Dolly recipe

F

fenigirl

Active member
I need help....I was going to build my dolly with roller blade wheels like in Killer camera rigs, but due to nowhere in town having inline wheels and the wheels in the skates at wally world having imperfections in them (from the molds no doubt), I am going the angle iron, roller skate wheels route.

I am currently searching the forums to find a recipe as quickly as possible because I am going to the hardware store in the next hour or so.......but if anybody has better luck finding a link on the site please post it LIKE NOW if possible hah,ha.

I saw in the Home Depot they have garage door angle iron that is 1 1/2. Is this what ya'll use?

What size wheels? I know to use soft wheels, all roller skate wheels are soft so I am in luck there. I am worried if I use too big of a wheel, it will rub the platform. Please post up wheel choices etc.

Do you install the angle iron with a piece of plate metal between it and the plank to keep the sharp edges of the angle iron from digging into the wood?

Post away, I would like to get the dolly built today. Thanks.
 
I used a piece of wood as a spacer between the angle iron and plywood. Just needed 3/4 of an inch. So if you get a piece of 3/4" plywood, cut a wide enough strip out of it for each piece of angle iron. And I mounted the iron directly to the wood. I cant remember what length the bolts were, but they are 5/16" you just need about 1/2" more than what the width of the wheel is. And I used some little nylon spacers that fit around the bolt so the bolt itself doesnt touch the bearings. They were maybe 1/4" thick.
 
Thanks for the response. Did you use the steel axle washers that are between the bearings? And did you go with walmart abec bearings or bones bearings?
 
nooooooooo walmart. bones has been the leading bearing company in skateboards for like 20something years. lucky, or red devils being the next best kind.

for my spacers and bolts. i used a 2inch hex bolt threaded all the way. for my spacer i used a nylon nut. my bolts were 5/16. it came out pretty good. they also have nylon washers 5/16. i couldn't find any metal ones that were that size that didn't cover the whole bearing.
 
Thanks. I was primarily concerned about spacing between the wheel and the angle iron. I've seen some pics where it looks like some have used a nut to space the wheel off the angle iron and give more clearance for the platform.
I saw in Lowes that they have steel barrel spacers that might do the trick, but I dunno.......

Anybody use thin plate aluminum between the deck and angle iron? A little easier to drill maybe?
 
I didnt space it far at all from the angle iron, I guess that depends on the pvc pipe you use. I used 3/4" pipe. But one other thing, I used those locking nuts for the wheels, because you cant sinch it up too tight against the bearings.
 
Yeah, I found the lock nuts at lowes, after going to HD and finding out they usually never have the full thread bolts. So it was back to lowes again. I cant wait to get this thing built......
 
I HATE HOME DEPOT!! I can say that cuz I used to work there. The ace hardware up the street from me has an excellent selection on those little hardware items for nuts and bolts. They are helpful, and usually keep in stock.
 
With lowe's you get low prices and no help. HD i was able to get at least 3 people to help out, but not enough selection. Best bet is going to an ACE. They have a pretty decent seleciton at a fair enough cost. Locknuts are the best. And like k-dawg said, spacing pretty depends on the size of your track(pvc). I'm searching around for an item to lay the pvc down on(in) so it stays still. Something with a small "U" shape and flat at the bottom to lay the pvc in. I dunno, I'll find something to accomodate me.
 
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