PT-2 Pan & Tilt Construction
This page details the construction of the PT-2 pan and tilt bracket recently purchased from Endurance RC. The package comes in a large ziplock bag with a smaller bag containing the bolts and washers inside.
The PT-2 package, servos and jiffy box
The parts appear to be routed and because of this the inside corners are rounded. I chose to file the inside corners square so that the parts would sit totally flush but this was my individual choice and isn’t necessary for normal operation.
The parts rounded inside corners
The instructions are available to download from their website and were easy to follow although, a few more pictures wouldn’t do any harm. The only suggestion I have is to swap steps 8 and 9 and add the tilt top plate last after the tilt hub support and tilt mount have been mounted to the main structure.
I purchased two HS-322HD servos from ServoCity with one of them being modified for 180° travel which will be used for the pan motion. I soon realised that none of the pre-drilled holes matched any of the servo horns that came with my Hitec HS-322HD servos. After speaking with Endurance I was told that the holes matched the large red servo horns that should have come with my Hitec servos. After getting in contact with ServoCity I was informed that Hitec are no longer including the red horn with some of their servos. Thankfully ServoCity arranged to have some sent out to me at no additional cost. They do sell a horn that appears to be a suitable replacement which can be seen here. Hopefully Endurance will consider stocking a suitable alternative horn in the future that you can add at the time of ordering.
The large red servos horns with mounting holes enlarged
With the servo horn mounted to the tilt hub support there is some overlap. I chose to trim the horn but again this is just cosmetic and isn’t necessary for normal operation.
Servo horn overlap
The trimmed servo horn
I chose to mount the PT-2 to a jiffy box which has some fishing sinkers inside for stability this makes a great base for use on a desk. I installed two grommets to allow the servo cables to pass through. Another option would have been to cut a notch in the pan and tilt mounting plate for the tilt servo cable to sit in.
The pan and tilt base
Centering the servo
After construction had been completed I noticed that the tilt top plate can strike the tilt servo when it tilts back. This means that when the tilt hub support is mounted when the servo is in its normal central position at 1.50ms you won’t get the full range of motion of the servo and it will move more in one way than the other. My servo tester showed that the backward tilt stopped at around 1.20ms this means that centre should ideally bet set at 1.30ms so that the full motion of the servo can be used which in this case will result in additional forward motion. This can easily be done in the ServoCommander software also from Endurance R/C.
Overall the PT-2 is a great platform and capable of handling a reasonable amount of weight. This will be used for developing the pan and tilt software and possibly testing an IMU. I’ve made a short video showing the completed unit which can be viewed below.
PT-2 Demo by FPVProject .net from FPV Project on Vimeo.