What I Did
I designed and helped build a 3-DOF gimbal stand that lets the rocket team mount a TVC test article, measure angular motion, and safely run control experiments on the bench.
UBC Rocket
3-DOF Gimbal Test Stand
A test fixture for validating a thrust vector control gimbal before flight hardware integration, built around a rigid aluminum extrusion frame, a suspended vehicle assembly, and magnetic encoder feedback.
Why I Did It
The team needed a controlled way to tune PID behavior and verify gimbal response without depending on full-system testing or risking flight hardware during early iteration.
How I Did It
I balanced frame stiffness, access for wiring and electronics, encoder placement, and manufacturable brackets so the stand could be assembled, adjusted, and used repeatedly during controls testing.
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Interactive CAD
3-DOF Gimbal Test Stand
Thrust vector control bench-test fixture
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Built for Controls Iteration
The stand supports physical PID tuning by giving the gimbal room to move across three rotational degrees of freedom while keeping the test setup inspectable. Magnetic encoders provide position feedback for comparing commanded motion against measured response.
Encoder Integration
Stand after soldering outermost encoder. The bracket holds the sensor in a repeatable position on the frame while the wiring routes back toward the electronics stack, giving the controls team clean angular feedback during bench testing.
