RoweCine Dolly kits now for sale!

neil,

if i made my dolly like seans, how difficult would it be to then go back and attach a t-bar to it?

if it is going to be a rather difficult process, do you think i could order one from you right away, so that i may attach it before building my dolly? i'd be willing to pay the $75.
 
..it would be a piece of cake to attach it afterwards... you could go right over the carpet. or in my case.. grip tape. we dont have any ready to send yet though.
 
sean.. thats a great pictorial reading of how the assembly of a nice dolly goes.
as for the 4'2".. honestly i dont think its necessary as that 3/4" or so of 1" thick plywood at the end isnt weak by any means, but it wouldnt hurt. i do however think well start shipping smaller washers for the truck attaching bolts though. those bolts(as the instructions say a few times..hah) dont really have to be very tight.. just snug. we only used the larger ones because they disperse the pressure better, but its really overkill for how tight those bolts really only need to be. and of course the smaller mount washers would kill the little overhang on a 4' board.
 
Glad to be of help.

It was really a pretty painless process. Helps if you (or a friend) are handy with a drill, ratchet, & wrench. A few more notes...

In the carpet-adhesion stage, the platform was completely covered with a thin layer of carpet glue (ensuring that the carpet is perfectly smooth and snug). I'm just pointing that out because the photo above shows only the beginning of the glue stage.

The staples didn't want to penetrate the oak via staplegun, so we used a hammer to drive them completely into the wood, like nails.

We trimmed the carpet a bit around the corners beneath the platform (where the rails would touch carpet). You'll see.

The aluminum side trim was attached with screws, 4 or 5 per side. We first drilled holes in the rails, then attached to the platform via screws.

When attaching the rails, for a snug fit we used some small washers in addition to the large ones. . . since the bolts are really intended for 1" thick plywood and we used 3/4". (To make a long story short, 3/4" was readily available and oak is really strong... but you may want to go to a lumberyard to get the 1".).

I don't mean to make the platform length sound like a big deal. I have no reservations about the strength of my dolly platform. The oak is NOT going to bend! :thumbsup: You may or may not find a couple of extra inches useful.

Adding a t-handle later will be a cinch. You'd just attach it atop the platform, as Neil mentioned.
 
Ok I admit it.. I might have made a few mistakes!
dolly.jpg


What is the deal? Is my PLY too thin? those bolts just scrape on my track and the lock nuts are no-where near the trucks. Bloody hell. Also something for those abroad to consider, I got charged £40 by customs for importing the dolly trucks.
 
Here's the way mine looks. Not the greatest photo, but you get the idea. There's definitely no scraping.

Dolly14.jpg


Your wood appears to be about the same thickness as mine (3/4"?). But I have the carpet which perhaps adds a little thickness.

You might try larger PVC pipe as track.

I'll let Neil diagnose, as he knows more on this subject than me!
 
Danm,

hmm... it does appear that the truck set has not been correctly assembled.
..for the locknuts to be snug to the trucks you need to actually tighten them onto the bolts as in sean's picture below yours , and as denoted in the instructions. a normal set should have even more track clearance than sean's from the mounting bolt to the track. that may or may not fix the scraping issue depending on how far the locknuts are currently sticking off the end of the bolts and how thin of plywood you used. from the picture the locknut almost appears to just be sitting at the very end of the bolt.

as far as the ply being too thin..
as sean noted, and page 1 of the directions states:

"Instructions

Please carefully read through all instructions BEFORE you begin assembly. Failure to do so may result in your dolly turning out less than optimal. Total construction time should be apx10-30 min depending your skill level.


YOU WILL NEED THESE THINGS TO GET STARTED:

a. A dolly platform. Rowe Cine LLC recommends using a
4’ x 28” sheet at least 1” thick from quality plywood. This size allows for maximum surface area while still fitting through doorways.
..."

if you are using a thinner ply than the minimum reccomended thickness, you will need to either add an extra washer or two as sean did on the top of the platform to keep the mounting bolt from extending down too far, or use shorter bolts if available. we do not supply shorter bolts becuase we do not want to encourage using a thinner platform due to performance issues related to the strength (likelyness to bend under load)of thinner ply/deck material. however we have changed the supplied mounting washers to be a smaller diameter to prevent any mounting overhang, and will now including an extra set to give a little more clearance if needed. until now it has not been an issue, but it is a small thing for us to accomodate by including some extra washers for those needing to use a thinner platform.
the scraping is definitely not good, but a few little changes and your set should be preforming perfectly and hopefully well get to see some sweet smooth shots from your next project!

