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Allstar gimbal support vest

ALLSTAR

REDuser Sponsor
Joined
Aug 30, 2007
Messages
736
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18
Age
47
Website
www.allstarcine.com
Why do we make this vest?
Because in the support system market now, some of them are too large and too heavy, or too high, it is easy to stock while passing through lower or small space; some of them load our body too much/ pressure; some are not easy to put on and take off; some are not good in flexibility, especially the vest parts fixed on our arms will interrupt hands motion and reduce flexibility. The most important thing is, most products in the market only get best support in some angle, but when you lift it up, the spring's rebound is not enough, and when you put it down, the feedback power is too much. Therefore, we made improvements according to theses issues, and the major objects are:
1. Light weight and easy to set up
2. Small and sufficient flexibility
3. lightening the load to body/ back
4. most significant, the supporting arms have even supporting force, and support with average force for the highest to lowest angle.

​This is our informal ​demo video showing our product after 9 months designing and produce:
https://vimeo.com/162179547

The support vest in the video is the latest version prototype, now it is in the final production, and will be in about 2 months. The price will TBA.

​About the structure of this vest, the framework is made of carbon fiber tube. The vest covers small range and is very breathable.
The weight is only 1.5 kg.
The support arms are made of carbon fiber tube as well, the weight is 1.5 kg with one "power drum" and two swivel arms. In order to have average force, we don't use spring. The two swivel arms offer movements with very large range, moving back the center of gravity and make the whole system become a T-shape, compared to products in general which are in inverted L-shape, it lowers oppression of back and abdomen.
The support arms can be easily taken off, so during the rest while filming, you can only wear the vest only.

One the other thing, we solicit naming. We would provide 50% off discount for the person whose naming is accepted. The main point of the name will be "light but powerful". Thank you all very much!
 
I think the concept is brilliant and solves the issues I've had with previous gimbal support. I've only a few requests for the final production: up the payload beyond 15lbs to 25-30lbs. It should be able to handle an Epic or Mini, with PL Primes or lightweight zoom, M15 or Ronin, Monitor, wireless FF and HD. 15lbs won't cover this. Also, I'm concerned about the operating width of the swivel arms. Will it bump into doorways? Anyway, to make the rig shorter? Worried about small spaces and crowds.

If not springs, what is the mechanism in the power drums?

Overall, I think this is going in the right direction. It has the boom range, lightweight, hands free, fast set up, etc. Can't weight to see the final spec.
 
Allstar zero
Allstar zeroforce
Allstar AntiGravity or just Anti-G
Allstar fly
Allstar XO force
 
Thank you all so much for suggesting names! (here on Reduser and messages)
We now prefer some of the names:
1. Gimboy
2. Gimboost
3. Angel Wing
4. Anti-G

But we are not going to choose from only these four names. There is about one month till we decide the name.
We are still looking for more options, so welcome for more suggestions!

And to be more clarify , in the video I mentioned "the gimble is 7kg", it doesn't mean this vest can only support 7kg.
It works best when support 6-10 kg.
The most special part of it is:
when you lift it over the horizontal, it can support even more weight. In the highest level, it can support 12 kg.
However, when you use over 10 kg, your arms need to use more force to support it ( but only with very little force. i.e. if you put 13kg, you will need to support about 3kg by your arms). If we shorten the support arms, it can support more weight, but will get less flexibility and can`t transfer the center of gravity backwards.

The mechanism in the power drums is our secret, but it is easy to guest:sifone:
 
Thanks for the clarification. I still feel you need to up the weight capacity so it can easily handle 10-12 kg and not be at the end of the payload range. Cameramen like to use gimbal support because it allows us to "load up" (monitor, FF, wireless, 2 motors, filters, etc) but you don't want to be at the edge of capacity. My rigs are usually btw 20-25lbs, well short of my Ready Rigs payload.

Also, please explain the drum's mechanism and how it works to minimize 4th access if there's no spring.

Thanks
 
Hi Ned,

Please allow me to ask you one question
Have you ever try your Ready Rigs to see if it can hold the payload when you lift the gimbal up?
I tried one support vest which wear on the body like the iron-man, it can support 10 kg when my hands are in front of my chest. But when I rise my hands over my head, the vest's support are deducted as half. Therefore, I started shacking after 30 seconds.. which is not a good experience, and also why I started to design my own support vest.

Last year I worked in a movie project, there was a 5-minutes long shot, I used my early prototype vest, (the gimbal weight was 25 lbs), I finished with 7 takes for this long shot. The actor is taller than me, so I had to lift up my arms always. I don't know if this can explain how helpful this vest for me, but I am very sure that I cannot finish this work with the"ironman" set.

