Gearhead camera tilt

Grippers, Grabbers, Cutters, Dredges, and any other Tools we can bolt on.
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Nautilus
Posts: 9
Joined: Mar 31st, 2011, 3:24 pm

Gearhead camera tilt

Post by Nautilus »

So I've been looking around and I really like the idea of a tilting camera. It will also be essential in tracking spawning lake trout by performing population counts against the backdrop of the surface. Not essential to install the grabbing arm but will eventually add a shocking electrode to estimate hatching fry numbers ( the electrode will most likely be fixed to the frame.

Steve - Seems like you've got the speed and gear ratio nailed down. Do you know the sizes of the four gears and where I might find them?

Thanks,
Bret
Nautilus
Posts: 9
Joined: Mar 31st, 2011, 3:24 pm

Re: Gearhead camera tilt

Post by Nautilus »

I found a gearhead motor that I would like to use and some gears that should work. Do I need to find a motor that is specifically waterproof? I found a great site for electronics. Will this work? http://www.e-clec-tech.com/gehe0814m.html
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sthone
Posts: 588
Joined: Nov 8th, 2010, 9:25 pm
Location: Connecticut
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Re: Gearhead camera tilt

Post by sthone »

I have in the past just run the motor right int the water (fresh water only) but a lot is going to depend on the motor itself. The best thing to do is to make a housing for the motor and then just have the shaft exit through a seal (I use small motorcycle oils seals)

As far as the motor goes, a geared motor is your best bet because you can get them all ready geared down so your camera will tilt slow enough. Looking at the motor in that link, you would need to add some gears to it to slow it down a bit more because I think 66 RPM might still be a bit fast for a tilt camera. You can find really low rpm (say 10 rpm) if you look around then you won't need an addition gear setup. (not that 10 rpm is the right number for your application, a little trial and error might be in order.)

The only reason I used a gear setup with 4 sets of gears is because I needed the torque to life the arm as well as the camera. My original tilt set up for the camera can be seen HERE and is a much simpler setup.

These are the gears I used on the retrofit though. I get a lot of my stuff from them (http://www.allelectronics.com) and they have a good selection of geared motors too.

-Steve 8-)
jason howard
Posts: 27
Joined: Feb 11th, 2011, 8:17 pm
Location: bridgeport CT

Re: Gearhead camera tilt

Post by jason howard »

if im not mistaken you can remove the gearhead from the motor and simply use a bilge pump. a bit of grease in the gears to keep them from rusting and you have a water proof fresh/salt water gearhead/motor set. you may have to modify the shaft on the bilge pump or make a connector or housing. it may take a very small amount of machineing but i dont think that it should be too much trouble. simple and reliable are how i like it but i havent found any waterproof gearhead motors for sale, so frankinmotor it is... that is unless someone has another option i dident think of. ;)

ps here is a 6rpm @ 12v gearhead motor
http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/p ... ber=G15492

and they have a bunch of great stuff on that site.
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