount the first servo underneath the main bracket with 4 screws
3. mount the servo horn underneath the TOP bracket with 4 miniature screws
4. mount the top bracket with the servo horn attached onto the first servo with a servo horn mounting screw
5. finally, mount the last servo onto the top bracket

STEP 6: Arduino

In this step we will connect the arduino to the servo's and upload a test program.

for this step you will need:

- the arduino
- 7 wires (2 black, 2 red and 3 yellow)
- code (it's just the sweep library from arduino 1.01)

Wiring:

- connect the plus from the servo to the 5v on the arduino
- connect the ground from the servo to the ground on the arduino
- connect the signal (yellow) from the servo to pin 9 on the arduino

Code:

// Sweep
// by BARRAGAN <http://barraganstudio.com>
// This example code is in the public domain.


#include <Servo.h>

Servo myservo;  // create servo object to control a servo
                // a maximum of eight servo objects can be created

int pos = 0;    // variable to store the servo position

void setup()
{
  myservo.attach(9);  // attaches the servo on pin 9 to the servo object
}


void loop()
{
  for(pos = 0; pos < 180; pos += 1)  // goes from 0 degrees to 180 degrees
  {                                  // in steps of 1 degree
    myservo.write(pos);              // tell servo to go to position in variable 'pos'
    delay(15);                       // waits 15ms for the servo to reach the position
  }
  for(pos = 180; pos>=1; pos-=1)     // goes from 180 degrees to 0 degrees
  {                               
    myservo.write(pos);              // tell servo to go to position in variable 'pos'
    delay(15);                       // waits 15ms for the servo to reach the position
  }
}

Now when you've connected everything to the arduino and uploaded the sweep libray your pan & til turret is finished ! :D

A video of my turret :)

--------------Thank for reading this instructable and i hope this was helpfull for you ! ---------------
---------------------------------Have questions? leave a message behind.----------------------------------

Comments

[junglew]

Posso acquistare il tutto senza telecamera , comandato da pc ? per regalarlo? grazie non me ne intendo proprio ma un amico lo cerca

[Carl_10E]

Hi Markie, I was wondering if you could take a look at my design and see if you can pin point where I am going wrong. I also think you might be interested in what I am up to.

http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=342640.0

Thanks in advance

Carl

[AniqA1]

hi, i try your circuit but it does move my servo, did you use power from laptop only? it is enough to move two servo? or you you other kit?

this is my kit:

Arduino Uno

2 Servos HX5010

Breadboard

Jumper wire

but nothing happen after I upload to Uno.

[AniqA1]

***hi, i try your circuit but it does NOT move my servo, did you use power from laptop only? it is enough to move two servo? or you use other kit?

this is my kit:

Arduino Uno

2 Servos HX5010

Breadboard

Jumper wire

but nothing happen after I upload to Uno.

[ZhongK]

Hoi Dutch guy.

Do u have a instruction for me to connect my servo controller to my PI B..??

or a link to a site where i can find it?

[4ndres]

Awesome, can you control it with two separate potentiometers? Also, where did you get that "minitool"?

[markie]

Thank you! and sorry for the late comment, ive been very busy lately.
yes you can control it with two potmeters, i do not have the code for that, sorry.
I got the minitool from my father when i was 12 so i ectually dont even know where he bought it.

[4ndres]

Do you know the name of a similar tool?

[markie]

No im sorry, i do know a few but there over 100 euro's and i dont know if you can buy them in your country.

gr mark

[Ellen the Generous]

Hi!

Very nice instructable! I am working on a project and I have been designing and looking for a system just like this. One of the big issues I run into is mounting something onto the top servo. I am looking connect an adjustable mirror to the top servo but there's hardly anything that can go up there that doesn't create too much torque on the servo. Have you tried mounting anything to that top servo? And when you connect something heavier, does it burden the servo?

Thanks, and nice job!

[markie]

HI Ellen, and thank you :) I mounted a IR camera on top of the servo but the camera only weighs like 250 Gr. so the servo can easily move it around. i think the best you can do is make a top bracket with support on both ends. so the servo on the left and a bracket on the right with a flat surface in between, something like in the picture will help your servo with the tilting because it takes less torque. And how much does your mirror weighs?

gr Mark :)

[meanpc]

Nice work and a good looking instructable!

[markie]

Thanks :D

[amandaghassaei]

nice project! Was there something special you built this to shoot?

[markie]

Thanks! and actually yes :) i'm working on a security system, there's going to be an instructable for that too. it involves the arduino, lcd, joystick, a paintballgun, some more aluminum, and i hope 2 xbee's too for making it al wireles :D

[amandaghassaei]

cool! tip on the xbee shield in case you're thinking of using it- both arduinos have to be running off batteries or the power jack to work, don't power them with the usb port, it screws up the communication. This frustrated me for a very long time once.

[markie]

okay , thanks for the info ! :)