The VERY poor man's DIY Skater Dolly

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Bao Q. Nguyen

Member
Sorry footage is lost.
 

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Very clever and an incredibly simple re-design to a multi-thousand dollar piece of equipment. Bravo.

Nice footage, BTW..

J
 
Wow! Not as pretty as the others but for what it is it appears to do a nice job. Luv the simplicity of your design, rigid casters and wing nuts - who knew! Could assemble this in no time except for the fact that I'm not that adept at a jigsaw for some reason. I'll have to practice on scrap first I guess.

KUDOS my friend!
 
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Thanks! As you can see from the second picture, the first take with the jigsaw didn't turn out to well. I had to retrace the template and start over.
 
cool I may have to build one now that you made it look easy :) Are you shooting on a platform (plywood?) or is that just the floor at the end there. Footage looks awesome!
 
jdajda said:
Are you shooting on a platform (plywood?) or is that just the floor at the end there. Footage looks awesome!
Click to expand...
You can see the track he's using here.
 
Figuring out a way to push/pull straighter

Figuring out a way to push/pull straighter

Justyn! My old master! Since you told me about dvxuser I'm ALWAYS on here, but only just started posting. I've got to find a way to get you out to Hawaii. Good to see you here.

I think I've figured out a way to push/pull a lot straighter. I'm going to cut a 1 inch wide opening down the middle of the entire stretch of the track. You can then attach an L bracket to the bottom of the tripod head screw and just drag the thing. This should also eliminate the need for the bumpers.
 
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what kind of tripod head thing is that?

i wanna make one of these but i dont knwo a damn thing about tripods...

can u post a link to where to get somehting like the one u used...?
 
The tripod head is a Manfrotto 308RC. It is a pro ball head for still cameras. I don't think they make them anymore but you can probably find one at some online auctions for very cheap. It works great for me because of the ability to tilt the camera up to 90 degrees and lock in place.

Of course you don't really need any type of tripod head for the skater. You could probably use a butterfly nut with the same thread size as the one under your camcorder and stick it through from the bottom of the skater.
 
Bao Q. Nguyen said:
That's an excellent find since it also has level on it. I'd like to see your version when it's completed. Good luck.
Click to expand...

well i havent finished planning it completly yet but when its finished i hope to be able to use the table for the angles that comes with the skater mini...

also it will be made of plexiglass, not wood...

send me and email at
czace1022@gmail.com
and ill send u the plans i drew up last night if ur interested
 
Zippy,
You might want to do a search through the forum {skater/mini dolly} to see other designs and builds. I remember that someone had built one out of a plexi-glass like material. Another guy also used lazy Susan bearings. My idea came from a lot of the other DIY projects on this forum and other forums. That's the great thing about this site. Learning and doing. Or sometimes undoing.
 
Happy, what is its original purpose? I'm going to guess...for moving pianos?:)

Seems a bit top-heavy with a camera on top, though.
 
I'm not sure what it's for jmc, your guess is probably right on the money. When I was doing tests I did find it a bit top-heavy, but it's easy enough to compensate for. I wouldn't use it for anything you want really smooth, but the small footprint and the ability to steer will definitely be useful for some purposes.

zipper, it's called a triple wheel dolly 6" according to my recept, and you should find it in the hardware aisle with the castors.
 
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