DIY: Skater

Status
Not open for further replies.
Gemart- That is awesome! I must build one this weekend. Which leads me to one question: how does one cut a circle? Coping saw?

Fox
 
They have attachments for drills that will allow you to cut different size holes. There are expensive ones and cheap ones. I got some pretty cheap ones at a place called harbor freight tools. If you only are going to use them once than get the cheap ones. Its what they use to cut holes in doors so you can put a door knob in. But they have many different sizes as well.
brian
 
As far as parts are concerned, yes - much less than $100. I will post the breakdown later but even with the wheels (I had to buy a pack of 8) it came to less than $100. Another note, the paint wasn't just for show. Because I used MDF, I primed with a serious primer and then painted with porch & floor outdoor paint to try to help protect from water which as we all know makes quick work of MDF.
 
Oh yeah... if you want to really maximize your potential with this tool, pick up a set of portable work stands ($45 @ home depot) and a 9' x 2' board and you will be able to reproduce the "bruckheimer" shot on location :-)
 
Well, yeah. Duh. Thanks.

Hectorxd said:
They have attachments for drills that will allow you to cut different size holes. There are expensive ones and cheap ones. I got some pretty cheap ones at a place called harbor freight tools. If you only are going to use them once than get the cheap ones. Its what they use to cut holes in doors so you can put a door knob in. But they have many different sizes as well.
brian
Click to expand...
 
Gemart: I don't have illustrator and can't open the file. Any way you can put into another format? jpg, pdf, etc. Thanks.
 
I'm hoping to build one this weekend. Had the idea of lower the platform by extending the wheel towers out beyond the platform. Might require bending some aluminum strips for brackets (haven't been to Lowe's yet to look for parts) since L-brackets won't work in that config. Let me see if I can get a quick pic in here to show what I mean:

SkaterDolly.jpg


Fox
 
I'd just put a big (7.5 cm diameter) chamfered hole in the middle to act as a bowl, but you're using a different type of head.
 
Harbor Freight didn't have a 6-inch. The only 6-inchers I've found are $35+. Might have to go the hand-cut route after all. Oh well, I still have my crane to build this weekend, anyway.

Fox


Hectorxd said:
They have attachments for drills that will allow you to cut different size holes. There are expensive ones and cheap ones. I got some pretty cheap ones at a place called harbor freight tools. If you only are going to use them once than get the cheap ones. Its what they use to cut holes in doors so you can put a door knob in. But they have many different sizes as well.
brian
Click to expand...
 
Try hobby shops such as Hobby Lobby or Michaels for round wooden discs. Not sure if they have 6" size or not. It's worth a look.
 
I'll give that a shot, thanks.

Fox

gritsngumbo said:
Try hobby shops such as Hobby Lobby or Michaels for round wooden discs. Not sure if they have 6" size or not. It's worth a look.
Click to expand...
 
I think the posted design could be scaled up to make a kick-ass tripod dolly, maybe using the larger scooter wheels.
 
Parts List

Parts List

I was just wondering if we could have a consice parts list, i think i have everything down but i wanted to be sure

thanks,
pat :cheesy:
 
I just built one and here are the parts I used (roughly)

6 2" X 5/8" corner braces (I found these in hardware near the drawer hardware)
3X 2" 1/4-20 carriage bolt (one for each corner)
3X 1/4-20 wing nut
9X washers that fit the 1/4-20 bolts
6X 1/4-20 jam nut (like a regular nut, but thinner. a regular will work)
12X 8-32X3/4 machine screws with nuts and washers.

1 hex bolt to attach your camera, or a small ball head. I had a small ball manfrotto ball head around that I use with my monopod for still photos.

3/8 of a set of roller blades :) I purchased these for 17.99 at Target. They have some 12.99 blades, but the wheels on them felt kind of sucky.

Some wood.

I have access to a variety of hole saws, so I just made those myself. I'm not sure about how to obtain pre-cut circles.

Thanks for the design and photos. It was very easy to build. I added an additional tripod mount hole closer to the side of the dolly but I don't know if it will be that useful.
 
JasonFox said:
I'm hoping to build one this weekend. Had the idea of lower the platform by extending the wheel towers out beyond the platform. Might require bending some aluminum strips for brackets (haven't been to Lowe's yet to look for parts) since L-brackets won't work in that config. Let me see if I can get a quick pic in here to show what I mean:

SkaterDolly.jpg


Fox
Click to expand...

You could screw two L-brackets together to make the Z shape you have posted. AWESOME WORK by the way!
 
...i'm gonna make my suggestion again. just take a pecie of wood, and buy some cheap but well made smooth rolling rubber wheel swivel casters for like 1- 2.00 a peice at a hardware store.. drill some holes for the shafts of the swivel casters in the peice of wood where you want the wheels.. stick caster shafts into holes.. (if you bought casters with screws to mount them with a mounting plate.. just screw them on) then stick you camera on it on one of those mini tripods or whatever you want to mount it with. viola.. a device that can do what the skater mini does. should cost you 10.00 or less. and take you about 2 minutes to make. i mean the main working part of the device is swiveling rubber wheels.. and thoose are readily available for very cheap. ..why take the time to build them? if you buy nice looking ones it wil likely look like a pro mini dolly pending how nice you make your platform design.

..if you observe this near 800.00 tripod dolly you will see the same basic ingreient
244493.jpg


or this near 2000.00 tripod dolly.. whie nicer looking.. and some added function ..still only amounts to caster wheels.
78869.jpg
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top