DIY IndieSlider...

How are you guys transporting your slider? It seems like it wouldn't take too much to get it all banged up. I was looking at hard cases but the descent ones are around $200 which is way to much. Another idea I had was to see if it would fit in a soft rifle case (with the head attached)... then I could throw it in my tripod bag long with my tripod.

Any other ideas?
 
I use a gun bag and it works fine (I think I paid $14.95 for it).
Others have mentioned ski bags, speaker stand bags (like ultimate support) and dedending on the length...bat bags.

But really... the stuff is tougher than you think, sometimes I just throw mine in the back of the truck & hit the road...no worries (yet!).
 
ZaZa (Joe)

I want to say thank you. The Zazaslider legs arrived today and are just about the coolest damn thing. The machining/milling is very good and the design is brilliant. I won't have a chance to do any shooting with it until next week, but really looking forward to using the full setup.

I saw someone comment on the legs needing something for placing on delicate surfaces. I found for a dollar at Michael's art supply, a 1/16" adhesive black foam sheet. I'll cut pieces and wrap it around the tips, easy and simple solution.

John
 
Also as for transporting my slider, I've been using a 10 year old Tenba Tripak case made for light stands. It works great with the 4" riser installed. I have a Manfrotto 577 mount on the riser to attach a 501 head. That lets me use the 501 head also on my skater dolly (teddybear's design that I built).
 
photonashville said:
ZaZa (Joe)

I want to say thank you. The Zazaslider legs arrived today and are just about the coolest damn thing. The machining/milling is very good and the design is brilliant. I won't have a chance to do any shooting with it until next week, but really looking forward to using the full setup.

I saw someone comment on the legs needing something for placing on delicate surfaces. I found for a dollar at Michael's art supply, a 1/16" adhesive black foam sheet. I'll cut pieces and wrap it around the tips, easy and simple solution.

John
Click to expand...

Excellent...and thank you John. Please post some pictures and footage when you get it all assembled.:happy:

I also think I've found some rubber tips that will slide onto the bottom of the feet...and I'm looking for some nice foam grips that can slide over the entire foot for when you use them as handles in a shoulder mount style.
 
photonashville said:
Also as for transporting my slider, I've been using a 10 year old Tenba Tripak case made for light stands. It works great with the 4" riser installed. I have a Manfrotto 577 mount on the riser to attach a 501 head. That lets me use the 501 head also on my skater dolly (teddybear's design that I built).
Click to expand...

Could you post a picture of the case? Sounds like a great solution...
 
Tripak series: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=tenba+tripak&N=0&InitialSearch=yes

One that I use: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/102121-REG/Tenba_634_507_TTP46_TriPak.html

Some of these may be more than what people want to spend. The soft ones are reasonable cost. I just happen to have quite a few light stand cases and the tripak is always a floater for me to use for whatever I need per shoot.

I'm a photographer of 11 years. I've been working on video/motion shooting since the middle of last year. Doing three projects this month to build up my portfolio, sorry reel as they say in the motion world.
 
Hey Zaza, I nearly finished mine. Thanks for collection all this information.

Will post some footage and pictures probably when I'm finished. Luckily I've got a nice workshop over here, so the assembly is quite easy. Only thing that sucks is the poor range of products in the German home depot equivalent.
 
Simon Höfer said:
Hey Zaza, I nearly finished mine. Thanks for collection all this information.

Will post some footage and pictures probably when I'm finished. Luckily I've got a nice workshop over here, so the assembly is quite easy. Only thing that sucks is the poor range of products in the German home depot equivalent.
Click to expand...

Now all you need are a pair of the feet and you'll be all set!
www.zazaslider.com :happy:
 
Could it be that maybe it's time to look into a reorientation of the rails if using the new bearings?. I know that throws all our work away but could lead to a better end result down the road.


ZazaCast said:
I got the hybrid bearings today...and well, on a quick pass...not so much.
First, I put them on a 700mm length of 10-40mm rail I have that is my 'shooter' shoulder mount version. The bearings are only available for the 10mm rail at this time; I'm told they will be making them for the 16mm rail by this summer. They do not fit on the standard carriage but you can still line-up one of the holes.

First I tried adding just one hybrid to the three standard bearings...and there really wasn't any great change, just a little more 'play' in the carriage (which was expected). I then replaced all the others so I was using only hybrid bearings all around. After a bit of tweaking to get a reasonable slide, I discovered these are not as smooth as the standard Drylin bearing. It was as I suspected, these bearings are really designed for heavy hanging loads that put the weight down on the roller and the Drylin bearing is more for alignment...like a heavy, sliding door. In that application, where the weight is down on that roller...sweet!

These didn't slide as smooth as the regular Drylin bearings, had more 'play' and make a bit of noise. I also felt what seemed like an imperfection in the roller that made it feel lopsided, again, not good for a nice smooth slide.

I'm going to test some more and try different combinations, but I really don't see any advantage to these hybrid bearings for a slider so far.:cry:

Standby for more soon....
Click to expand...
 
Have you try to get it to mount as vertical(doesnt need to be at 90deg upright) as possible so that the bearing can be loaded instead of being a guide?
ZazaCast said:
I've tried a few things:
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showpost.php?p=1903914&postcount=1674

I have not made any mods to the bearing themselves. I'll try to take some pictures of what I have later today if possible. I don't know if people are understanding that the 'wheel' in the new bearing rides along the SIDE of the rail...not on the top. Pictures will probably help. Standby....
Click to expand...
 
stateofmind said:
Did anyone "calibrate" their sliders carriage? I haven't and already like the way it moves, but if people have gotten it smoother...can you share how?
Click to expand...

If it aint broke... don't fix it! You can find the official alignment guide in the first post here...or as a downloadable PDF on www.zazaslider.com

BUT... if it slides nice & smooth, why would you want to fiddle with it? The very first one I built was smooth as silk right out of the box too. Still slides perfect.
 
Zephyrnoid said:
Could it be that maybe it's time to look into a reorientation of the rails if using the new bearings?. I know that throws all our work away but could lead to a better end result down the road.
Click to expand...

Playing with these new hybrids... I really don't think this is going to make anything better. You'd have to get single-sided rail (which I've also played with) and align them properly, which is a *****! If fact, when using single rail, you lock down the bearings on one side of the carriage and the others should be loose and 'float'. This makes a bunch of noise and wobble.

The general idea (for me at least) is to have a very portable, easy to set-up slider....I want things easier in life, not more difficult.

Again... I have to say, so far, the hybrid bearings are not nearly as smooth as the standard Drylins.

NOTE... once I recover from shoveling the additional foot of snow we just got (I'm beginning to hate winter), I'll snap some photos and post them for you guys.
 
As requested... the Hybrid bearings.
HybridBearing7.jpg
Hybrid on left, regular Drylin on right.

HybridBearing6.jpg
Notice 'bump' in side of glide block for the wheel.

HybridBearing2.jpg
Top View. Wheel prevents my simple carriage brake mod...D'ough!!

HybridBearing5.jpg
I didn't have a new plate, so the holes don't line-up.

HybridBearing4.jpg
As you can see, the wheel doesn't support any weight for our use...it runs along the side.

HybridBearing3.jpg


HybridBearing8.jpg
Wheels run on side of rail.

HybridBearing1.jpg
See white wheel in center.

Again, with adjustment, they slide just fine but seem to have a little 'play' because of the wheel.
You can't just swap them out with the standard bearings because of the new hole spacing.
Only available for 10mm rail now... 16mm late summer (I'm told).
 
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