Hard Drives for Gyro Stabilization!!!

Jarek Zabczynski

Jarek Zabczynski

Veteran
Yeah so I picked up some cheap ATA drives for backing up footatge from my HVx-200 and relized something. I am using one of this USB2 cables that turns a bare drive into an extenal drve. So during my transfer I picked up the drive to put it in a different spot on my desk and felt some familiar resistance.

I've rented out Gyros before from Kanlabs for use on my Glidecam and for some aerial stuff I was doing and holding a spinning hard drive felt very much like holding a small gyro.

I am conviced that mounting a couple 3.5" drives on an opposing axis will add stability to moving rigs. I have some old drives that died on me but can still spin up. I will be conducting some tests. If this works how I feel it will it's a hell of a way to have cheap gyros.

Am I the first to stumble upon this? It seems like such an easy concept. I would't be surprised if I wasn't. Anyway, just thought I'd share. I will keep you all updated.

- Jarek
 
I saw a reference to that on the CML (cinematography mailing list) a couple of years ago. Someone just had the idea, I don't know if they followed thru.

That's been an idea that's been bugging me since I saw that post. It's worth a try if you have the time. I was thinking about using a 12v drill battery to power the drives. You can get them cheap (~$15) at McFrugals (Pick and Save).

If you try this, please post pics/results!
 
I thought about this as well (in the 80's I used to work with a mainframe and had the job of changing the drive platters. Once I "forgot" (not really) to let them spin down and got a crash course in gyroscopy! :) )

My first observation with the smaller drives is that they're not perfectly smooth. Also they tend to be small, light, and hence not a lot of intertia. But maybe two drives at 90 degree angle will smooth things out, and perhaps doubling the drives will give more inertia?

Also, I tried to kill a drive by spinning it to death, and found that drives (at least in the early nineties) can easily handle up to 18 volts (was powering the motor directly, obviously). More speed = more inertia.

I look forward to hearing your results!
 
This was a 250gig seagate drive. The idea struck me immediately when I picked it up. I gotta find those dead drives I have, I knew I should hang on to them! :D
 
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