Hello all!
its been some time since I have posted here..but i always check out this forum..ive been buzy as hell working on many different projects.and over this summer or I should say last year..been building a dolly ,pan and tilt system crain and steadycam. here are some pictures i took today//the dolly is baced from the CHAPMAN hydrolic system also known as the peewee dolly..

i havent recived my hydraulic parts yet..but while building put in a temporay manual lift... a car jack!..this whole thing is made from scrap steel and alluminum along with some excercise equipment for bearings rods etc etc. the reason for this? durable, portable and seconds to set up..when dealing with location shooting..time is everything.

anyway only thing left to do now is tweak out some small details and dress it up a bit..hope you like.

Pete

CLICK ON THE THUMBNAILS TO ENLARGE

(http://img224.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dolly1ia3.jpg)

[img=http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/3108/dolly2ve5.th.jpg] (http://img225.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dolly2ve5.jpg)

[img=http://img462.imageshack.us/img462/5047/dolly4sx4.th.jpg] (http://img462.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dolly4sx4.jpg)

[img=http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/292/dolly3ln4.th.jpg] (http://img206.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dolly3ln4.jpg)

[IMG]http://img224.imageshack.us/img224/3509/dvc05498vh1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Do you think maybe you can make them bigger please?

Thanks in advance!
~Gabriel~

I noticed that too..should be good now

Pete

Looks great! Do you have any footage?
How much do you think you spent?

Keep up the good work!
~Gabriel~

no footage yet but i will put some test stuff together when I get some free time if any...lol

for everthing in the last year? steadycam, dolly, jib, motors .wires screws pant and so on...at least 1500.00 in matrials

Pete

I bet now you know why Chapman internally values a PeeWee at about $150K!

ya your not kidding..especialy the real chapman dolly that thing is insanely awsome..i had a many nights wanting to hang myself just to figure out how to keep the camera mount level when it moves up and down..not ok level.. but REALLLY level and study for a few hundred pounds

http://www.chapman-leonard.com/products.html

Pete

any canadian guys or gals out here or close by and need to borrow some equipment let me know..Id hate to see this sit now...its not like I film everday.

hope you like the new pics ill update more later

[img=http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/1558/pantilt1ze5.th.jpg] (http://img181.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pantilt1ze5.jpg)

[img=http://img133.imageshack.us/img133/8397/jib1ni5.th.jpg] (http://img133.imageshack.us/my.php?image=jib1ni5.jpg)

[img=http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/6208/jib2pk0.th.jpg] (http://img221.imageshack.us/my.php?image=jib2pk0.jpg)

Congrats on your work Pete!

I agree, Chapman or JL Fisher dollies are some of the most fascinating pieces of machinery I have ever seen. I've spent many late nights reading their patents to figure out how they work and I'm still clueless. The transmission system for the different steering modes boggles the mind. It's a rat's nest of chains and sprockets but from the dolly grip's perspective, all it is a flip of lever or a twist of a grip. That's what I love about these things. The incredible mechanical complexity of it all is so transparent to the operator.

Way back when, on my very first day as a P.A. I helped hump a PeeWee off the grip truck (in '87 or so, on Rescue 911!); the grips got in a discussion about how supposedly the tolerances on some parts of the dolly are so tight, that Chapman has to machine replacement part mating surfaces on an individual basis for each dolly.

I'd love to know if that's actually true...

(here's the poor PeeWee I used on a shoot in November, with a full day of fuller's earth raining from the ceiling)

the grips got in a discussion about how supposedly the tolerances on some parts of the dolly are so tight, that Chapman has to machine replacement part mating surfaces on an individual basis for each dolly.

I'd love to know if that's actually true...

I'd be curious to know too, but it's probably not true (I could be wrong though). Having to make parts with unique tolerances on an individual basis isn't really the right way to do things since the parts are no longer interchangeable. With tight tolerance assemblies you just hold the tolerances for each individual part even tighter so that your tolerance stack-up at the assembly level is within specifications. This is normal practice for all sorts of critical things like flight hardware, spacecraft, precision machine tools, etc.

In any case, these things sure are neat. I wish I owned one just so I could have one around the house as a conversation piece =)

Very cool - did you design everything yourself from the ground up?

well some how its no surprise that its peter mander that came up with this rig... i bought my Xl1 from him almost a year ago now. and just the fancy little extras that he had custom built for that camera were impresive.. youve taken custom buislt creativity to a whole new level

nice work pete

p.s. your camera is still doing amazingly well

MEKHAEL

Fantastic work, well done.
You should go in for scrapheap challenge!

That really is awesome.