DIY Dolly Track

J

JordansRoomProductions

Member
I am building some dolly track for a project for an upcoming movie that my son is doing in LA. He cannot afford to buy ready made dolly track, but I have the fabrication skills to build what he needs. Most of the DIY stuff is based on PVC tubing. I am wanting to build something heavier duty. I am looking at using 1.5" DOM tubing (1.5" is OD) but I am not sure what wall thickness to use. I found .188, .219, and .250 thickness available (among others, but I think I want to use at least 1/8" or .125"). The Matthew track is made out of "Heavy Wall" DOM tubing. I have no idea how thick "heavy wall" is. I am planning on using around 2" x 1" "C" channel for the ties. I would like to build this so that it folds up to a skinny package. Right now I am looking at building 5 4' lengths of track to make it easy to transport.

I have a lathe (11x36), CNC mill, bandsaw, MIG welder, and a host of other tools that I own. I also have access to a nice pipe bender for putting curves in tubing.

I am also building 8 wheel skates with the top channel, a couple of dolly carts (one being four wheel steering), and a bunch of apple boxes. None of it looks too difficult to build. I plan on buying a TIG welder to do some aluminum welding if needed.

Any suggestions? I plan on posting pics of this build over on my website.

I have been looking at about a zillion websites and am getting burned out looking at PVC pipe tracks. This forum looked pretty busy so thought I would start posting here. And yes...I did a search. I found more PVC track ideas. Ugh.

Thanks. I am really open to ideas!

Mike
JRP
 
There are plenty of DIY dolly/track posts in the DIY forum. Have you looked around there?
 
Thanks. When I looked around for a forum to post the question, I did not see the DIY forum. Now that I found it, I looked around, but all of the ones I found over there are not exactly the quality I am looking to build as they use PVC pipe, fence rails, and whatever else is laying around. I mean no offense to those systems as I even contemplated using PVC pipe and some of the other cheaper alternatives. I want to build a heavy duty system that will last.

I talked to one of the machinists at the shop that I work at and he thought 1/4" wall tubing would be plenty heavy if not a little overkill...

Thanks

Mike
 
Try 1 1/2". Matthews track for their doorway dolly system is heavier than 1/4", and without one sitting in front of me to measure, I think 1.5" should be close, if not right on.

You can always post a question in the DIY section. Lots of engineering-minded folks there who can help.
 
C2V said:
Try 1 1/2". Matthews track for their doorway dolly system is heavier than 1/4", and without one sitting in front of me to measure, I think 1.5" should be close, if not right on.

You can always post a question in the DIY section. Lots of engineering-minded folks there who can help.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I know the outside measurement is 1.5". The 1/4" refers to the wall thickness of the tubing itself. I am trying to figure out the wall thickness of the tubing itself now. It comes in different thicknesses. Right now, I am leaning towards the 1/4" size. This will be a 1.5" outside diameter and a 1" inside diameter.

Mike
 
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