Plywood Skater Market

[sinapps]

do you mind posting closeups of the wheel assembly and the rotation brake?

 

[Texanite]

Looks amazing. Nice work

Thanks Mark.

My step dad made one for me in his shop in about a week, out of plywood, from plans I sent him. But it is a thousand times less polished than yours. Works fantastic though, have used it many times, and cost less than $60 in materials. He used wood he already had in his garage

My original attempt was with wood. At this point I'll pretend it was a prottype, but overall I suck at wood work and it was a practical and aesthetic disaster.

I had a tripod head mounted, but honestly, with an HVX/SGPro combo up on a tripod head, it got very unstable. I had to stabilize those dolly shots in post.

This is a good point. The 'head' you see in the photograph I posted is not a good solution. I actually used a different head which is much larger and much more stable. I put that tiny head on there so I could take the 'glamour shot' of the dolly, but it's not well suited for actual use. I have a much thicker based, heavy duty head which worked just fine.

After responding to this thread last night, I started thinking about the skater again, and when I might sell it, and I got online and bought a new different head to test out. I think I might have some psychological problems... :zombie_smiley:

How does yours perform with weight on those rods and how big a rig have you put on there?

The video on vimeo is just an HV20, so it's not a big camera. However, the first time I used the dolly (yes, after all the work, I've only used it twice now in the last 9-months :crybaby the first time I used it I had an XH-A1 with SGPro 35mm adapter on rails with an 11" HD monitor mounted to the top. The overall weight wasn't an issue, but the monitor WAS.

It was too much weight way too high and any time the monitor would start to move, it would sway the camera. But this is really a result of my monitor setup and not the dolly. I had the exact same experience with the same setup on a doorway dolly. I either needed a smaller monitor or I needed to attach it to the tripod instead of the rods. So yeah, without all that extra top weight, I feel sure those skater dolly moves wouldn't have been a problem.

 

[Mark Harris]

It was too much weight way too high and any time the monitor would start to move, it would sway the camera. But this is really a result of my monitor setup and not the dolly. I had the exact same experience with the same setup on a doorway dolly. I either needed a smaller monitor or I needed to attach it to the tripod instead of the rods. So yeah, without all that extra top weight, I feel sure those skater dolly moves wouldn't have been a problem.

Yeah, even the slightest touch to pull focus made it wobble.

I was imaging a sort of three leg stand, like a tripod, but with the legs reaching out to the wheel bases, but have no idea if that would help the problem.

This might be why the real skaters are made of metal, the rigidity...

 

[NoNoob]

Texanite & Mark (and everybody else); THANKS!
all good info, and food for thought.

there are some good sources for carbon fiber laminates (at fair prices) that are both stronger and lighter than metal or plywood sheets.

i'm working with two different types right now- a balsa/fiber sandwich and a phenolic/fiber sandwich.
easy to cut and work with, nice looking (aesthetically pleasing), and very rigid.

YEAH- i'm in the 'development' mode at the moment.
once i get this proto done i'll be blabbing about it here (if y'all don't mind).

really do appreciate the candid responses, and the free exchange here.

 

[p.a.h.]

That thing looks slick. Well done.

 

[Mark Harris]

Here we are using my plywood skater with the RED ONE: