Okay, I finally got some web space. (I hope this works - let me know if the images don’t show) The following should be three pictures of my servo calibration gauge, basically a protractor and piece of scrap plexi I spent a few minutes on in the machine shop plus the bolts, nuts, rubber servo mounts (do people use these with the SES?), and a Lynx aluminum servo horn used to hold it together.
The various parts on the table:
http://sknauert.web.wesleyan.edu/Calibration2.jpg
Close-up of the servo set to 0 degrees at 1500 us:
http://sknauert.web.wesleyan.edu/Calibration3.jpg
Actually running with the servo programmer:
http://sknauert.web.wesleyan.edu/Calibration1.jpg
I was wondering what other people do to calibrate their servos? Does anybody else have such a gauge?
Thats pretty darn cool!! What I do to “calibrate” my servos was set them to 1500us, and then rotate the horn until its relatively equal. Not the most hi-tech method or accurate, but it works…some times.
I’ve used one of the cheap plastic half circle protractors scotch taped to the servo horn, with the protractor centering hole centered over the servo horn attachment screw. I made sure the servo body wouldn’t move, and used a stationary pointer at the outside edge of the protractor. I’ve also determined the minimum movement resolution of a servo by attaching a thin 10 inch bamboo BBQ skewer to the servo horn, then observing the skewer tip for the minimum amount of observable movement at the very tip of the skewer. My cheap $10 servo was able to get ~425 repeatable discrete positions in its ~190 deg of rotation.
Lol. I could have just bought this: servocity.com/html/servo_protractor.html
Though now that I have my 805s, I’ll want to modify mine to work with Mega scale servos also. I think the bottom holes in the Servo City one are specifically for that.
Below is the simple calibration setup I use. Basically $1 for the protractor, some scotch tape, and what ever else I can find in the kitchen drawer.
http://web.comporium.net/~shb/pix/protractor.jpg