i had specified when shipping that customs should not be charging anything, and was assured by the carrier on this. this is an issue i will address and clear with the U.S. postal service before any international orders are sent out to make sure this does not occur again.
 
ah I see. I'm new to lock nuts and thought that the end of the nut which has a rim of white plastic was stopping it from screwing any further. It screwed nice and easy up to the inner white rim and then became really tough.

I'll ring royal mail and see if I can get my £40 back.

thanks,

Dan
 
Dan,

yeah, the white plastic part will thread onto the bolt as well and not let the bolt slip tighter or looser from any shock or vibration. let me know what the postal service says, and we''ll send whatever they need to get if they are willing to refund upon some further documentation.
 
Hello. :thumbup:

Neil Rowe, your dolly set seems fantastic. I think I'm going to order one soon! :laugh:

So, I think sending them to Finland is no problem? I saw you have sent them already to Europe earlier...Is it really so that there's no additional shipping costs to me? :huh:

Thanks for the great product.
, Pete.
 
pete,

there shouldnt be any additional charges for shipping internationally.. at least Rowe Cine LLC will not charge you any extra. but customs regulations for different countries varies. check with your local mail service to see if any fee would apply for either a residential to residential or business to residential shipment from the U.S. to your location. We can ship it as either a business mail order item or personal mail. I have spoken with my local postal service to inquire as to why customs charges have been applied in the past for some international orders, and they are checking into it for me. Hopefully we will be able to take care of any customs issues on our end forward though.
 
...the wheels and trucks and all mounting hardware themselves are of course all waterproof, but the one caution is that the lubrication in the bearings can be washed out by excessive moisture the same as any other bearing. the bearings are stainless steel and reinforced, but just like leaving your bike out in the rain... you can wash the lubrication out if you submerge them or expose them to moisture for extended periods of time. the bearings would of course still work, but you could potentially introduce bearing noise or less than optimal smooth bearing performance by washing out the lubrication.

...realistically, you'd likely have to be trying pretty hard to wash out the bearings. or just not care that your whole dolly setup is soaking wet from going through puddles. the wheels and trucks themselves are underneath the dolly deck, so they are pretty well covered from overhead sprinkling or run-off.. in any case, we recommend against useage in any excessive moisture as a precaution, and definitely warn against submersion.
 
Neil Rowe said:
the wheel sets are very quiet.. as quiet as wheels can be rolling on PVC track.

the platform is not included in the wheel package. you can build your own platform out of whatever you wantin whatever size you want. most people use plywood, and paint it. we recommend using a 4' by 28" sheet of at least 1" thick ply if your purchasing the 4' rails, if your using the 1' corner sections. you might want to go thicker pending how much weight will be on it.
Click to expand...

Neil, as someone who has a fair amount of experience in building these. let me share a couple of tips. The first is from my instructional video on the Jimmy Jib Triangle. To eliminate noise, wipe down the pipes with Pledge furniture polish. It will make everything silent and provides a slight bit of lubrication (smoother action).

Second, advise people to go to the building supply store and ask for "concrete form board". This is 1-1/8" plywood. I've built dolly platforms you can dance on without any movement.

Hope these help...
 
..the file was removed some months ago.

thanks for sharing the tips with the dolly users. asid e from jusy keeping the track clean, ive never had to use anything additional to quiet down the wheels as they are very quiet already, but its nice to dolly users to know in case of anything coming up. :)
 
If anyone can help--I am about to order the 1' /24 wheel set. As much as I want to hit that magical Paypal button now, my question is this: Why would I want to get 1' versus 4', besides not wanting to break the bank in expenses? I know you can put people and stuff on the 4', but are there more reasons than that? To be honest, I would by the 4'/32 set if I could afford it, but which dolly would be better overall for most situations? Is bigger always better as dollies go? Any input would be appreciated. Thanks.
 
I'm glad I found this thread. I've been meaning to get an affordable/reliable dolly for myself. Gonna have to wait for the next paycheck though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top