Unstable Dolly - Help!

[Fredrik986]

Hello.
I have been trying to build my own dolly twice now but I can't seem to succeed.

I want to build a doorway dolly, because if i build a skateboard dolly, I would have to carry around several meters of PVC-piping, which would be quite troublesome.

First, I bought a so called 'axel set' that looks like this.
I screwed this onto a wooden board, and placed my tripod with camera on it. Unfortunately, the wheels were not very round, so the whole thing shook and vibrated terribly, making the footage shot with it unusable. I tried to dampen this by making my own suspension and by placing the tripod ontop of soft things, but nothing seemed to work.

When I went to a hardware store, I saw that this gardening wagon was on sale. I bought it yesterday hoping that the extra weight would provide stability, and that the cameraman could sit on it, making it more stable. After assembly, I tried it out on my parquet floor, but the thing wobbled alot, even though the floor was completely flat. It seems that these wheels were assymetrical aswell.

What should I do? Is there a way to dampen the vibrations and isolate he camera from the wagon in some way to reduce shaky footage, or should I return the wagon and just build a skateboard dolly instead? I really would prefer a doorway dolly, because of the tracks.

I really would like to be able to run this thing on asphalt, but it seems like a skateboard dolly is the only thing that could do that.

One final question: If the only way out is to build a skateboard dolly, how do I connect the pipes together so that the connections between the pipes don't cause vibrations?

I'm not very handy and a skateboard dolly seems a little complicated...

Help?

Best regards
Fredrik


Nevermind... I just made a skateboard dolly out of my old inlines, and that seems to work fine. I guess I should just return the wagon then..

 

[Gary Sconce]

The reason the inexpensive skateboard wheeled dollys work is that they roll on a portable smooth surface that evens out the uneven ground. You can connect 1 1/4" or 1 1/2" PVC pipes together with small sections of thinner pipe wrapped with tape or with wooden dowels around 6 inches long held by small vertical pins. Two lengths of PVC are easy to transport as you just put them into the front window on the passenger side of your car, run them to the rear of the car diagonally and let them stick out forward.

The only other way around carrying or building track and the ground vibration issues of non-track dollys is to build a chariot from a wheelchair and then weld a braced standing platform on it. You then place a cameraperson on the chair/dolly and run camera on a steadycam. Grips pull or push the rig. This offers unlimited distance for the shot with no track. You can also get this rig to running speed. Wheelchair dolly work has been used probably for decades and was recently used extensively in the movie, Vantage Point.

 

[Fredrik986]

Hello.
Thanks for the replies!
I found my old inlines, so I thought I'd give the "skateboard dolly" a shot. I built one in about two hours, so it wasn't as complicated as I thought. It actually works quite well, and I am going to return the wagon today. The only problem with this as I see it is that it's going to be hard to keep the track out of the frame, and that you can't turn it and make circular motions. Well, I'll have to be without.

Thanks

 

[Colony14]

Hello,
We are new members to this site, but I saw your issue and this might interest you. I am an agent for a doorway dolly manufacturer here in Atlanta. It is a great design comparable to Matthews, but about a third of the price. We will be posting pictures soon, but I wanted to let you know if you still need a dolly I could send you or anyone who is interested pictures so you can look and judge the quality for yourself.
Thanks
Colony 14

 

[Dan Vance]

The only other way around carrying or building track and the ground vibration issues of non-track dollys is to build a chariot from a wheelchair and then weld a braced standing platform on it.

I've built a couple of doorway dollies using pneumatic wheels. They run fine on asphalt and smooth surfaces--even over sidewalk cracks smoothly. Much smoother than wheelchairs.
Of course, one set of wheels need to be steerable, or castering.

 

[Bernie Hipos]

Hello.
I have been trying to build my own dolly twice now but I can't seem to succeed.
When I went to a hardware store, I saw that this gardening wagon was on sale. I bought it yesterday hoping that the extra weight would provide stability, and that the cameraman could sit on it, making it more stable. After assembly, I tried it out on my parquet floor, but the thing wobbled alot, even though the floor was completely flat. It seems that these wheels were assymetrical aswell.

hi fredrik,

here some pics of my dolly. i originally bought it from handtrucks.com for $120 plus shipping and tax. i think we are on the same page here that i also wanted to have a dolly like this instead of having the dolly with pipes and it worked like a charm although i'm not done yet, i still have to put a stool and hook for my tripod.

here's the original pic of the great plains heavy mover flatbed wagon that i bought from handtrucks.com

here are the pics of my configured dolly wherein i added a push handle and spray painted with a flat black color.

cheers!