Speed Rail Slider

Paul Hudson

Paul Hudson

Vacuum Tube Member
I have had many people ask me to post a picture of the Speed Rail Slider we build and use at Lizardland.

It is fast to set up on c-stands, apple boxes, tables, floors, really wherever you want. By adding longer or shorter speed rail sides you vary the length quickly.
 

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Speed rail is thick walled aluminum. It is made for rails. It can be run for many feet without any deflection.
 
Would you please give us some specs for the tubing and perhaps where we can purchase it?
How much does it cost?
 
The pipe is 1 1/4 inch, schedule 40 aluminum it can be purchased locally at any good metal supply shop or via shipping here:
http://www.metalsdepot.com/Cart3/viewCart1.phtml?LimAcc=$LimAcc&aident=

It is much cheaper if purchased locally.

The corners are made by Hollaender Speed Rail or Nu rail. The best place to buy is Grainger. There are Graingers in most large towns or you can order via phone or on line here:

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/items/4UJ08?Pid=search

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have additional questions.
 
Very nice indeed. I really like your set up. Sorry for all the questions. But, I would like to put one together.

1. What is the max length of rail that you use, and what is the thickness of the rail?
2. Can you use rigid conduit? Sorry I know what "schedule 40" means. I flunked aluminum.
3. Did you make the dolly with skate wheels?

I live 1/2 mile from Graingers. Thanks for your post and info!
 
You will really like it once you use it. I had other "indie sliders" there is no comparison to the glide.

With schedule 40 Speed Rail you can run 8 to 10 feet. You could use schedule 40 1 1/4 inch conduit. Be aware it will not be as rigid as Speed Rail, but will work at say six feet.

Schedule 40 is a designation given to pipe to denote the amount of pressure it can tolerate.

My skate wheels and trucks came from Willie's Widgets. However, you can make your own with angle iron and skateboard wheels.
 
FYI... this is a dolly, not a slider (IMO). Sliders are meant to be small & portable...either attached to a tripod or on the floor.
They are able to get into places a dolly can't.

Don't get me wrong, I still love my dolly (flextrack and all), but I can get nice moving shots with
my slider that would be impossible with a dolly. :happy:

Both are great tools for a filmmaker!
 
This is No larger than a Matthews slider. A original, real slider IMHO. Which BTW sells for around $4500.00
 
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I have a Matthew Doorway Dolly and 60 feet of track. This piece we are discussing is not a dolly. I can carry this with one hand. Try that with a Doorway and one 8 foot section of track. This will teach you the real difference between a slider and a dolly.

Try mounting a doorway on two low boys or 20 inch c-stands, ain't going to happen. Try sliding a doorway and camera under a desk, same. I think you get the idea. A person and camera rides a dolly. A camera alone rides a very narrow "slider".

ZaZa, I think you make a very fine piece of equipment and I wish you all the luck selling it but I have no desire what so ever of selling any sliders or dollies. I just want to make the definition between the two very clear.
 
I think these plans may explain this slider a little better ;-))
 

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Paul thanks for all the info. I would also agree that this is a type of a slider. You can make the speed rail slider as small or as large as you like, really. Just by changing the rail lengths makes this very a versatile piece of equipment. Small spaces.. short rails... say 3 feet? Need a longer run? How about 12 feet? This is what I really like about this set up. Yes I also own a zaza and it is great in tight spaces for sure. Thanks again!
 
Paul, this is great. If it's not too much trouble, could you give us the dimensions of the slider platform and the separation of the rails? I'd like to build one just like yours, thanks.
 
I have a rig like this too. In name, my opinion is that it is a dolly because it rides on wheels. If it rides on linear bearings or other frictionless static surface, I call it a slider. Whatever you call it, Paul's thingymabob is very handy.
 
Erik Olson said:
I have a rig like this too. In name, my opinion is that it is a dolly because it rides on wheels. If it rides on linear bearings or other frictionless static surface, I call it a slider. Whatever you call it, Paul's thingymabob is very handy.
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A dolly carries a tripod or a operator and a camera and riser.
 
It's semantics really, but it's a dolly. Go argue with the SuperTechno guy that his "no-riders" rig is a "jib" and see what he thinks of that. Many used to argue that cranes must always have riders and anything else was a jib.

At the end of the day, it doesn't matter. We live in a much democratized world of self-taught filmmaking, where anyone with a twenty-four-frame camera is automatically a DP and the old Hollywood saying that "...nobody knows anything" is more true than ever.
 
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