El Cheapo Hand grips DIY

I've built my handgrips with these:
http://www.ganter-griff.de/?cmd=nor...4c-4af0-b441-cae8619bb50a&LCID=1031&pageID=14
I don't know the name in english. In german it is "Rastscheibe".
They are not cheap. I think it's about 12 Euro per piece. You
need 8 of them -->around 100 Euro
There are different sizes and versions available. The dia 32mm are very similar to the Arri. They have an M6 hole or thread and the same number of teeth. The form
of the teeth is slightly different, but they will fit on an Arri camera.
They are made of black oxidised steel. Propably will last a lifetime. You can order larger quantities in stainless (I don't know the price).
Loose and tighten with two fingers - no slippage.

And you can mount them with two screws almost everywhere.
Here is a pic of my rig. It's the only one I've found. I've replaced
the wooden grips since then. I'll post some more detailed pictures tomorrow or so.
1228500553.jpg


sorry for hijacking, Tim.
 
Don't apologize - it's not that precious. Any low cost solution to what seems to be a high cost problem is welcome here. Please post some more detail shots of how your rig is assembled. Also, what are you using for handles? For what handgrips are, the prices are ridiculous. Many of the low cost makers are close but still missing a few things. I want to make a rig that'll support 25-35 lbs of camera without a problem. If the Micromounts can't hack it I know the Z mount or Zandy from Zacuto can easily take the torque but it'll boost my costs significantly.

What camera rig is that?
 
Here are some more pics of the current version.
Parts:

8x Ganter 32mm Rastscheiben ~100 €
(4x Type A with M6 thread and 4x Type B with M6 hole)
http://www.ganter-griff.de/?cmd=nor...4c-4af0-b441-cae8619bb50a&LCID=1031&pageID=14
4x Wing Screws ~ 4€
http://www.ganter-griff.de/?cmd=nor...65-4ffe-b1e9-55692dafdfb0&LCID=1031&pageID=14
2x Ergon GP1 Bike Grips with locking clamp ~ 30 €
http://www.ergon-bike.com/en/grips/gp1.html
1x used thick walled aluminium mountainbike handle bar ~5 €

screws, aluminium bar, shoulderpad ~20€



manfrotto quickrelease ~ 45€
http://www.manfrotto.com/Jahia/site/manfrotto/cache/offonce/pid/3269?livid=107&lsf=107&child=2
or Cinevate 15mm rail block ~30$
http://www.cinevate.com/catalog/pro...id=68&osCsid=63aefa5145d34dd4f4e4ab819c1c3ba3

one could screw an arri style dovetail onto it. Shouldn't be to hard to do
with the right machine. Some powder coating and you have an Arri S2 ripoff for 300-400 €





Tim Naylor said:
What camera rig is that?
Click to expand...

it's a canon hf100 with a brevis and an optical viewfinder I have built.
I've attached another pic of it. The ugly grips were my first attempt to carve something. I can't recommend to do this - the bike grips are much nicer.
 

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Thanks for sharing what easily wins the DIY Handgrip Award for 2008. What did you use for the extensions and cross bar? Did you have to get that machined?

The wooden grips are pretty classy.

Do you think this rig can take the weight of a RED, MB, Primes, Batteries, Monitor, and Viewfinder?
 
thanks Tim. :)

the extensions and cross bar are made of an 20x20mm massive aluminium bar I've bought at a local metall store. Tools were a hack saw, an ordinary drill press and a threader. I added a lot of holes to reduce the weight and
threads to mount everything else.
20x20mm was actually not a good choice for the crossbar, because the rosettes need about 22mm space for the two screws. The bar has a diagonal of 25mm on the cutting edge. Thats pretty tight.
A 25x25mm whould be better. At least for the cross bar.
The extensions could be made of hollow bars with 3-4mm thick walls to
reduce weight, because you mount the rosettes on the side and not on
the edge.

I think a red is no problem. I actually can hang myself on it...
The rosettes are the strongest part on it.
It depends on the crossbar and extensions, how sturdy you
want it.
The weak part with bigger cameras could be the
Manfrotto quick release I currently use. An Arri style dovetail that slides in
the bridgeplate would be a better solution.
The good thing is, that you can easily swap out 15mm clamp, manfrotto quickrelease, shoulder pad, dovetail or whatever with two screws.
 
Truly a beautiful rig MatzeB. And I can't tell you how thankful I am to you for the link to Ganter. I'm in the process of building a shoulder mount rig (not nearly so handsome as yours) but had completely stalled at not being able to find the rosettes.

Exquisite work - many thanks for posting this.

David
 
cordvision said:
I don't know if the cardellinis are a good choice. I never managed to fit them tight enough to rails without any play. The rubber between the metal clamps seems to be the problem...
Click to expand...

