Im'a buildin a Dolly!

donkathon

donkathon

Carbonite Member
I found some plans, and whipped out my grip paper and drew some plans for a 4'x3' dolly that rolls on 12 inline skate wheels and travels via 1-1.5" PVC Piping. I found a someone who works at Hendricks Motorsports to get some holes drilled into my angle irons, bolted on the wheels, and put them onto to 3/4" wood. I bought a flange and some plumber's pre-threaded piping, and made a handle (of the same material) to be able to push. I will be installing a hook onto the top of it, and adding a hook to the center of my tripod, to set up a bungee cord between the two to hold my camera down. I'll be painting it a royal-blue color so I can key it out if I have to.

Whole price- $59.86. The way I see it, I just saved myself hundreds. I've seen these dollies and tracks that go for thousand, while this one works just a good as them. It can also roll on flooring, so you dont need the PVC. It's brilliant.

Later on, for an extra 20-30$, I can make a stand, attach a 1.5'x1.5' flat top
in order to put a monitor on.

I will post pics as soon as I finish painting it, but until then, feel free to post about any other equipment you've built from scratch.

NEW FOOTAGE from AUGUST 16! READ THIS!
http://s53.photobucket.com/albums/g65/pto2212/?action=view&current=dvxdollympeg.flv
There is the footage for the dolly I built.
 
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msconce said:
I would love to see these plans. I built a steady tracker from scratch, and have used it at every event since then. I like the idea of Royal Blue.

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=43194&highlight=steadicam
Click to expand...

I will put up the plans, though I promise you wont be able to read it. I may draw some ones to post up.

I plan on using my dolly in everytake- I refuse to use any zoom feature. And for tracking, it will be great.
 
I finally got some pictures. Here they are:

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There they are. It all costs about 70$ at Lowes Home Improvement Warehouse.

I used 3/4" Plywood, but I reccommend you use two 1/2" pieces for extra support (especially if your camera guy will weigh more that 200lbs)

If you have ANY questions, whatsoever, please post and ask. I will be glad to answer. If you want plans, I will try to draw some readable ones, and I will post them as will.

There are mosr pictures to follow.

C:%5CDocuments%20and%20Settings%5CPhilip%5CMy%20Documents%5CMy%20Pictures%5CCamera%20Dolly%20Pictures
 
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Looking good so far :)

You might want to add some more wheels though, to eliminate the bumping when rolling over track connections.
 
Im not, or not yet. I found the wheels from two pairs of skates, and used those. I dont want to pay for more wheels- Im cheap:).

Also, they are worn down, so if I bought new ones, the would be thicker, and would not move evenly.
 
And in response to fixing any jumping when I switch tracks, I will connect them internally, and sand off the edges so they match, so they work. PVC is very flexible (in both ways)

And as I said before, it will be painted. It looks terrible now, but all plywood looks like that.

And, I had to put an extra piece of wood under each bracket, because the wheels hit the plywood.
 
Would love to see some footage.

I built a homemade dolly with really good plans but have never been able to get good results from it ... we think we have identified the culprit as the cheap rolerblade wheels I used, which have a kind of hill and vally tread in hard rubber underneath a smooth softer rubber coat ... but any anomly can be a gremlin when you actually test it by shooting footage ... you'll be fine rolling overt pvc joints as you have descibed making the joint ... but my biggest concern with this are

1) number of wheels .... I had several wheels on each corner and I'm going to have to upgrade soon.
2) that angle thing you have the wheels attached to ... you can also use that stuff as rigid track, say to lay across rungs from two different ladders and dolly of the ground (not standing on the dolly) but the problem is it is rarely found at consistent angles ... notice the piece you have doesn't lay flat on the surface its resting on.
dollywheel.gif


I wish you luck but these things are bugaboos to get to the point where you are not better off using a wheelchair or a grocery cart.

but lets see some footage :)
 
Jack Daniel Stanley, the reason the bracket doesnt lay flat is because the wheels are longer than the angles. When it is bolted onto the elevated strips of wood, they will not be at an angle.

It's almost done, just have to bolt on the wheel brackets and paint it a royal-blue to key it out.
 
Speaking of wheels, I am currently running 4 on each corner but they are cheap wheels I pulled off cheap skateboards. I am upgrading the wheels and will increase to 8 per corner. I have purchased the abec5 bearings and am looking at these wheels. Does anyone know for a fact that these wheels are good or does someone have a link to better wheels? I tried that pvc with internal connector thingy and since I will be doing as much outside as inside I will need ties to go underneath. When I tried the pvc, unless I had the ties about a foot apart the track would sag if I had someone on the dolly. I have bought some fencing pipe (not the toprail but rather the inground 1 5/8 poles) and created some inner connectors for those (very long time in front of the grinder). Worked good on the last shoot except for the wheels. Not enough and too cheap, seemed to develop a flat spot. Anyways good luck on your dolly, cheap is good (which is why I build my stuff) but too cheap is bad (which is why I am upgrading my wheels).

:dankk2:
 
pto2212 said:
Jack Daniel Stanley, the reason the bracket doesnt lay flat is because the wheels are longer than the angles. When it is bolted onto the elevated strips of wood, they will not be at an angle.

It's almost done, just have to bolt on the wheel brackets and paint it a royal-blue to key it out.
Click to expand...

yeah I see that now ... but that stuff is notoriously bent at the hardware store ... just be careful and goodluck.
 
True, true. And a BIG warning to all of you with a 1-chip camera. Despie what you do, you wont be able to pick-up a decent blue-screen blue on your camera, so dont consider painting your dolly to key it out. I was about to, then tested it, and all my camera picks up is a grey-ish tone. Unless you can capture that color exactly, its not worth it. Paint it any color you like. Im going with matte black (maybe)
 
Im so sorry, I cant get any footage up. Some virus wont let me open "My Computer" or "My Documents" or "Explore".

Its awful.

Modify: Im so sorry I bumped this thread up. I wasnt thinking.
 
pto2212 said:
Im so sorry, I cant get any footage up. Some virus wont let me open "My Computer" or "My Documents" or "Explore".

Its awful.

Modify: Im so sorry I bumped this thread up. I wasnt thinking.
Click to expand...
NOW you've done it :)
 
I know I am gonna be bouncing this again, and you can hate me for it, but I have been asked if I have any footage many times, so I will say now:

I cant give footage, my capture is messed up at the moment.
 
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Well I can barely remember since I typed that like two weeks ago, lol ... so I had to reread it a couple of times.

I think I was kidding you about your being concerned for bumping the thread up to apologize for not being able to get the footage up, because that was a perfectly legitimate post ... saying your sorry about not having the footage after all.

So I was kidding you (good naturedly) about thinking you had done something that would offend when you were perfectly fine :)
 
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