Panther autogyro head with commutator for RGB LEDs by WRudy

Last crawled date: 3 years ago

Autogyro head with DIY commutator (made of 1,2-1,4mm copper wire) to provide 5V power supply to RGB LEDs at the blades tips. LED color change depending on the circumferential position of the blade. R on the left (120 deg), G on right (120 deg), and B at front (120 deg). Triangle plate is copper covered GF used for PCB preparation, I prepared tracks (scratched) with carpet knife. Should be etched properly but I was to lazy ;) Ground connection is through the 6mm shaft and bearings, short coil wire connects bearing casing and triangle plate 'ground' area (commutator. stl needs extra drill/slot for this wire).
I used 5050 RGB PLCC6 SMD (OSTCMBS4C1A) 5x5 mm, Each LED needs additional resistor to reduce current according to specification. There is plenty of space at the triangle plate (see photos) to place the resistors but remember that blades can hit connectors at the top part while folding. In my case (5 V power supply) Red LED needed 150 ohm (max 2,2 V) and Green/Blue needed 100 ohm (max 3.1 V) for max 20 mA per LED (60 mA altogether).
Each RGB LED needs 4 wires: common ground + 1 wire per color, I used ~0.15 coil wire placed in slot 1 mm front of the chord wise CoG and glued it with CA.
The wire sliding on commutator should be springy with min. 1 mm dia and fitted into the holes in shaft holder.stl (see photos).
Simplified electrical scheme at the triangle plate is provided,
Printing with 6 walls + 40% infill in PETG:
bearingholder.stl - print twice for top and bottom, bearing ID is 6 mm, 13mm OD with 1.2mm height flange with diam of 15mm, total bearing height is 5 mm
commutator_1,4mm_wire.stl - print once
shaft holder.stl - print once, prepared for stepped 6mm shaft I got in my model shop,
PM/comment if you need some specific shaft connection, or different bearing dimensions I will try to help :)
Source file provided (FreeCad), feel free to modify but please post your remix for other Autogyro Nuts :).