QUESTION how difficult is it gyro stablize a turret ?

[mcevoyi]

Hi all

As most of u know we I build armour ..I tend to build and not worry to much about it be rc or not

But

Now I have a 3 challenger 2's ..I want to do a serious build ...and want to end up with at least 2 full
working tanks ..and to do that I would like to have full guro stablized turret and main gun.

I know that many of you will be going down that route ...now for the dumb questions

And first ..and I am sure there will be a stack to follow ..

Q 1 ...how do u tell the turret where u want it to point ..is it possible to get some kind of rangefinder or optic set up that may be able to see and track a target tank ?

[Tankbear]

Most attempts I've seen use helicopter gyro which you switch on and off from a spare radio channel if setup correctly the gun stays pointing in the direction when you turn the gyro on.

But where as a tank locks on a target it stays aimed at it the gyro does not it just locks the angle. What this means is if a real tank is in a car park and locks onto a car in the middle of the car park no matter where the tank is it will point at the car. A gyro in our tanks would lock at a position i.e. north west so then the tank moves around the car the gun stays pointing north west and not at a car. Which would look a little odd as you drove around the car.

That's my 2p worth

[MichaelC]

I have done some very crude horizontal stabilization using gyros. Obviously you will need have servo elevation and servo rotation set-up. Here is a quick video of the horizontal stablization/target locking:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZSp1fRdgGk

Basically like Tankbear says, you will have a spare channel on your radio to turn the gyro on and off. When the gyro is off it simply acts as a passthru, so whatever signal you send to the turret rotation in this case it just pass it on. When you turn on the gyro, it will basically "lock" the angle of the turret, so that whatever angle you have when you turn on the gyro, it will maintain that angle RELATIVE to the position of the hull.

Vertical stabilization is the same idea, but given the small elevation angle available on 1/16 tanks, you won't see much in terms of locking unless you have a very hilly battle field.

[tomhugill]

Hey,

Using a helicopter gyro won't work for the gun elevation. What you need to use is a submarine auto leveller as a helicopter gyro reacts to acceleration so if you move it slowly it doesn't really work, this doesn't happen with a submarine leveller. A helicopter gyro will work as Ian says but this still gives a decent approximation.

[Max-U52]

I've heard they've had success with one of these, but it's a tight squeeze in the turret.

[MichaelC]

Just a quick add, I have also been looking at this set-up for 1/16 tanks.

http://35rctank.com/html/p6.html

Of course there is also the Tamiya system but I have no idea how they work or the money for it........

[Tankbear]

Just a quick add, I have also been looking at this set-up for 1/16 tanks.

http://35rctank.com/html/p6.html

Of course there is also the Tamiya system but I have no idea how they work or the money for it........

I contacted them about using their system a while back but said only works with their electronics. Shame as it looks great in use.

[wibblywobbly]

The current technology only provides crude solutions. Gyro's are designed for heli's and submarines. A heli gyro is designed to keep a tailboom facing where you left it. When used in a tank the gyro is telling the barrel (the tailboom) to stay at whatever angle it was last locked on to.

The cheaper solution to having a gyro is to sit on the sofa and practice contra rotation.
You push the turret rotation stick gently and then push the motor control slowly in the opposite direction. It takes a few minutes to get the balance right, so that the barrel stays pointing at an object whilst the hull rotates beneath it. It's a great party trick.

There wouldn't be any way of locking a barrel onto an object that was moving, unless someone knows how to bounce a laser off another tank that is linked to servo/gyro somehow.