my attempt to build a Follow Focus

ok the gearbox is getting shipped and getting here around friday.. excited..hehe

so i went all over the place (home depot, lowes, walmart, office max) to look for things to make my knob and shaft and things to connect them.

I finally came upon a few things and it seems to be a winner.

I found out the shaft for the gearbox is 1/2" diameter. So I purchased a coupling for that to connect other things (gear, knob, etc)

I looked all over the place for knobs, and landed at walmart, and found this:

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in black though.. it's perfect. I'll post my pic of my knob rig..
 
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right after i purchase this wrench i get the links to knobs.. great!

Its probably worth an arm and a leg anyway,..


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well here is my knob setup.. Im going to add a plastic whiteboard for my markings against the "knob" and obviously, theres no gearbox yet.

more to come,.. waiting for my gears and gearbox..... oooohhhhhhh...
 
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omg anyone know where/what i can buy for the plastic circular dry erase whiteboard?

I looked all over and I couldn't find it? Its like theres no such thing as that.. eesshh.. anyone?
 
So i went to home depot and bought myself clear plexiglass, which is only like $2.50. Then I bought myself white plastic spray paint so I will spray on one side and use the other side w the dry erase..

Looks like it works, now to cut them and install them..

my gears arrived, but crap they are tooooo small! Oh well.. got to return them..

I'll probably try the gear and gear rings from B and H..
 
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doh! it's bloody brilliant! and staring me right in the face. AND i have white spray paint. AND plexiglass! now.. i need a circle cutter thingy...
 
yea im going to use a hole saw (5inch diameter), and tape up the plexiglass so it wont be so chiseled. After im going to drill a hole in the middle, spray paint it, and mount it.

Puck, got your gears yet?
 
Puck,
Are you going to buy gear from a place like Rhino? Remember backlash. Indiefocus uses gears like that and some people have complained about it.
 
no he's getting the gears from B and H,.. the gears from ikelite.

Most likely Im going to fly over there tomorrow early early morning to go look at it and buy it. Lets all cross our fingers..

hehe.. i tried a temp plastic setup using CDs. looks about the right size..
 
Hey those are great and cheap! Are they for the outside of the SLR lens? I remember seeing some gears for lenses that cost $100.00 each...I hope those work.
 
100 is too much for me.. haha..

they look like they are for the outside of the lens..

i guess i will goto b and h tomorrow and find out..
 
for anyone that's interested.. especially you Puck..

gearl1.JPG

gearl2.JPG


as you can see, it just made the fitting.. im going to rig it to make it work the best..

oh and that gear kit does not work.. its not the same thing..

HOWEVERRRRRRRR....

ring1.JPG


ring2.JPG


look what DOES fit?
it fits any 32 pitch gears! I was lucky to have these because I bought them last week!

who's the man?

gear ring - $5.95

pitch gear - $8

result.. priceless.. workable and cheap!

compare to those $100 dollar rings.. you on crack?

the cheapest ive seen is the indifocus gear rings, which is 22, but hey.. that's 22.. compared to 6!

i'll probably mod the ring to fit, by getting metal clamps, and strapping these gears on it, breaking one side..

that should hold it.
 
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You are going to have a challenge with those - there are some lenses that go 360 degree around in movement - those gear for lenses won't work on that. What about the BH ones? Those seemed to have potential.
I think what you have is a good work-around until you manage to get something that will give you full circular movement of the slr lens. Good work.
 
im ok for now, its not like im doing 360 follow focus anyway, all my 5 lenses goes roughly 180 so im good.. HEHE..

which b and h one you were refering to?

if you are asking about the ikelite ones, those are it. if not, which one?
 
two words for you: sweetness!
that's so fracking cool it's... well.. it's pretty damn cool is what it is. woo hoo! glad to seee we're on the right track.

CLD is right though, the canon FD lens only goes about 180 degrees, so that's not such a big issue of having the 360 degree turn. it's a good solid ring, much sturdier than than my printer gear belt and with much bigger and better teeth.

i ordered the gear for the Canon FD. the one that CLD ordered was for the Nikon, so hopefully mine will fit significantly better... you can always add a long screw in between the space in any case to hold it together. so try that before you cut or break anything....

and take a trip to walmart for the fishing reel, it really does work and if you mod it correctly it will work wonders...
 
nah i just got my gearboxes..

seems to work well.. but now I don't know how to connect them. my shaft on the gearbox is exactly 3/8 inch.. maybe I can find some couplings for it..
 
ow. that sucks totally and completely. good luck to you. looks like the journey to building the follow focus continues... the saga....
 
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