Yet another Dolly Thread!

hi this will be my first dolly project can anyone give me the name of the angled piece of metal to wich you screw the wheels into?
what are the tripod leg holders built of?
 
Nice looking dolly! Question: how do you smoothly push the dolly? Just hold the tripod and try your best to walk/run stead?
 
Does anyone have problems with the angled metal scraping up against the PVC pipe? I've got mine built but when ever I stand on it the plywood bends the littlest bit and just makes the dolly stop dead in its tracks (haha I'm so clever). I'm thinking about just getting some 1x2 and laying it across the plywood to stop it from bending, but I dont know if its really going to help enough.

I am using like 3/4 inch plywood too so its not like its some scrawny thing thats doing it.
 
Are DIY dollies of this nature made to be stood on or pushed along from behind? If you do stand on it how does the PVC deal with the pressure? Also why not add more wheels? And finally - it looks absolutely terrific! The aluminum siding was a great touch!

-John
 
What size wheels are you using there? 72mm? I think the size of my wheels maybe the reason for my problem.
 
asepulveda9209 said:
hi this will be my first dolly project can anyone give me the name of the angled piece of metal to wich you screw the wheels into?
Click to expand...

Slotted Angle Iron

Just got done using these plans, slightly modified to build my dolly and it rocks!

I used Aggressive INline skate wheels , as during the holiday season a $10 childrens skateboard is near impossible to come by.

My Slotted ANgle Iron is 1.5", and the wheels came VERY close to the piece of board. So i put a wood spacer between the iron and the platform, and drilled a hole so my bolt can go through it.

Once agian, thanks to whoever started this thread my dolly is great because of you.
 
pootify said:
Nice looking dolly! Question: how do you smoothly push the dolly? Just hold the tripod and try your best to walk/run stead?
Click to expand...

I'm hoping that it just takes practice but I'd love to hear some words of wisdom. I just finished my dolly today using 18 wheels. Because the wheels were too close to the platform, I just put in washer spacers to pull them up higher. I did think about putting in spacers between the angle iron and platform but opted for the washers between the wheels and the angle iron. Only problem.....not all washers are equal in thickness so a few of my wheels aren't touching the pvc track. It seems to run pretty smooth but the operator sure needs learn how to keep a consistant speed.

I'll probably be taking it apart tomorrow. I'm starting with 3 wheels not touching and I'll probably end up with 6 wheels not touching. What a way to spend a Sunday.

Marlene
 
Yeah I decided to build one a few days ago. 8 wheeler. It's pretty smooth, sometimes two of my wheels dont touch the pvc too.
First I was getting varied speeds, discovered alot of those cheap wheels are slightly off axis(warped) so the thicker side would hit the wood causing it to slow down and speed up. I carved out holes in the wood under the wheels, ran 10 times smoother, but still get varied speeds due to wheels being warped.

So whats the lesson, for me at least, buy the better(and more expensive) wheels for smoother performance.
 
I can't wait to get some footage up with the dolly I'm working on. same design as all of these other pvc pipe/angle iron/ply wood ones basically. Although I designed a pretty decent push/pull handle out of wood on the back, and it's big enough to hold a large chair and tripod. a piece of 4' x 8' 3/4inch thick cut in half, trimmed, and slapped on top of each other. real sturdy.
 
I was so inspired by this thread that I decided on Friday morning I was going to build one of these to use on a shoot on Saturday.

After 3 trips to Home Depot and a looong night on Friday here is Version One. It's 27" wide x 4' long and uses only 12 wheels. I used 2x4 's to hold the tracks with 1 1/4" PVC tubing cut inhalf for the track fasteners, and 1" schedule 40 PVC tubing for the tracks.

Here are some pics and a short sample video: http://www.dpcfilms.com/misc/DIY/Dolly/

Note: Since I was still tinkering with the track ties concept on sat morning I had only 5-10 minutes to set up once at the event. The track wasn't perfect level with a little bump here are there, but overall I think it turned out fairly well.

Plans for Version Two are already in the works with 20+ wheels (all black), the dolly will be painted all black, there will be a seat for the camera man, a push rod, etc..

Feedback/comments welcome...


.
 
Sorry for the long departure from the forums, I've been swamped at work for the past 6 months working 80+ hour weeks. Some answers:

- I've been asked about how to use this type of dolly. You can push it with 1 hand on a tripod leg and the other on the tripod head handle for complex movements if you don't have assistance.

- I have my wheels spaced about 1/4" of the slotted angle steel using an additional nut on the bolt as a spacer, this gave me a better hold on my 1.25" PVC

- I'm not sure what size the wheels are, they don't have any markings on them...just plain black.

- The edges are made from 'L' shaped aluminum channel found at Home Depot in the same area they sell the slotted angle steel.

- The angle steel is attached to the board by drilling holes in the steel angle, corresponding holes in the board, then putting bolts with washers through them to hold it together. See pics.

- I hope that sometime soon I'll get an edit together of the project I'm working on to show how the dolly got used. Nothing fancy just very functional.

- I'm happy I inspired some people to make their own. I was inspired by another members dolly thread so I won't take all the credt.

-Dana
 
Joren,

Nice job with the PVC connectors on your website. Best solution I've seen yet.

-j
 
I'd kind of like to know what those corner peices are as well. I bought a bunch of c channel and I guess I can cut 45's out of the side and bend it into a 90 but those corner peices look really cool.

So about the curved track thing. My solution was to take 4" casters and cut the ears off of them so that just the round pedestal base is clear. I am then going to weld an elevator bolt to the center "nub" and use that as a locator pin for center. I will then put a 4 1/2" long peice of 2" angle iron with a hole drilled in the v at center onto the locater pin and weld it to the caster base. If you put a single wheel on the inside against two outer oposing wheels the whole peice should track around my irrigation 200 psi flex PVC quite well shouldn't it?
 
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