cable cam DIY? anyone?

I think i will have to try to make one, i have RC radios and all the servos i would need, i also have Static Assult line for rock climbing.

Im going to try to make it all controled by remote, i.e pan, tilt, forward , back.
 
alright so i dont really know all the cable cam termonology so bear with me. in the pictures i took, the bottom part was backwards. the little eyehole on the left of the aluminum bar is the back, so the camera usually faces foward. i mounted the bottom part back a little bit because it balances out nicely. and when i want to shoot to the side of the trolley (picture 3), i now just unscrew the camera itself and point it that way on the holder and it balances very nicely. ill get some footy up in a couple days.
 
Ok so i built my prototype today, (human powered) i got some footage that i will upload after i cut it up... Pics will come soon.

Tomorrow i will work on making it remote controlled, i have a big stepper motor for the main drive line and for the head i have a design i will draw out and get it welded up.
 
Here is a bit of test footage, it’s a bit wobbly but it was pretty windy out so it made it sway a bit. The cable you see in the test is my firewire cable going to the laptop so I can use the laptop to record and as a monitor.

www.WebDogPro.com/video/cable1.mov

I will be motorizing the main drive today and I hope that will make it smother.

NOTE!!! One thing i stongly recomend is a safty strap from the camera to the suspension wire, i put one on and it almost was needed. one of the bolts fell off and when i was pulling it in for the night the rig fell into 2 peices, if it came off when using the camera could fall if you dont use a sling.
 
Dog,
Your cabelcam looks good. However the other stuff on the track-line ("cable") is causing resistance and throwing the system off.

Is there any way that you can secure your safty line (GOOD!) to the trolly in a way that it is around the track-line without actually touching it - for example in the middle of the trolly held onto it with tape or a bent nail, whatever. As long as you keep the saftly line and the track line through the beiner it will still be safe.

And those beiners on the track line holding the firewire cable.
First I have to ask: do you need the cable?
And then if you do, how about putting them over the pull line instead, and tie the first one to the pull line a little way up so that it doens't rub against the trolly or track line when you pull.

- Mikko
 
mikkowilson said:
Dog,
Your cabelcam looks good. However the other stuff on the track-line ("cable") is causing resistance and throwing the system off.
Click to expand...
The main cause of the bumps and sways was the wind in that video and that it was human powered, right now i am planing a motorized one that will be able to go 165ft per minute, and it will have a remote controlled pan / tilt head.

Also the "wheels" don't have ball bearings so i am looking to replace those with higher quality ones with bearings.

I am also thinking about modifying the design so it uses two track wires about 18" apart to make it stop swinging, this would make it more time consuming while rigging but should make the shot so much better. This will give me the space to put a drive motor on there and drive the trolly with skate wheels by sandwiching the rope.

mikkowilson said:
Is there any way that you can secure your safty line (GOOD!) to the trolly in a way that it is around the track-line without actually touching it - for example in the middle of the trolly held onto it with tape or a bent nail, whatever. As long as you keep the saftly line and the track line through the beiner it will still be safe.
Click to expand...

Thats a good idea, the problem is fitting the carabeiner over the trolly.



mikkowilson said:
And those beiners on the track line holding the firewire cable.
First I have to ask: do you need the cable?
And then if you do, how about putting them over the pull line instead, and tie the first one to the pull line a little way up so that it doens't rub against the trolly or track line when you pull.

- Mikko
Click to expand...

You dont have to have a cable, i just like to use my laptop to monitor and record strait to disk.
 
Amazing stuff here guys. I'm looking to build something like this to shoot some marital arts features. Is there a website or resource for the basic concepts? I was thinking of using manpower to control the camera.. slowing down and following the actors, but some are going remote/powered? I'd love to hear about some ideas and plans.

FYI. I'm lookign to span maybe a 100 feet at max and follow actors/fighters running and fighting. I don't need a lot of speed but I want to be able to do a variety of shots and from several different heights. Any and all info on tools for stringing the line is appreciated.


thanks
 
Justyn said:
Amazing stuff here guys. I'm looking to build something like this to shoot some marital arts features. Is there a website or resource for the basic concepts? I was thinking of using manpower to control the camera.. slowing down and following the actors, but some are going remote/powered? I'd love to hear about some ideas and plans.

