Monday, December 19, 2011

When I say "Action"...... Roll Camera!

  It's been another busy week here at The Tinker's Workshop with another fun project and trying to get ready for Christmas and all the hustle and bustle that it brings.  This week I've completed something for all the people that are into creating video for the fun of it like me.  
  In professional movie making the big guys like Spielberg and Lucas have unlimited budgets and they get to use the latest and greatest gadgets to make their movies really something special. This week I've completed a video camera dolly that is small, lightweight, inexpensive and easy to use.  It can be used on a table top and makes difficult video scenes a snap to make.  


 The video camera dolly was partially created using one of my favorite tools.... The Makerbot 3D printer.  The red axle supports between both sets of wheels were printed using this 3D printer.  Each section took about an hour to print.  


  The arm for the little dolly comes from a company named Pico and is purposely built for a dolly like this.  They sell their version of this dolly online (without the arm) for $100.  This was way more than I wanted to shell out for this little gem so I designed and built my version using the Makerbot for $22. The skateboard wheels I picked up on Ebay for $12 brand new complete with double sets of bearings no less and the rest of the hardware I found at Lowes for another $10. Quite a savings don't you think?

  
The arm for the dolly is special built and I did not even want to attempt to duplicate it as it is very unique in what it can do.  This and the fact that it only cost $28 to buy which I thought was a good deal.  To adjust the arm all you have to do is turn the knob with the "PC" on it and the arm unlocks.  It then can be positioned in almost any configuration that you can dream up to get you video camera pointed where you want it.  The arm is eleven inches long fully extended and is very well made and worth the money.



  
Here's a video demo that I put together showing you how the video camera dolly works and looks in action.  So pull up an easy chair and get your popcorn and soda ready.  All I have to do now is call up Spielberg and Lucas and tell them to stand back as I make my next epic video!

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