If you are interested in the behind the scene, please ask me via message. (due to the copyright it cannot be published yet)

As I mentioned before, the drum part is our top secret. If I want to increase the support force, then it needs to be bigger and heavier. (It is now quite big for me, and I don't want more.)
 
Hi Ned,

Please allow me to ask you one question
Have you ever try your Ready Rigs to see if it can hold the payload when you lift the gimbal up?
I tried one support vest which wear on the body like the iron-man, it can support 10 kg when my hands are in front of my chest. But when I rise my hands over my head, the vest's support are deducted as half. Therefore, I started shacking after 30 seconds.. which is not a good experience, and also why I started to design my own support vest.

Last year I worked in a movie project, there was a 5-minutes long shot, I used my early prototype vest, (the gimbal weight was 25 lbs), I finished with 7 takes for this long shot. The actor is taller than me, so I had to lift up my arms always. I don't know if this can explain how helpful this vest for me, but I am very sure that I cannot finish this work with the"ironman" set.

If you are interested in the behind the scene, please ask me via message. (due to the copyright it cannot be published yet)

As I mentioned before, the drum part is our top secret. If I want to increase the support force, then it needs to be bigger and heavier. (It is now quite big for me, and I don't want more.)

Good point. The RR does lose tension the higher you go. It's not a huge deal unless I'm holding it high for long periods. Thanks for the feedback. I'll contact you.
 
Looks interesting,
I live in Hong Kong if you're looking for testers to put it through the paces.

Names - sorry if I repeat any.
The AllStar AllFlight
Gimbeast
The AllStar Axis
Allstar Liftoff
AllStar Neo
AllStar Dr. Octopus
AllStar Antt (yes two t's)
AllStar SkyVert
AllStar GlassSmasher
The AllStar Up
The AllStar G-Up
The AllStar AG (Assistant Gimbal, it's a new position on set. Then if you start making versions, you can do all the stuff like AG-X, 2AG, AGV2, etc. Just don't make anything like 1stAG, or First AG, those abbreviations could be PR disasters)
 
Looks like a clever system. The spread width of the drums at the back look a little wide to go through doorways. If the spread is essential for good operation, then have that as the default, but maybe nice to have the option to be able to adjust the width for very narrow spaces (i.e. allow the operator to trade some of the lift ability/operation flexibility for more clearance when necessary). [Although I suppose you could just twist the gimbal round more sideways to narrow the spacing too, so maybe this is unnecessary].

Consider making the system modular so that if this system is successful for you and sells well, maybe design a heavier duty drum module that is user swappable?

Consider allowing the drum arms to also have an alternative mount lower on the back (under the your arms) to allow extra low angle shots close to the ground - or even movable crossbar which can move up and down the spars going down the back?

Name suggestions:

Allstar ArmLift
Allstar ArmStrong

Allstar Drummer
Allstar DrumLift
Allstar Drumlite
Allstar Drumlight

Allstar Equalite
Allstar Equaliser
Allstar Equilibrium

Allstar Featherweight

Allstar G-Lift
Allstar G-Lite
Allstar G-Light
Allstar G-Power

Allstar GimLite
Allstar Gimbalite
Allstar GimLight
Allstar Gimbalight
Allstar GimLift
Allstar Gimbalift

Allstar Gymlastic
Allstar Gymnast
Allstar Gymnastic
Allstar Gymbal

Allstar Glider
Allstar Hover

Allstar Hoverlift
Allstar Lift (Nick Morrison already got this above!)
Allstar LiftPower

Allstar Launch

Allstar LightPower

Allstar PowerLift
Allstar Powerlite
Allstar PowerLite

Allstar StrongArm

Allstar TakeOff

Allstar Weightlifter
 
All Star Silk
All Star Smooth Operator
All Star Smooth Op
All Star Mist
All Star Cloud
All Star Camera Bitch
All Star Bump Eater
All Star Feather
All Star Assassin
All Star Stealth
All Star Gimlet
All Star Flow Master
All Star Flow
All Star G Thing
All Star G Stick
All Star Work Release
All Star Anti Grav
 
Last edited:
Great looking product! It seems like the most relevant or at least the most popular gimbal products have a two syllable ring to them i.e. Ronin, Movi, Argo, etc. So maybe perhaps instead of your preferred Angel Wing you can just call it Allstar Angel or Allstar Wing?

Here are other simple suggestions:

AllStar Steady
Allstar Support
Allstar Terrain
Allstar Gravity
Allstar Float
Allstar G-Wing
Allstar Armor
 
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