Easy Rig

This is mine

This is mine

I built this easy rig for around $100 using 3/4" conduit and a 70% off back pack from REIoutlet.com. It cam together pretty well and it has proved itself in the field.

To bend the conduit I bought a conduit bender, used it, and returned it. Those benders are around $60-$70. Ouch!

The Back pack I really lucked out on because the design of its internal frame really lent itself to the support of the conduit. Many packs have a dual frame but this one had a single frame down the middle so I just zip tied the conduit to it.

The pully system was tricky but again luck was on my side. I used three sex bolts, nylon twine, and a spring I got from Napa Auto parts. One bolt is positioned at the hole drilled for the twine to come out of the conduit down to the camera. the next bolt is positioned at the bottom of the conduit and another at the bottom of the curve down to the pack. the Twine I fed thru the conduit down to the bottom bolt, there I secured the spring to the twine and carefully maneuvered the spring back up the conduit to the third bolt near the bottom of the curve. There i secured the spring to the bolt and as luck would have it the spring and tension was perfect for the weight of the HVX. This allows me enough twine to pull the camera down for shooting from the hip. I am not going to lie, this process did take some time to figure out so hang in there, pardon the pun.

the pack is reall usefully for run and gun handheld. I used it for shooting football games for Friday Night Lights the series. the easy rig turtle is just too pricy. Its nice to shoot handheld for hours and not be severely fatigued at the end.


I do have pics but into the time to post them now:crybaby:
 
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The above pic is the beast herself riding my office chair.

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the above pic is the coupling I came up with. Hey, it works.

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The above pic is the inside of the pack. This pack allows for access to the internal frame through a zipper. You can see how I zip tied the conduit to the central frame support.

Oh, and one thing I forgot to mention in my original post was that I also fabricated two plastic rollers for the two sex bolts at the far ends of the conduit. I made these out of 3/4" plastic spacers, found at any Home Depot or Lowes, by securing them to a drill bit and turning them down with sand paper to creat a channel for the twine to follow during use. These items really aid in a smoother draw on the twine when you need more line out.

One more thing while I have your attention, bellow is my version of the skater dolly or "Cheap Skate" as we call it here in Austin. I simplied the design to an equallateral triangle. This makes wheel calibration much easier.

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thanks for the pics!

Im thinking i could produce the aluminum tubing and cable rather cheaply but im still not exactly sure about some things. is the cable/rope spring loaded? so you always have to keep tension on it by pulling down? im thinking of this idea and connecting it to my fig rig insead of directly to the cam. yeah it would be kinda of a crazy looking contraption .
 
Hey Furewheel. do you mind sending some pics? I'll like to put it up on HBS. If you don't mind. If you got a tutorial I'll also like to introduce it to the HBS website.
 
so is ithis a extend/retract locking type cable simialr to a pull on a mini blind? or is it just spring loaded and you just pull on it when you want to shoot from the hip?


yes a tutorial would be nice :)
 
The cable or twine is tied to the spring which is secured to a sex bolt just under the curve in the conduit. (Keep in mind that this is just 3/4" conduit from Home Depot and costs around $10. Its not aluminum, which would be more expensive and more dificult to bend.)

Here is a third grade drawing I did in word that might shed some light or at least give you a laugh (I don't have any drawing software).

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The cable or twine loops or is threaded around the sex bolts and tied to the spring which it secured to the middle sex bolt. This gives perfect tension to support the camera at any height you choose to operate at.

Yes, there must be something pulling on the twine (i.e. the camera) for the twine to stay at the desired point. However, I set the length of the twine so that the tension of the spring is very near the end of its pull when nothing is secure to the harness. The harness also has a large "Hangmans noose"tied in it so it will not be sucked inside the conduit.

Does this help? :cool:
 
What if avoided the loop of the twine and put the spring at the bottom and put the twine from the top of the spring to the cam? so basically you have cam string and spring. also instead of twine would some sort of cable work?
 
Matt...
I went to Napa Auto parts and looked through their catalog. I actually did a lot of research online about springs and learned more than I think I wanted. Anyway, with that knowledge and the rough measurements of the 3/4" conduit and the distance I wanted the spring to stretch inside the conduit I looked at a few in springs they had in stock. I picked one out for about $5 I think it was. It worked well. As far as the dimensions: the spring is probably a 7" compression spring with an outside diameter of .6" and the steal wire is maybe 1/8-3/16". I will have to admit I am guessing. I built this last year and haven't laid eyes on the inside of it since. If I have time I will take it apart and see.

bilgami...
Twine is probably not the best word, it is actually thin nylon rope, sorry about the confusion. I don't think cable is a good solution.

I actually tried the rope and spring configuration you speak of and it was not as good as the one in my third grade pic above. There is something about the tension looping through the bolts that is better.
:D
 
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