Ed's C-5 gyro has been spun! (Patreon)

View on YouTube: https://youtu.be/m9rETFe7v5M 

I blame Ed Thelen ( http://ed-thelen.org/ ) for getting me interested in gyros and spending way too much on a genuine Apollo gyro, which I plan to re-spin sometimes soon. 

But spinning up the Apollo IRIG gyro is a very delicate and complicated affair, as it requires extremely precise temperature control, magnetic bearing, torque generator, a servo controlled gimbal, and two (!) non-standard 3-phase AC power supplies at 800Hz.

In preparation for this, I had acquired a gyro test table and a universal programmable 3 phase AC supply.

But I first wanted to test the equipment I acquired for the Apollo IRIG  on another gyro. We had previously successfully spun one of Ed's gyro, a smaller rate gyro that did not need a 3 phase supply:  https://youtu.be/wYsG-lXfih8 . This time, we decided to spin up another one of Ed's gyro, a Sperry C-5 direction indicating gyro. He had previously brought it along for the Apollo gyro unboxing ceremony ( https://youtu.be/lXe2OS4nwnQ ). This gyro requires a proper 3 phase 115V 400 Hz setup, but otherwise should be rather straightforward to hook up.

So Ed brought his C-5 back, and volunteered it as a guinea pig for testing the 400 Hz aerospace supply and the gyro testing table setup. Either Ed's trusts me too much, or he really likes high stakes tinkering (or both).

It took us a whole day before we had it spinning in the correct direction, and then an entire evening after Ed was gone before I got the self leveling mechanism working again, and then another day for getting the gyro  test table working. 

But boy, was the result worth it! It sounds a bit crunchy, but it sure works! See the result for yourself in this Patron only, unedited video: https://youtu.be/m9rETFe7v5M 

Thanks Ed!

Marc