Monday 11 October 2010

Dolly Golightly [Skateboard Dolly Part II]

You can read Part I of this blog here.

The base for the skateboard dolly is two sheets of 12mm plywood bolted together. You need something to hold the tripod in place - I've used furniture coasters.
I reversed the direction of the wheel bolts for better spin. The wheel trucks have to be positioned accurately so they keep the rails parallel. For this step you will need : one Doctor Who Series Three box set and one Woody Allen box set.Welcome to the future of high-tech filmmaking.
First test run footage:

OK. Runs smoothly except for wobbles where the pipes join - at the moment I only have very loose joining plugs for them (next on the to do list.) The wheels are completely silent, track is self straightening and there's no lateral roll.

3 comments:

SofiaGian said...

How long did this take to make?

SofiaGian said...

P.S - Check out this website for photos of people building their own rigs - dollies - steadycams - cranes etc...

http://homebuiltstabilizers.com/

Sci-Fi Gene said...

Hi Sofia! It took about five evenings over a couple of weeks. It's not too difficult a project - would have been quicker but there was a lot of trial and error and several extra trips to B&Q as I'd bought the wrong length woodscrews etc.

Thanks for the link :D - I've found some similar sites but not that one & there are some great ideas there, I might try some of them next year.