10'/20 Hypercrane Build

[Gary Sconce]

Here is a tease of the whole HyperCrane so you can see the conrols going to the head. A little JVC Everio hard drive camera is on the mount. It is like air up there hehehe.

 

[Gary Sconce]

I am being shut out by Flickr... Don't know why. I will try to rectify the problem and continue the DIY HyperCrane build this weekend. Strange. I opened another account for my wife and was using that last upload, when now it will not let me upload any photos at all with either account even though it says I have 97% space left.

Gosh, I was to the controls too. :angry:

Any ideas for another photo posting site?

 

[twocik23]

http://photobucket.com/

 

[Gary Sconce]

http://photobucket.com/

I tried them first and they pulled my public pics after the first post on DVXuser so they all disappeared. Then I went to Flickr and all went well until I had to open another file and then they locked me out when they said I had to buy their program on the first account. Hmmmmm...

Maybe they were messed up and I just need to try Flickr again.

 

[charles]

You're going at it...nice work.

 

[twocik23]

Not sure if you know about our file upload here, but it's the little red arrow on the user post box ?

 

[Jason Miller]

its probably do to the file size and bandwidth all of us vultures are using by loading them.

 

[Gary Sconce]

It was a problem with Flickr. It is working again. YAY!

Here is a preliminary view of what we will be building for the controls. I went with mechanical controls to I could be cheap to try to beat Shane Foster in my bet. I lost as I went over $100, to a whopping $156 or so bucks. Dang it!

I want you to see that I used thick string to align the proper positioning of the pulleys. Notice that I cut down a single speed crappy bike to get the sprocket for the horizontal pulley and dual fence gate pulley wheels for the vertical controls. I added a turning handle from an ice cream maker to the bottom gate pulley wheel for the control of the vertical. You can actually use bike pedals for both if you have only one bike.

Not showing: A small bike sprocket that is welded above the larger sprocket on the horizontal control for fine control. The big sprocket is for fast pans, and the small spricket is for exact, slower pans. I opted to use chain drive on the back of the cable to get very exacting control for the horizontal pans as this is crucial to having a smooth pan. No slippage here.

The vertical controls use only cable but take advantage of friction by wrapping the bottom pulley with one full loop of cable to move up and down.

Cables were set up from the head to these controls in a single front section for the horizontal controls with dual front sections for the vertical controls, and then dual rear sections with a chain in the middle for the horizontal controls and a single rear cable section for the vertical controls. In the middle of each were chain tensioners and an added spring set for the horizontal controls that allow a slight expansion when the head is lowered all the way, keeping horizontal cable tension. I will show all this on the next post. :dankk2:

 

[Jason Miller]

man this crane is awesome rube goldberg has nothing on you. all kidding aside a crane with this amount of control without stepers or servos is amazing.

 

[Gary Sconce]

man this crane is awesome rube goldberg has nothing on you. All kidding aside, a crane with this amount of control without steppers or servos is amazing.

Ha! Yeah, Rube must have been a long lost uncle. Naw, I am just a frugal Scot. (*With Scottish accent...* Ach, Mon, I dinna wanta waste me money onna great muckle crane... (Translation: Nope. I didn't want to waste money on a strange crane.)

OK here go the controls...
Wait... This is me playing bagpipes on a rock somewhere near Cresent City, California...

Ach, the life o' a Scot...

Here is the trussing you will build on the back 10' section. Do this before you start the controls. I just bent 5/8" tubing and filled the section from front to back. Then I used some solid square stock (you can use anything) to diagonally brace the top stay braces to give rigidity. I added a vertical in the middle of the truss and braced it also. This will allow the HyperCrane short rig to not need any suspension bracing whatsoever and will allow the 10' crane rig to fit indoors and be able to rise up to the inside ceiling. If you look at this section, you will see that if you remove the dorsal and lateral stays and cables, and put the head on the front of it, you will have the self-supporting short rig.

Here is a view of the front of t he truss to give you an idea of how to bend the front and back with your tube bender. Grind to fit the big tube and vertical stay bases, and then weld on.

