CentiDolly: DIY dolly from PVC pipes at DVinfo.net

Michael Jouravlev · September 30th, 2007, 04:54 PM

Here is the dolly that I have made after drooling over MicroDolly:

http://www.elurauser.com/articles/ce..._tripod_md.jpg

And the how-to itself: http://www.elurauser.com/articles/centi_dolly.jsp

Despite that this is DIY instructions I wanted to give it a cool name, so I though that CentiDolly should be good enough. Sort of 10 times larger than a MicroDolly :) I wanted to shoot a how-to video, actually I made two attempts, they both did not come out well, so for now I decided just to publish the script, adding couple of pictures.

EDIT: I uploaded a short video, this is all I was able to get from two days of shooting in my garage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpoG8xes2Ls

Eric Shepherd · September 30th, 2007, 11:23 PM

Hi Michael, nice work there! :)

I've been researching a lot of different dolly designs and this gives me some good ideas.

I came across this one earlier. They use rubber tubing to make curved tracks. Seems like an awesome idea if you can get the spacing right and it doesn't *at all*. Otherwise I could see it binding as the dolly moves along it, or the dolly re-aligning the track as you move and when it encounters some friction on the ground, shaking the camera a bit. Really neat idea though if it works 100%, 100% of the time. ;)
http://www.indiesnap.com/flexfull.html

Eric

Sean Seah · October 17th, 2007, 11:35 PM

Nice job Michael! I will build one in the future.. Eric, I didnt quite understand what is rubber tubing for the curved tracks.. do u have an idea?

Eric Shepherd · October 18th, 2007, 12:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sean Seah

Eric, I didnt quite understand what is rubber tubing for the curved tracks.. do u have an idea?

Yup, take a look at this page specifically:
http://www.indiesnap.com/flex-dolly.html

Pretty nice idea, if the tubing doesn't roll around. Maybe there's enough weight in the tube (because it's not just 3 feet long), that it holds itself down.

I'll try it one of these days when I decide on a dolly design I like and have some extra money for it.

Eric

Michael Jouravlev · October 18th, 2007, 05:56 PM

Here is the correct link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2C7W3AFVrQ You can notice that the tripod is not exactly vertical, this is because I erroneously used a different telescoping segment in one of the legs, they are not the same length on my tripod.

Eric Shepherd · October 18th, 2007, 09:05 PM

The video looks good. Do you have any more footage you've shot with it? :)

September 30th, 2007, 04:54 PM	#1
Michael Jouravlev Major Player Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: San Diego Posts: 209	CentiDolly: DIY dolly from PVC pipes Here is the dolly that I have made after drooling over MicroDolly: http://www.elurauser.com/articles/ce..._tripod_md.jpg And the how-to itself: http://www.elurauser.com/articles/centi_dolly.jsp Despite that this is DIY instructions I wanted to give it a cool name, so I though that CentiDolly should be good enough. Sort of 10 times larger than a MicroDolly :) I wanted to shoot a how-to video, actually I made two attempts, they both did not come out well, so for now I decided just to publish the script, adding couple of pictures. EDIT: I uploaded a short video, this is all I was able to get from two days of shooting in my garage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpoG8xes2Ls Last edited by Michael Jouravlev; October 1st, 2007 at 12:59 PM.

September 30th, 2007, 11:23 PM	#2
Eric Shepherd Major Player Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Orlando, FL Posts: 404	Hi Michael, nice work there! :) I've been researching a lot of different dolly designs and this gives me some good ideas. I came across this one earlier. They use rubber tubing to make curved tracks. Seems like an awesome idea if you can get the spacing right and it doesn't at all. Otherwise I could see it binding as the dolly moves along it, or the dolly re-aligning the track as you move and when it encounters some friction on the ground, shaking the camera a bit. Really neat idea though if it works 100%, 100% of the time. ;) http://www.indiesnap.com/flexfull.html Eric

October 17th, 2007, 11:35 PM	#3
Sean Seah Trustee Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Singapore Posts: 1,498	Nice job Michael! I will build one in the future.. Eric, I didnt quite understand what is rubber tubing for the curved tracks.. do u have an idea?

October 18th, 2007, 05:56 PM	#5
Michael Jouravlev Major Player Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: San Diego Posts: 209	Here is the correct link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2C7W3AFVrQ You can notice that the tripod is not exactly vertical, this is because I erroneously used a different telescoping segment in one of the legs, they are not the same length on my tripod.

October 18th, 2007, 09:05 PM	#6
Eric Shepherd Major Player Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Orlando, FL Posts: 404	The video looks good. Do you have any more footage you've shot with it? :)