Nikon D80 AuRiCo rig

Once I knew my kites could lift the SLR it was time to add some AuRiCo.

This rig was to be another limited pan, manual tilt style, which involved some very simple shed tinkering.

Just had to bend up some aluminium as a pan bolt bracket and rivet it on to the top U. This bracket steadies the pan bolt which is no longer solidly fixed to the top U but rotates.

The bracket also acts as the pan servo mount so I had to think about how far away from the pan bolt the servo needed to be positioned. That distance depends on the thickness of the servo and which gear cogs are used.

Nikon D80 SLR AuRiCo autoKAP rig - 1195g

To keep the rig as simple and light as possible I used velcro and rubber bands to hold the AuRiCo and batteries on.

As the pan servo is only rotating the rig it doesn't need to be too big or securely bolted on. I started with a Futaba S3003 but ended up using Turnigy 380MG stuck on with double sided tape and cable ties. Although the servo is moving over 1kg of camera and rig there is a lot of give in the picavet suspension setup.

You can see in this video how the load transfer from servo to rig is quite spongey which reduces strain on the servo. The servo moves the picavet on its lines first then the rig swings around.

Nikon D80 KAP shots