How do you get really long tracking shots with PVC?

Richard J. Johnson

Richard J. Johnson

Joystick Member
I have a very long tracking shot I am doing for a film and the PVC piping I am using for my Dolly is only in 7 foot sections. How can I connect them seamlessly so the dolly does not bounce when it glides over the seams? I hope I am saying it right. Basically I need 35 feet of PVC pipe to get the shot I want.:thumbsup:
 
I'm no plumber, so I have no clue what is out there, but I see that there's the possibility of using pieces of PVC that are just a hair smaller then the ones you are using...you may need to do some sanding to make some pipe into connector pieces...
 
a piece of wood and a bunch of tape on the wood, slide it into the tubes and make a connecter at the end of each side of the track with a cut 2x4 and some pvc plugs.

I found that finding smaller pvc never really works that great since it's always a little to small or two big. Another thing you could use is just angle aluminum, its metal, sturdy, will work with your dolly (assuming) and its easy to clean and transport.
 
There are PVC pieces I found in Home Depot that just fit inside the pipe I have (I believe I went with the 1 1/2" size). I found them in the plumbing section, they are for sink drains and are flanged at one end. You have to cut that end off which make them about a foot long. I then wrap a single layer of duct tape or more if needed for a tight fit. You stick these halfway into each end of the pipe you want to join.

This works great. I've had 24' of track put together and it was smooth as silk.
 
Richard,

what i did with my pvc is make a dowel on one end by cutting about a 5 inch long piece from one end of your pvc pipe. then cut along one side about an inch wide piece so you now have a "c" looking piece 5 inches long. Stick in int about half way to one end of your 7 foot pvc. in my case i carefully screwed and glued it so it stays put and made sure the bolt head is flush. I can now extend the pipe by inserting another piece onto this dowel.

Ted
 
Teddy Bear is right. I have 10 foot sections, I believe I used 1 1/2" PvC for the track pipe, and 1 1/4" pvc as the connector. I put it on the table saw and cut about a half inch rip out of the 1 1/4" pvc so that it's "C" shaped and can squeeze together and slip into the 1 1/2" pipe. I made these into like 12" lengths and pushed them into one side of the track about 6" then push the other track onto the 6" portion that sticks out, so the tracks butt up together. Makes for a very smooth seam. I did have to file the ends of the "dowel" pvc so it has a tapered end and slips in easier.
 
This is a lot of work, but I found it was worth it. I made a lug to go in between my sections.

Take a 1 foot peice of whatever size pvc you are using. Spray it with some cooking spray or coat it with Grease. Mix up a batch of two part epoxy and use some sand to cut that mix with. I used about a 2 to 1 ratio or Epoxy to sand.

Fill the PVC Tube with your compound making sure not to get any epoxy on any thing that is not well greased. Once done, get a few metal rods or even thick coat hangers and stick them in for re-enforcement. (much like the steel that is embedded into concrete to give it structure)

Once the the whole mess hardens, (about 24 hours) Rip cut the PVC tube in half and pull it away. You will then have a very nice pre-formed stud to put between your pipes. It is a lot of work, somewhat expensive to do, and they are heavy. But, it is re-usable. If I were to do this again, I would use a fiberglass re-enforced epoxy resin.

Better yet, just find a machine shop and have them make a few aluminum studs up.There are a lot around and most are dying for work these days. (manufacturing is dead) Most will charge you more for the raw stock, than the lathe work.
 
you can always try and get something that'll squeeze into one of the pipes and stick out a bit, and then try and put the end that sticks out into the other pipe end. kinda like the idea for how they connect actual tracks for real dollys kinda
 
I too had the same problem a few months back and came to a somewhat easy solution.
(exact details are not possible right now as I am on set and will have to measure things when I get home but just for the hell of it...)

I believe I used 1 1/2" PVC for the track and was pestering my dad for weeks about a way for me to get the pieces down to 4 ft lengths so i could store them in any vehicle but then have a way to string them all together for a much longer run.

