Carbon Gimbal Heads

I have built 2 Carbon Gimbal Heads so far. This is the Mk I which started life as some old PVC pipe that formed the core for the carbon-fibre hand lay-up. The design of the Mk II gimbal is shown below.

The DN25 pipe was bent with a hair dryer & DN32 pipe segments glued to the ends. The assembly was faired with epoxy & micro-balloons.

Heavy weight structural carbon fibre cloth was laid up over the core in 4 layers, dry sanded & faired with micro-balloons, & a final epoxy coat applied & matted with wet&dry. Bearing joints were machined from aluminium & nylon.

Carbon Gimbal Head Mk II

I decided to build another Gimbal Head utilising more efficient trapezoidal leadscrews that have become available on AliExpress for 3D printers. The combination of leadscrews & roller thrust bearings meant much reduced locking loads. A removable flash bracket has been incorporated to move the flash(es) closer to the centre of gravity. A 25mm conduit large radius elbow replaced the DN25 bent pipe of the Mk I.

Components awaiting leadscrews & anodising.

With double flash mounted as used for Hummingbird photography.

Arca-Swiss clamp is an eBay $7 item

This is the basic geometry of the bearing joints. Detail for the clamp mounting or the tripod 3/8" UNC stud varies - see photo above.

Both Carbon Gimbal Heads are over-designed due to the PVC core size materials available. However they are lighter than any competitive system & robust enough to easily handle an RF 800mm f2.8 L, when Canon makes one.

Weigth of MK I is 750g.
Weigth of MK II 810 TBAg.
Compared with:
Chinese Andoer gimbal head 855g.
Wimberly Sidekick + Ballhead 1205g.
Wimberly Sidekick with Acrylic adaptor 915g.

Carbon Gimbal Heads

I have built 2 Carbon Gimbal Heads so far. This is the Mk I which started life as some old PVC pipe that formed the core for the carbon-fibre hand lay-up. The design of the Mk II gimbal is shown below.

The DN25 pipe was bent with a hair dryer & DN32 pipe segments glued to the ends. The assembly was faired with epoxy & micro-balloons.

Heavy weight structural carbon fibre cloth was laid up over the core in 4 layers, dry sanded & faired with micro-balloons, & a final epoxy coat applied & matted with wet&dry. Bearing joints were machined from aluminium & nylon.​

Carbon Gimbal Head Mk II

Components awaiting leadscrews & anodising.

With double flash mounted as used for Hummingbird photography.

Arca-Swiss clamp is an eBay $7 item

This is the basic geometry of the bearing joints. Detail for the clamp mounting or the tripod 3/8" UNC stud varies - see photo above.

Both Carbon Gimbal Heads are over-designed due to the PVC core size materials available. However they are lighter than any competitive system & robust enough to easily handle an RF 800mm f2.8 L, when Canon makes one.

Heavy weight structural carbon fibre cloth was laid up over the core in 4 layers, dry sanded & faired with micro-balloons, & a final epoxy coat applied & matted with wet&dry. Bearing joints were machined from aluminium & nylon.