eweye
New member
My son came to me a few weeks ago and asked how hard it would be to make a dolly for a project he was working on. I knew what a dolly was and thought it would be a fun project. However, he upped the ante and said he needed it in two weeks and wanted all four wheels to steer.
Two weeks later and the filming done, here is the dolly:
The dolly has 4-wheel steering, with a turning radius of approx. 3', and is designed to fit through a 30" door.
Here are a few shots of the steering mechanism:
And a few shots of the dolly rigged up with tripod, dolly and 7" monitor.
The monitor is a 7" Lilliput HD ordered from Hong Kong - approx. $225 with two batteries. I threw together the articulating arm the morning of the shoot. It needs work, as it doesn't stay tight enough under heavy use.
I didn't use any plans to build the dolly, but if there is interest, I'd consider putting some plans together for a small fee if anyone is interested, and possibly include a parts list (I hope charging for plans is not bad form...), but would anyone pay $30 for a set of plans? I think we spent just under $300 for materials - I did all the bending, welding, etc. - the weld job is the worst I've ever done BTW, so hold your comments about my poor welding.
The steering spindles required some lathe work, but could easily be replaced with go-kart steering spindles. The tires are 8" solid rubber (cheap from Harbor Freight), but I think that 10" pneumantic tires would have been better.
When my son is done with his project, I'll see if he'll let me post some video (the project is for a local hospital, in the cardio lab for internal use).
Two weeks later and the filming done, here is the dolly:
The dolly has 4-wheel steering, with a turning radius of approx. 3', and is designed to fit through a 30" door.
Here are a few shots of the steering mechanism:
And a few shots of the dolly rigged up with tripod, dolly and 7" monitor.
The monitor is a 7" Lilliput HD ordered from Hong Kong - approx. $225 with two batteries. I threw together the articulating arm the morning of the shoot. It needs work, as it doesn't stay tight enough under heavy use.
I didn't use any plans to build the dolly, but if there is interest, I'd consider putting some plans together for a small fee if anyone is interested, and possibly include a parts list (I hope charging for plans is not bad form...), but would anyone pay $30 for a set of plans? I think we spent just under $300 for materials - I did all the bending, welding, etc. - the weld job is the worst I've ever done BTW, so hold your comments about my poor welding.
The steering spindles required some lathe work, but could easily be replaced with go-kart steering spindles. The tires are 8" solid rubber (cheap from Harbor Freight), but I think that 10" pneumantic tires would have been better.
When my son is done with his project, I'll see if he'll let me post some video (the project is for a local hospital, in the cardio lab for internal use).