This is a view of the guide pulleys for the horizontal controls, but it also shows the bent front of the truss. I will show this shot again later when we are building the guides for the control cables. Later, I ground these welds.

Here is a view from the back of the HyperCrane to see the trussing. This trussing tremendously strengthened the crane while adding minimal additional weight.

More later... Gotta go...

 

[Gary Sconce]

On the back tube of the rear section I put this sliding weight for fine weight balance later. I found the clamp on an old satellite dish, one of the big 8' ones. I then bought the weight at a target or wal-mart because it had an off center hole on the side for mounting with a bolt and washers. I can change the weight size with just taking off a bolt. This makes balancing the rig a snap. Later when you paint the crane, don't paint this section... just lightly oil it. It fits tightly but can be slid forward and backwards.

Another view for perspective.

It slides from the gimbal area back to the rear truss vertical tube, giving it plenty of variability.

Now for the vertical controls. I took 3/4" square stock I had and mated it with a strong plate I found. This shot is to give you perspective where it will go after it is made.

You can make this from round stock too but it will take grinding then to make it fit before welding. You will use plate on the bottom as it positions the control away from the sliding balance weight.

The square stock and the bottom plate add up to around 17" in length total. See that the square stock welds to the top truss tube and also the 1 1/2" rear crane tube. Here is a shot of the sizes for you.

Side view:

See the angle cut to fit the large tube tightly? This adjustment is necessary as the top weld goes on a 5/8" tube and the bottom welds to the upper part of a larger tube, but you want to keep it straight vertical.

The vertical control pulley mount welded on in position.

I have bolted on the bottom pulley tube here too. Remember, it is a bearing loaded gate rolling pulley wheel. The bottom is positioned approximately 12" behind the gimbal.

A rear view of the same.

I lucked out to find an old hand crank with a spinning knob that came from an old ice cream maker. I never did find the ice cream bucket, hehe. This can be substituted by a bike crank pedal just as easily by you.

More...

 

[Gary Sconce]

You will be building analog controls that will terminate in your easy reach just behind and to the left of the gimbal. That will cause them to have minimal movement up or down no matter what elevation the crane is lifted to. The vertical hand crank on the bottom vertical control pulley is cut and then welded together to allow two points of contact on the pulley for strength.

Use the pulley wheel to see where to place the cut off piece correctly.

Notice that is is extended to miss the lateral stay cable. This is very important.

Weld it on slowly with as minimal heat as possible as you don't want to fry out the bearing lubrication on the pulley wheel.

Welded on and missing the stay cable. All of the controls back here are specifically located to miss the other stuff. The position of the stay cable will be your guide to this control's positioning.

Now for the top pulley wheel. Cut yourself a little piece out of the back of the top of the stock so you can put in a socket for the back nut tighening of the wheel. I left as much stock as possible for strength.

Drill a hole the size of the bolt that holds the pulley wheel.

Put on the pulley wheel. Now your vertical controls are done! Woooo Hooooo! I used lock tight on the threads here. Grind any welds for finish. More later...

 

[Gary Sconce]

Oops, forgot to show the finished vertical controls... Here they are! :beer:

Tah daaaa!

 

[MattinSTL]

I am salivating for footage... the build is epic.

Are we seeing this build in something close to real time? I keep coming back to this thread hoping to see a link to some footage... can't wait.

 

[Gary Sconce]

I am salivating for footage... the build is epic.

Are we seeing this build in something close to real time? I keep coming back to this thread hoping to see a link to some footage... can't wait.

Nope, the crane is done and painted, disassembled, velcro-strapped and ready to take on set.

I have footage on my little JVC Everio HD camera but lost the software to put it on my computer. I have it somewhere and will find it eventually. I am scheduled to use the HyperCrane for Ruff Productions Twlilightfest film on September 12-15 and 19th. That will be the first baptism under fire with an HVX on the rig. After that I will be using it for shots in Matt Sconce's THIRST. The true 20' height is going to make starting and ending shots really epic.

So, cool stuff will be happening.