FYI. I'm lookign to span maybe a 100 feet at max and follow actors/fighters running and fighting. I don't need a lot of speed but I want to be able to do a variety of shots and from several different heights. Any and all info on tools for stringing the line is appreciated.


thanks
Click to expand...

Its a lot easier to use rock climbing gear, for the basic line i use two slings, two carabeiners, one 150ft 5/8th" static Bluewater assalut line, and a petzl ascender.

Right now i am trying to figure out a way to motorise it so i can have it all controlled by a RC remote, my main probelm is figuring out how to propel it.
 
my idea of propelling it was to have two wheels on top, rubber to grip the cable and two rollers on the bottom to keep it locked on the cable. a motor that drives the two wheels with independent methods of propelling them both so its constant and strong. i havent really started messing with the propulsion system too much, just jotting down ideas here and there. maybe this helps? i wish i had the funds to work on mine right now but i dont. so hopefully you can get yours going well and we can then learn from our mistakes.
 
Yea one of my ideas was some rubber skate wheels and sandwich the rope, the problem i am finding is motor i will probably need 1+HP and power, will i have a AC motor and have a cable going to it , will i use DC and have Batterys on the rig.

Another idea i had was like 6-8" pulleys with rubber in the inside that would be linked and those would be the drive wheels.
 
Hey Dr. Frankenstein... let's bring this dead thread back to life!

It's aliiiive... ALIIIIIVE!

So uh, webdog... what the hell happened with this project... you're about to get popular again.
 
Just to put you guys on the right path... you need to look to the world of RC cars and RC airplanes AS PREVIOUSLY MENTIONED in this thread... do NOT overthink this!

You do NOT need 1+ HP worth of motor! You do NOT need BRUSHLESS DC... you just need adequate TORQUE which will come from a high speed motor brought down to a much lower speed final drive... if you get a 100:1 (or better) gearbox then it's likely that you will have adequate torque. The torque issue will factor in with engine braking... Does the motor free rev beyond the desired speed? Allowing your DVX to speed up out of control? Does the motor provide resistive braking when you want to slow down? You do NOT want to have to engineer a braking system into this!

For the drive I'm also leaning towards ropes... and I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one who decided that a PAIR of ropes is most likely needed. For the drive I'm thinking twin motors through a Y and devide the drive... to actually mate the rubber to the rope I expect to use a thick rubber band around an aluminum or steel pully wheel... but the rubber band may not even be needed. I'm sure it depends on just how steep of an angle you want to have control over. If you set up rope runs that aren't too far off level then you've also greatly reduced the demands on the propulsion system (and braking).

With ALL of this stuff, such as the skater and other things like this... the reason that the pro stuff costs so much is because you can't accept wobbles, bouncing, vibration, etc... getting this stuff worked out to generate really good, smooth footage is where the money is spent in R&D.

What we really need in this thread right about now... is a total RC geek! I've been hanging out in local RC shops trying to learn everything I can about speed controls, transmitters, receivers, radio control pads... interfacing precision motors with RC parts... all types of wheels... etc. etc. etc.

At this point you know where I am in the game... which is still on square one... I built a rig which gave smoother results then the video posted... but that's a LONG way from good enough... that's why I say it's still square 1... the footage has got to be good before you really get my interest... but we're on the right track... so c'mon DIY guys... let's get this idea refined!
 
im still working on one but work has taken my time the last few months...

I am what i consider a RC geek 1 nitro car 3 boats and i used to have a plane...

I am planning on using the remote from the plane for the pan and tilt and drive sicne its a 4 ch radio.

for the drive i was thinking one out od like a rc truck but with out trying it i wont know if it will work or not.
 
webdog-

I just watched your clip and I saw you hand pulling the rope. You should have it connect to one of those things you wind up your garden hose on. This way, by cranking the rope around a wheel type of object, you make your camera move smoother.

Ted
 
I want to set up a cable cam for some shots of snowboarding this year, about how much does one cost to set up? I don't need anything really complicated, although it would be nice to have one that looked somewhat pro, I just want to get some cable cam shots for my video next year.
 
Anyone make any further developments on on a DIY cablecam? And what about other threads discussing this matter?
 
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