Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Log in
  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Super Duper Simple Dolly for HV20?

Well Finner I'm waiting on the factory in China to get their crap together. We got 200 to be produced and they should be on the boats by late August. haha, j/k. ;)

I've already said my peace about the Fisher Dolly. I can go on a rant about that at any given moment, but I maintain my stance that a Lexus is a much more complicated piece of high-end equipment than a dolly, and therefore nobody can argue that a dolly has any reason to cost what a Lexus does. ;)

As for DIY dolly, umm... I have no skills in that realm, and I'd rather buy something that is made and tested already, plus it's not very expensive and has good transportation options, etc. If it were like $10,000 maybe I'd pay someone to build something for me but at $2,200 or so for the package it's reasonable enough. I just don't like fussing with things.
 
blownapartstudios said:
You got me thinking at the beginning of this thread. I frequently use an aluminum concrete plank for screeding concrete. Typically they are sixteen foot but could be cut smaller. they are ridged and very light. If you welded two of those together in a T shape they would be incredibly strong and give you a platform to mount your four sided camera coaster to.

This setup could be given fold-up screw-jack legs and a four pulley push-pull system. It could be hand cranked or motorized with a variable speed reversible DC motor for ultra smooth controlled auto dolly. Add a Manfrotto ’s 503HDV pro fluid head and you'd have one bitch'in setup.

I have a full industrial machine shop I think I am going to make one of these soon. I'll let you know how it works out.

good luck.
Click to expand...

hey make me one please! :)

Seriously, keep us up to date on this.
 
Not that the RED needs a super big dolly, but generally the heavier the dolly is and the stronger and heavier the track, the smoother it rolls (assuming the wheels don't get squared off by the weight).

I've used the Focus Dolly, which uses hard rubber track and fits into a duffel bag, but the really lightweight ones tend to have trouble rolling smooth over uneven terrain, partly because the tracks are not heavy and rigid enough -- but when you make track that is more rigid, it tends to be heavier and less portable. Sort of a conundrum.

http://www.egripment.com/en/ProductInfo.asp?ID=28

I suppose there are beefier PVC pipes that may be a good compromise between weight and rigidity.

When you are on uneven ground, what tends to work best are these I-beam type tracks, which are strong enough to only need to be supported at each end -- there can be air underneath most of the track, so you can dolly across the end of a swimming pool over the water, for example, as long as the ends are on the ground.
 
no offense, but i heard this DIY-dolly discussion so many times and the results are most of the times not convincing, so why not rent a (mini)panther and some tracks?

for the hv 20 - have you considered the scater dolly by P&S?

regards,
martin
 
Tom said:
I need a very simple and smooth "dolly" for doing very simple moves with the HV20 fitted with a bolt-on matte box. It needs to be really portable, for shooting up in the mountains and such.

I probably don't even need to be able to pan or tilt -- just slide along.

What I was thinking of doing is nailing down a 10-foot section of 7 and 1/2-inch "live steam" model railroad track to a 10-foot plank of wood, then using two sets of tripod legs to raise it, lower it, and level it in outdoor settings. I would have to buy two live steam axles and build a little "car" with a plate to attach the HV20. I would want the car to be rather heavy, so the whole thing would be smooth.

Does that sound like a good idea, or are there simpler solutions I could just buy? Even my solution doesn't sound all that portable, considering that I have to haul around a 10-foot plank of wood. :)
Click to expand...

but i remember there was some kind of dolly which worked with a railsystem, you could put the railsystem together depending on your needs and the rail itself was fixed / leveled with camera tripods. one possible setup was to make dolly moves inside a car, etc.

i forgot about the name, but maybe someone remembers?

regards,
martin
 
Well, I think I have an idea on how to do this.

First step is to build a prototype out of wood. I'm going to try this with a 2X6" plank, ten feet long. (I tested it out at Home Dept depot and the plank seemed solid). I will put saw horse type legs at both ends (with telescoping legs of some kind for leveling), then build the monorail "car" using 8 skateboard wheels - four on top, four on the sides as rollercoaster-style guides.

The key will be making the side wheels adjustable so they hug the 2-inch-thick sides of the plank.

If that works, I might try building it out of a ten-foot aluminum beam (4X6"?) with metal parts for the car, which would probably be smoother and more stable.
 
In my experience...

The Fisher dolly is very smooth, while the DIY approach (skateboard wheels/PVC) is not that smooth. With stabilization software in post (1-point motion tracking works), you can smooth out any uneveness in the dolly. BUT, you can't get rid of motion blur. Any sudden bumps you can't get rid of. The DIY approach works if you keep that in mind. It's probably a little better with Red, since you have extra resolution to play with. Stabilizing something in post means you might need to blow the image up a bit... which could lead to weird scaling artifacts.
 
Tom said:
Hmmm... the 12-foot 2x5" might be perfect. Any idea how much that would weigh? Is this thing solid or hollow?
Click to expand...