Yes, I agree. We used a Cardellini to hold a Carrion monitor with two panasonic batteries with a Noga arm and had lots of issues with it slipping off to the sides, even when mounting the batteries off the monitor. It was an anoying balancing act that ate up time and nerves.

They will certainly be solid front to back, but they may slip to the sides. Also, the wheel to tighten the clamp is a pain in the arse to use, and proves hard to get real tight.

I wonder if a little rubber pad might do the trick though.
 
MatzeB,

Thanks, I did find J.W.Winco and just talked with them this morning about the rosettes. Seems they are not a stock item but, sheeeesh, I've been looking for months for rosettes with no luck so a little more time to get them seems just fine right now.

Thanks again for posting all of this. Beautiful rig you made. I'll post our humble efforts once complete.

David
 
Element Technica sells rosettes for 35.00 a pop.

Good news. The Redrock Micro Clamps are nothing short of amazing and a third a price of the nearest competitor. The scuba gear 3/8 to 1/2 inch are the wrong thread for Zacuto rods. Will purchase their adptors 1/2 to 1/4 and 1/4 to 3/8. Going to wait for the Hurst shifters first.
 
I know it isn't cheap, but anyone tried mounting a red handle to his rig? One handle suits me just fine to be honest.
 
This whole idea of Hurst shifters came from my frustration at the RED handle. Constantly slips.

I just got my Hurst shifters and they're bad ass. There's nothing in the film market built like these. Solid block billet. Just mounted one to a mini-cardellini with 3/8" pin (filmtools has them) and it's (*&*$*#!! awesome. If you want just one handle, that's the cheapest route. 95.00 can't beat that. Pics will be up tonight.

The other route for single hand with adjustable height is Redrock micro to Zacuto 4" 15mm extension to Zacuto 1/2 to 1/4 20 adaptor to Zacuto 1/4" to 3/8" adaptor to Hurst. That would run you about 150.00.
 
Tim Naylor said:
Element Technica sells rosettes for 35.00 a pop.

Good news. The Redrock Micro Clamps are nothing short of amazing and a third a price of the nearest competitor. The scuba gear 3/8 to 1/2 inch are the wrong thread for Zacuto rods. Will purchase their adptors 1/2 to 1/4 and 1/4 to 3/8. Going to wait for the Hurst shifters first.
Click to expand...

Tim, many thanks. ET is just down the street. I didn't think to ask. 3 weeks out for rosettes from Winco at about the same price.

Do you have a link for the Redrock Micro Clamp. I couldn't find it on their web site.

Dwilliams, I'm using cannibalized handles from Lowel Omni's and they seem to work beautifully. Comfortable rubber grip - sturdy. Not quite a Red handle but works pretty well.

Thanks again,
David
 
TimurCivan said:
They use the standard Zacuto threaded 15mm rods as extension, but any little bit of torque and they come unscrewed and the handle rotates loosley in your hand ... with a 30lb camera attached to it... while youre angling down off a balcony.... SCARY as shi*.

Also, the handles are secured in place by a ball socket with a friction lock... comes undone by blinking at it.

Four points of failure actually 6 if you count the four places where they screw together on th 15mm rods....
Click to expand...


I saw Zacuto's new grips two weeks ago and they've made some great improvements. It's a much more solid design in my opinion. Do you know which version you had of their grips?
 
already being delt with.... they heard a customer wasnt pleased with a product, and they contacted me! to make sure i was satisfied with the grips... they are upgrading the grips for me. thats pretty cool.

zacuto is a reallllly great company.
 
They should make a Timur Civan signature model.

Anyway here's the update on my little project. To connect the Hurst shifters to the Zacuto rods requires this:

http://www.filmtools.com/three-eights-sixteen-to-quarter-twenty.html

and that:

http://store.zacuto.com/1-2-inch-to-1-4-20-adapter.html

So that's another 80.00 and frankly a messy way IMO.

So tomorrow I'm going to a machinist in queens who's going to tap the otherside of my Hurst Shifters with a 1/2" 13 thread. It's Zacuto's oddball thread less prone to stripping with the fatter threads. Also my shifters won't be upside down, affording me a better grip. However, even if you don't go the tapped route, the grip in the upside down position is still quite awesome.

Just waiting on another pack of Redrock Micro Mounts (truly awesome must have). Two micros, a 15mm rod. 1/4 to 3/8". and Manfrotto heavy duty ball mount and you have a strong versatile monitor mount for less than 125.00

Anyway, pics will be up.

If you want to make my deluxe design for 19mm you'll need to sub two micros for Zacuto Zandies (19mm to 15mm right angle adaptor). That would be an extra 288.00. Ouch.
But now you have a rig that'll do 15mm mini, 15mm studio and 19mm.
 
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