When I shot Alpha test footage with the JVC Everio it is very smooth. The crane is so well balanced that a small breeze will pivot the crane when it is just standing there untouched. It was amazing. I will do BTS footage shots of it in action, and with Troy Ruff's permission, put them on this thread. :engel017:

 

[Gary Sconce]

Now it is time to put on the controls for the horizontal movement. This is tricky in that you will be using bicycle tubing and will have to find tubes that slide into one another. I used bike seat mount tubes for those immediately welded on the rear tube of the crane. This insured that they fiit perfectly into the bike tubes used for the horizontal mount bracket.

Here are the support tubes welded on in position. I used a grinder to hollow out the parts that fit to the 1 1/2" rear crane tube so they fit strongly. They have to be perfectly level and parallel. Take time to insure this. Also, as you weld them, realize that welding will heat and then cool the tubes causing a slight shift in position as the steel shrinks. Once you have these on you build the rest of the horoizontal support on these so you will know they will all fit.

12" center to center. Notice the length distances from the dorsal stay base above the gimbal.

Another view:

The length of the old seat post tubes is 5-6" with around 3 1/2" to 4" overhang.
Here is the length of the front tube for the bracket.

I cut this one square to 5" with the pipe cutter and then cut it back on angle with a cut off saw. Match cut these tubes later when you have them all to length properly with the pipe cutter.

Here is the rear brace tube.

Cut to 5" again and then use a cut off saw to get the angle cut later.

I wanted to give you a shot of the finished unit so you have perspective. Here are some shots of what you are building...

You scavenge the whole base of a single speed bike and leave most of the long seat tube and a short part of the front lower tube attached to the crank tube and its crank. (You will cut off the dual rear tubes of the bike.) That forms the basis of the control. You will use two pieces of tubing for 'downs' to get the angle correct from the two small tubes that slide over the bases that are already welded to the 1 1/2" rear crane tube. Then you place a brace tube between the two top slider tubes for strength, with care to NOT weld this tube until the whole thing is mounted on the two braces on the crane. If you weld that brace with this bracket off the crane, shrinkage will cause it to not fit.

What you want is a bracket that places the sprocket of the crank horizontally in line with the front of the crane, and does so while extending out to where it won't hit the vertical control crank or the left lateral suspension cable.
Here is another view:

See how the angles of the two down tubes are specific. I placed the top tubes on the welded on brace tubes and then held the down tubes into position by hand to see the angles I needed to cut to make them fit. I then used a sharpie to mark those angles for cutting. Another view:

From this rear view you can see that the chain will ultimately pass on either side of that seat post tube that points directly at the crane. Having the front tube located here is crucial. Later, two gate pulley wheels will be mounted at the two places where those chains point to transfer the direction of the cable force to this sprocket and a smaller one that will be welded on top of this sprocket. Another view... This one shows the relationship to the vertical controol crank.

See how they are in close proximity but do not hit. Make sure you separate these so your hands moving the controls don't hit any tubing either. You can see that the controler of the crane will have left hand on horizontal, and right hand on vertical close to their body for strength and smoothness of movement. Notice also that the horizontal control bracket misses the left lateral suspension cable. This shot was taken before I put on the brace between the two top tubes. More later...

 

[Gary Sconce]

Here are more shots of the length of the parts of the horizontal control bracket. Rear down tube:

Around 10 1/2".

The bike seatpost tube has to point directly at the crane on an angle where the pulley wheels will fit the short rig (10' crane) as well as the long rig (20' crane). This angle will be what determines the length of the front down tube.

From front to crank is around 20".

I will remind you of where to point that tube with this pic. See how it points directly to where you will later mount two pulley wheels on the crane tube? See how two chain/cable control lines will go on either side of it?

Here are you last measurements for the parts of the horizontal control bracket.
The front down tube of the bike was cut here.

The front down tube ended up here.

I then measured the distance from the top outside of the top tubes and put in the brace tube. Take care to weld this slowly to minimize thermal contraction later, or the putting on and off of this bracket will be tough. I didn't put any locks of any type on this bracket. I just lubricated the mountint tubes with a little oil and then the tension of the control cables hold it on nicely.

Here is a view of the direction of the control cables and chain. I connected the chain with the cables with small lock connectors that slid into the chain and through cable clamped loops on the cables.