It is hollow 1/8 wall box tubing. The aluminum alloy is light enough to pack around a sixteen footer between your index finger and your thumb. I ordered 32 roller skate wheels and bearings from a discount supplier last night and have started drafting technical specs for my powered coaster. If my design works like it should this will be just a tad more than a diy project.

I'll try to keep updating as the parts arrive and I start machining the parts

Good luck!
 
blownapartstudios said:
It is hollow 1/8 wall box tubing. The aluminum alloy is light enough to pack around a sixteen footer between your index finger and your thumb. I ordered 32 roller skate wheels and bearings from a discount supplier last night and have started drafting technical specs for my powered coaster. If my design works like it should this will be just a tad more than a diy project.

I'll try to keep updating as the parts arrive and I start machining the parts

Good luck!
Click to expand...

Whoa, you move fast. :w00t:

I wonder if skateboard wheels might be better quality and smoother? You might try taking a drive down to your local skateboard shop to compare the quality of their best wheels to your rollerskate wheels. I know from back in my skating days you can get some really great wheels and bearings.

How are you planning to power this thing? With a winch? A motor onboard the "coaster"?
 
Tom said:
Whoa, you move fast. :w00t:

I wonder if skateboard wheels might be better quality and smoother? You might try taking a drive down to your local skateboard shop to compare the quality of their best wheels to your rollerskate wheels. I know from back in my skating days you can get some really great wheels and bearings.

How are you planning to power this thing? With a winch? A motor onboard the "coaster"?
Click to expand...

As a moderately low speed operation, on a perfectly smooth surface I don't think the roller skate wheels will give me much trouble. As a twelve wheel design embedded in two solid aluminum heads, Six will be guides while the other six provide constant pressure using coil valve springs. The tram will be powered by a 12volt motor wench mounted to one end of the rail. The drive will be a positive push pull system under idle tension to keep from kinetic coasting after a move or during deceleration. I am looking into an infinitely variable remote controller that can be set to leave your hands free to tilt and pan while it runs down the track. It could also be ran by a second party to change speed depending on what you need for the shot.

If the wheels aren't smooth enough they can be replaced after the heads are machined. I looked into the skate board wheels first, but I Thought the Skate wheels would do for a prototype.

The cool thing is that you can buy the rail from four to twenty feet :greedy:
 
Nice! If it works, you should let me talk to you about mounting a stepper motor at the end and using this thing as a dolly for DLSR timelapses. It would probably be smooth enough, depending on exactly what you are talking about for the drive train. Is this like a belt drive?

I can buy a turn-key stepper motor with a controller that syncs the stepper moves with the firing of a shutter on a DLSR, so you could do night timelapses with motion.

If the basic track and wheels work, do you think you might be willing to make me one for a decent price?
 
blownapartstudios said:
It is hollow 1/8 wall box tubing. The aluminum alloy is light enough to pack around a sixteen footer between your index finger and your thumb. I ordered 32 roller skate wheels and bearings from a discount supplier last night and have started drafting technical specs for my powered coaster. If my design works like it should this will be just a tad more than a diy project.

I'll try to keep updating as the parts arrive and I start machining the parts

Good luck!
Click to expand...

Steven,

For future reference this company sells decent bearings. There are alot of crappy third world bearings out there and sometimes it wiser to pay a bit more. They have an interesting section on lubrication (both wet and dry) also.

http://www.bocabearings.com/

Chuck

P.S. Do you have a machine shop?
 
Tom said:
Nice! If it works, you should let me talk to you about mounting a stepper motor at the end and using this thing as a dolly for DLSR timelapses. It would probably be smooth enough, depending on exactly what you are talking about for the drive train. Is this like a belt drive?

I can buy a turn-key stepper motor with a controller that syncs the stepper moves with the firing of a shutter on a DLSR, so you could do night timelapses with motion.

If the basic track and wheels work, do you think you might be willing to make me one for a decent price?
Click to expand...

Definitely! If it works like it should, I actually might try to market the thing RED style.

I was thinking about driving it with a plastic coated 3/16 inch steel braided cable. I'll have to experiment with the final details based on what is available for parts and motors. I have the machinery to make any thing from watches to steam trains and have worked on both.

Tom if it works out I'll put your name on one of the proto's

It may take me a while to finish as I already have a full plate.
 
chuck colburn said:
Steven,

For future reference this company sells decent bearings. There are alot of crappy third world bearings out there and sometimes it wiser to pay a bit more. They have an interesting section on lubrication (both wet and dry) also.

http://www.bocabearings.com/

Chuck

P.S. Do you have a machine shop?
Click to expand...

Yes, I have a family machine shop. My uncle makes miniature live steam trains. We just made a hand pump car for the train track. Its pretty fun with the kids and good for exercise.

Thanks for the bearing link. I'll use this in the future even if not on this project. They have some good products.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top