In the end I wound up buying these maybe 4" connector pieces (that I believe are intended to be the outside part of a connection and the pipe fits inside..."conduit?" possibly?) Anyway I found that this 1" conduit (exact size to be determined when I get home) to fit super snug inside 1 1/2" pvc pipe.

What seemed to work whilst in the home depot was not exactly the case when I got home. It require one of those drill attachments with three spinning break pad looking jobbies on the end to help hollow out the track pieces enough to get the conduit in there nice and tight. I used that purple cleaner/de-greaser and epoxy kit that they also sell at home depot, and now the conduit pieces will never come out of the holes they were placed in.

Now lets say your first piece is glued together, you should have one piece of track with a female end (just the way it came from the store) and then a male end (conduit sticking out). Once I hollowed out the next peice of track and got the two to meet up nicely, I marked the ends with a marker in a specific color. Repeating this process down the line with different colors, I then had male and female connections that seemed to be "happy with each other". (for one pair of 4' track I would do an open blue circle and then filled in blue circle for the parallel connection)

With fluctuations in the weather I have found some connections harder to make and also take apart but never something two people couldn't accomplish. I also found myself using that drill attachment a few times since then where needed. I believe that attachment was like $15 or so but I am not exactly sure.... my dad had 3 of everything in the garage so he just quoted me the price at the time and I think I remember it being under 20 bucks.

Lastly, I measured the width of my track and cut 2 pieces of pvc about an inch or 2 shorter than that to make end pieces. Bought 4 elbow connectors and now when I decide on a set length for my track, I cap the two ends off with these and I have a nice long rectangle basically. These elbow connectors are larger than the pvc track itself so they sit a tad bit higher and cause a little bounce at the start and end of the run but that fix will be covered next....

The only thing I have yet to do is make some railroad ties amongst each 4' section so I have a truely flat surface across the board which i found terribly necessary the last time this rig was used on a random parking lot.... these little bounces from not only the ends being slightly higher, but also pebbles in the ground and the inevitable flex happening from weight moving along flimsy plastic are a nightmare.... it will also cut down the time necessary in building the rig as I am will not be looking for as many matching colors.... and will give me the ability to shim the track up in places where the ground is uneven. TO BE COMPLETED THIS WEEK!!!

In the end I love my dolly and had a great time developing the plans with my father. The dolly itself took some modifications of previously found plans, but those mods could only be explained by my dad who unfortunately is no longer with us. I have been meaning to take some detailed pictures of the wheel setup because I found it very interesting but haven't followed through as I may not be the best at explaining the pictures.

I can follow up with the exact sizes of the pvc pieces I used if interested, and I apologize if this in long and drawn out.
 
I have a dolly that uses PVC pipe as track as well and to make my five foot sections stick together I just wrapped duct tape around a smaller plastic cylinder so that it could fit easily into my PVC pipe allowing me to attach two pieces together. Be warned, however, that there will probably still be a noticeable amount of bounce when you cross a seam, even with this method. Nothing is perfect after all. I would also recommend weighting down the dolly as much as possible to minimize shake.
 
does anyone have any ideas for bending a track?

or some tips on how to level the PVC pipe if you're shooting outside and the ground isn't level?
 
Richard easiest way is to take the same exact PVC and cut a 8" insert for each paired rails. Cut a slit all the way on one side of the PVC (not cutting it in half) and squeeze the insert & press fit the rails together.


Works great

Oh make sure you're using schedule 80 PVC (thicker wall) though.
 
coreworld said:
http://blog.utd-group.com/blog/?cat=1

Just use this stuff, solves the length issue flexability.
Click to expand...

Wow I was about to ask the same question on here since I just finished a dolly yesterday and it's the first thing in this section!

Anyway, which stuff are you referring to? Are you talking about a fitting to connect pvc pipes or just using that rolled up piping as your track? I was wondering if there was a material that could be rolled up but made to form a straight track without trying to hold its rolled up shape.
 
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