flexible dolly track

ciencin

ciencin

Well-known member
I made a diy dolly and used pvc pipes for track, which work fine for small tracking shots, but when I start connecting the pvc pipes together for longer track you can really notice the wobble when the dolly moves over where the pvs pipes are connecected.

So I was thinking of trying out some flexible or rubber track instead. Would anybody have suggestions as to which ones try out or ones to avoid? I had a look online for actual rubber tracks but prices are a bit steep for something thats essentially a long rubber tube :-\
 
I keep meaning to do this....

Industrial hose suppliers have many types of hose on long roles. The trick is to kind some that is stiff enough to take the weight, yet still be flexible, be a good diameter and not bust the bank. I would bet that is what most video products marketing companies have done. If you figure that out let me know.

Grant
 
Thanks guys, going to have a look for some industrial hose then. Probably will take me a while to find something good but will post my finds here when I do :)
 
Don't remember where I saw this, but a guy cut a garden hose into two equal lengths, put air fittings on the ends, then just aired them up enough to accommodate the weight. When you're done, bleed the air off, stick 'em in a backpack, off ya go.
 
To expand on the garden hose idea. I had an idea to fill the hose with RTV rubber which is used in the prop department for making molds for casting resin. The RTV is sold in gallon buckets for about $90 for 2 gallons. You just mix the 2 parts together and pour it in the hose. by the next day it is solid rubber and the hose wont crush under the weight. You can also use clear rubber tubing instead of garden hose if you want a wider selection of diameters. A couple 15 to 20 foot sections would give you a decent track. I plan on doing it soon.
 
Robert,

Have you tried this? Will the hose remain somewhat flexible and bend consistantly after the RTV is cured in the hose? Can you coil it up to a reasonable size for storage? Also, I think most rollers are set up for about 1.5" to 2.0" dia. track. For example 1.25" sch 40 pipe is 1.625" in diameter, and is a typical size used for pipe track. Garden hose is somewhat smaller, so you may want to check how your rollers work first.

I didn't calculate how much RTV you would need for say 2 x 20' tracks, but if you bought a high quality hose and spent $90 for RTV, you are about half way to a good commercial flex track, so watch your costs.

Grant
 
Been thinking about this and wonder if anyone's found something suitable: flexible enough to roll up to some degree but able to lay flat without curving. my dolly has fixed wheels so curving is undesirable. Most garden hose I'm finding has a strong memory that makes it want to curl. I have an old garden hose from my youth in my mind..black rubber, heavy and would take whatever direction you gave to it.
But maybe that's passe and one has to go industrial.
 
I think I read somewhere about someone that had taken the heavy duty garden hose, capped off the end, filled it with sand, and capped off the other end. I can't vouch for it, as I haven't tried . But it's probably cheap enough to try without busting the bank.
 
I tried this and failed at it. We used some sort of stiff hose that is normally used for pools or gardening? I don't remember exactly. It was stiff enough, but it kept curling up, and it was hard to keep the same angles between the two tracks. We tried to create sort of railroad ties for the track, but it still didn't work.

What did work was using two 10' pvc pipes and a coupler made of the same diameter pvc. For the coupler, rip a 1' long section length wise with a saw. Trim the cut if needed, and then squeeze it into the ends of the track pvc. The wheels were slightly offset as with most DIY dolly wheels and we couldn't even tell when were going over the connections.

We eventually moved up to metal conduit which we got for free from some metal machine shop in town.
 
I think Kessler is buying some kind of flexible hose or conduit for about $1 a foot and selling it in a nice bag for $3.75 a foot. I wish we could figure out where they source something like this.
 
Don't know about LA but you can't buy anything of quality for a buck a foot. I doubt they are making $240.00 on each roll they sell and if they are then they have a hell of an investment in their inventory to get that kind of margin. Eric and his company sell excellent quality products for fair prices or at least that has been my experience.
 
PopcornFlix said:
I think Kessler is buying some kind of flexible hose or conduit for about $1 a foot and selling it in a nice bag for $3.75 a foot. I wish we could figure out where they source something like this.
Click to expand...

It's solid rubber no outer or inner, just solid rubber and it works like a treat, I lay it out anyway I want, secure it with a couple of sand bags and good to go. Roll it up afterwards (wiping the dust & grit off), pop it in the bag and it's ready for next time. No problems with wrinkles, kinks, doesn't seem to want to retain any particular shape (except for a curve at each end). Not cheap but worth it.
 
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