If you look carefully you will see the attached gate pulley wheels on the main crane tube. The left control is mounted above the tube and the right control is mounted below the tube and they are both on a neutral angle exactly inbetween the crank's angle and the front of the head.
Here are shots of the attached gate pulleys. I used their own brackets sold with them to weld them on. Worked great, really strong, and they were only around $6.

Another side view of the direction changing pulley wheels:

Grind your welds later to smooth out the look. More later!

 

[Gary Sconce]

Here is the complete control set on the crane, except for the addition of a small gear above the large one for a second, slower, smoother speed. I simply change the chain to the top small gear and the camera moves really slowly for slow pans.

You can see the way I attached the chain to the cable here. You have to make sure the chain is short enough for it to not hit the direction changing pulleys on the center of the rear crane tube.

You will add small screen door pulley wheels to the front end of the rear crane section to guide the horizontal cables forward. I used some stock I found that had 90 degree sides and they worked well. I got these from an old office chair.

Here is the horizontal guide cable pulleys on the front section, halfway forward.

I found a nice bent handle from something and realized from crane work a halfway handle would be nice and added it to the front tube on the left side. This will allow short pans done by one person with the HyperCrane.

I left the hole on the front of it so I could hang it on a wall.

Here is another shot of all the controls set up and functioning.

I used two strong tie angle, cut them to fit the leg width of the speaker tripod and then welded them together. I then drilled out the center and mounted a wheel with a brake on each leg. I drilled two holes for a pin in the wheel brackets so I could mount the wheels in a narrow manner for the low rig in thin areas like hallways, and in a wide manner for the 20' crane outdoors. I then used jawslide clamps I had from another invention, the packcycle, and strengthened the legs of the speaker tripod so it became bulletproof.

Then you cut a small piece of angle iron, mount it to the top of the bracket, and weld on a small tube to hold the jawslide clamps. You may opt for another style of bracing, but I had these. Bracing the speaker stand is vital as the aluminum wiggles without bracing.

We have built:
A solid slick and simple gimbal from a large caster;
A dual size crane, both a 10' and 20' heavy duty crane;
A simple control system from inexpensive parts that move smoothly;
A quickly built and quickly struck unit;
A crane that can easily have an added hot head;
A crane that can have easily added a set of casters to roll on a track.

I shall add photos of the Alpha testing of the HyperCrane...

 

[Gary Sconce]

I found a handle from an excercise device that I put on the back of the rear tube between the weights that is removable by bolts. This allows the driver of the crane on the back to have the absolute best leverarm for smooth movement. This crane is best controlled by three: A driver grip on the back controlling the overall movement of the crane; A head operator who works the vertical and horizontal movement of the head; and a cameraperson who controls focus and zoom electronically from remote controls. A fourth grip is needed to push the tripod on a track if the HyperCrane is placed on a track.

More:

JVC Everio on the large mount made for larger cameras. It looks tiny and funny here, but you see the really large strong mount for a big rig.

Wayyyy up high!

See the pan backwards? The head actually turns all the way around, but who wants to see the crane? Hehe. The hanging low rig of the Hypercam that attaches to the head can pan straight down.

Front view, way up there. The car shows the scale. This view shows the V2 version that sports two balance weight arms for a smoother head by far. This rig is so smooth that if not touched, the breeze will turn the crane by itself!

 

[Gary Sconce]

It is a GREAT crane. For less than $200.

Here is the head. Notice that there is a single cable that moves from halfway forward on the front tube and then around just the front of the horizontal pulley on the head. This allows a mechanical advantage both for fast pans with the large sprocket on the control, and slow pans with the tiny sprocket on the control. You can add a huge load of weight on the head and easily counter it on the rear with ballast weights because the gimbal and tripod are so strong. With a heavy load, I would recommend getting really large wheels for the wheel bracket on the tripod if you plan to stand it on tarmack on a hot day.

The HyperCrane breaks down easily and quickly.

Here it is ready for transport in my station wagon to set. Notice the cool 'Hammertone Black' color.

Finally, a shot for you all to enjoy from the Alpha testing.

Thanks for following the huge number of steps. I hope that someone actually is helped and will build one! :thumbsup:

Hypercam build thread next!