Acrylic plywood skater

Texanite - I'm not so happy being a killjoy but......there is a German patent covering this skater design. After going through your same basic prototyping process ayear or so ago, I discovered the patent and then, even more sickeningly, discovered that the patent you are violating with this very nicely designed and built knockoff is VALID and ENFORCEABLE in the USA.

Be very careful in this space. You are setting yourself up for some legal battles that you will lose should the German individual who patented this choose to enforce the patent.

Unless......something has happened in between the time I did this and now.......

sorry
Jeff
 
Hey there!

I just finished gawking at these... they are simply.. astounding.

I know this thread is a bit old, but if you're still selling any of these I'd be interested (budget-allowing, that is). Tried to PM you, but it seems your inbox is full!

Have you ever made a skater dolly with a tripod mount like here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tekisui/320075322/in/set-72157594413840709/

I'll probably try and recreate something like that photo (if I can't get my hands on yours or someone else's), I think the tripod compatibility adds another level of utility, but I wonder how well it would actually work?

I am hardly a great craftsman or anything like that, pretty inexperienced to be honest, but my friend happens to be a carpenter and owns a lot of tools, are the dollies easier to make than they look?
 
Thanks for the post, Rizzice.

I haven't actually changed anything and gotten another dolly made since that last photo of the two dollies side by side so I have no extras lying around. I have a to-do list of little things I wanted to try or to change, including a rocker camera mount that I'd been working on as well as laser-pointer-holders to site the wheels, but I don't know when I'll have the time. Real life has kept me busy and the one skater I have left works fine and I haven't even really used it since I put it together.

My guess would be early summer before I get back to it. There are a couple non-filmmaking things I want to have made from acrylic as well, so when I get the time I'll break out my notes and see what I might get made.

Sorry about the PM box being full. Until very recently, I haven't been on dvxuser for months and months.

Thanks again for the praise.
 
Rizzice said:
Have you ever made a skater dolly with a tripod mount like here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tekisui/320075322/in/set-72157594413840709/
Click to expand...

Sorry, I just realized I didn't answer this part.

I've seen dollies like that, but I haven't tried one. You know, back in the day people would get those tripod-dollies that could be used in studio settings with smooth cement floors. The thing is, they are much larger and I think I'd want that. Your center of gravity on something like in that photo is really high. All the weight is at the top and your tripod legs aren't spread apart very much.

The biggest problem I had with my first full-sized skater was that I put a ball-mount tripod head on it. Just the 3/4" metal post that's between the ball and the bottom of the tripod plate was enough to make the rig too top heavy and wobbly. I think I mentioned this in some other thread about my skater, but that's why I switched to the lower head which has more surface area contact. I don't know if that makes sense, and this wouldn't be exactly the same situation, but I'd be concerned about it's stability and top heaviness.

The other thing about these skaters is that they don't use track. That's a good thing if you have a flat surface, but not so good if you don't and there's a reason that people use track for dolly moves. Tables are usually smoother than the floor and, also with the skater, you can raise a small wooden platform to have your camera at whatever height you'd like.

I think the way to do this is the way that the $2500 axis-dolly does it. First off, it's made of metal but it also has arms that swing out so you can spread your tripod legs wider for stability. I've never used one, but they seem to cover at least a couple of the potential downsides. It also looks like it might use double-wheels which means using track might be possible as well.
 
Thanks for the replies!

I really do think with some adaptation your skater dolly can be significantly useful in any situation. I realize it requires a flat surface, but is it so hard to bring a slab of something solid with you to use the dolly on wherever you plan on shooting?

It really does seem like a great solution to smooth camera movements in almost any situation, even with the tripod. The higher center of gravity can be combatted by maybe tying the tripod tightly to the skater dolly?
 
Here is Texanite Full Size skater with my Rig, yes it can be a little wobbly but with care and practice it works very well,


1264254091.jpg
 
Those black/blue, black/red skaters are pure sex... I haven't seen a more appealing use of plastic since Pam Anderson.
 
It's been a long time, but I'm back! :)

It's been about a year since I have had any time to think about these skaters, as I've become very busy. Well, now is the time to briefly jump back into this with a little time off. It's likely I won't get back to this project for another year, or more, so I'm taking advantage of some brief vacation time to put together a couple more of these. It looks like I'll have one large and one small one for sale in the near future, both in the blue/black combination.

Do not PM me at this point, as my PM box is completely 100% full. A number of people have shown interest over the last year or so but so much time has passed that I'm not sure if they still are or not but if anybody's interested, feel free to post a comment here. The cost on these is not insignificant and is more than just a couple hundred bucks, although not as high as the 'retail' versions like this one (at $880) or the $1,000+ versions made by Omni-tracker.

I'll post again later as I get these together but I just wanted to stop in and say hi :)
 
Now I remember why I stopped working on these :) I have a blister on my finger, a mess in the kitchen and realized I need to make a trip to the hardware store for a couple things but they're finally coming together. I got all the parts sorted out today and prepped for assembly. Another day of gluing and stuff and they should be close. Here's one still with the masking paper on but basically ready to be put together. dolly in process.jpg
 
Spent another full day on these and I'm just about done so I wanted to give another update.

The good news is, these dollies are the best ones yet. The bad news is, this will definitely be the last time I'm making these for a long while, and maybe forever. It's just too time consuming and too much of a pain the rear. I went ahead and made four of them, since I'm not sure if/when I'll be doing it again. I made two 'jrs' and two full sized ones. The cost, for those who are wondering, will be $500 shipped to the lower 48 for the full-sized and $400 shipped to the lower 48 for the slightly smaller ones.

I'll post other relevant info later, but I wanted to upload a couple more pictures and give an update. I've finally cleared a few hundred messages from my PM box here, in case anybody wants to send me a PM. Okay, here are some pictures.

...........new_full_blue_WS.jpg..............new_full_blue_ECU.jpg

Forgive the mess and the brown protective paper that's still on the deck, I'll take some glamour shots later or tomorrow. Okay off to get some dinner!
 
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Here they are, they basically look like the ones seen previously in the thread, but I wanted to post a picture of them all in one place. The blue 'jr' one is available, the others are not. I'll post something in the buy/sell forum tomorrow but feel free to PM me if anybody's interested. The basic ground rules are:

- US only
- PayPal only
- MUST be your confirmed/verified address on PayPal
- NO shipments to 'your girlfriend's house' or anything like that.
- the tripod heads are not included, although I have one of them I'll sell.
Thanks for looking!


...._4_dollies_onaxis.jpg...._4_dollies_overhead.jpg....
 
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I understand that you might not be interested in making any more, but would you be averse to sharing the plans/parts list so that we might try making one ourselves?
 
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