Cheap DSLR Table Dolly

929
Downloads
2966
Views
Published on March 1, 2012
This thing was Featured on March 2, 2012

Description

This is a cheap (~$25) table dolly for shooting DSLR video. It is made from a canabalized $20 K-Mart skateboard, a few nuts and bolts, and printed parts.

The dolly rolls smoothly, and can go straight, at an angle, or in arcs or circles. It is very easy to adjust, or to tighten down.

For some related information, and hopefully soon some video, see: protoparadigm.com/2012/03/what-to-do-with-a-3d-printer-video-production-field-use/

Also, yes, this could be made cheaper by making the trucks printed too so it just needs some wheels and bearings, but the goal with this one was to get up and running quickly. The skateboard and other parts were bought, files designed, drafts printed, and the unit assembled and tested all in one evening, the evening before a presentation about special purpose and home-made camera supports for video.

Instructions

You'll need to get a skateboard. I got a $20 skateboard from K-Mart, the second to cheapest one they had (the wheels would hardly turn on any of the cheapest one, but you might have better luck). Some of the small parts for this may need to be adjusted to fit the exact skateboard parts you're using.

Print out three of these: thingiverse.com/thing:11405

And one of this: thingiverse.com/thing:7979

And then two of each of the parts for this thing. That's two sleds, two washers, and two nut locks. I printed the washers at 100% infill, and the sled and nut locks at 50% infill with good results. The overhang feature on the nut lock needed a little cleanup with some tweezers, but not much, and what surface finish problems it still has are hidden by the nut that gets pressed down into it.

Assemble the bolt knobs with 1/4" - 20 hex bolts, I think I used 1 1/2" long.

Press 1/4" - 20 nuts into the nut locks.

Use a 1/4" - 20 bolt to attach the two pieces of the sled as shown. This should friction-fit just fine, but if you want to use a bolt that's long enough to put a nut on the other end, that should be fine too.

After removing the trucks from the skateboard, attach the sled. At each end, you should have the sled on top of the washer, which rests in the truck, which has the captive nut underneath. The square side of the nut lock piece should fit into the hole in the truck and keep the washer from turning.

Edit - I've added a picture of the skateboard the trucks came from. When I bought mine, only this design was available, but it appears there are several designs with different colored trucks that are the same skateboard. I've also uploaded a photo of its barcode that you can scan with your phone or copy the sku from.

Edit - When storing the unit, I keep the parts arranged as pictured so none of the parts get lost. When using it, the big nut on top goes under the sled. Since most cameras can only accommodate a little bit of the bolt, you screw the bolt into the camera as far as it will go, then tighten the nut to secure it. The idea being that the camera sits directly on the sled and the nut screws up from underneath to tighten it down after the bolt is tightened.
Tags
This Thing has no tags.
Report as inappropriate

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Dear Alex english great job on the design but I was having trouble printing it because it appears some of the files aren't available for download. Can you help me with this I would really like to print this

Hi,

Happy to help. Which parts are you not finding? Did you read the instructions?

If you can post the UPC of the skateboard you used that would help in case we want to use the exact same one.

I've uploaded a picture of the skateboard's barcode and the design of the deck. I hope that helps. Let me know how it goes for you!

That is a fantastic idea. I will try to make it over to K-Mart and see if I can get that for you; if they've still got it and I can find it, I'll post it in the directions and reply here.

thanks for uploading this!

this needs a printable set of trucks in such a bad way. i totally thought it was mostly printed from the photo. seems like it could be made with printed parts, 4 wheels and bearings, a few nuts and some threaded rod.

Nice!

I had thoughts along these lines when I made this: http://www.thingiverse.com/thi...

very cool, funny how much skateboard technology has been used in camera dollies. You've maybe seen it before but might be nice concept to mimic for a fully printed version(they use rollerblade wheels)

http://www.pstechnik.de/en/ska...

http://www.pstechnik.de/en/ska...

if you don't i might :)

Remixes

Liked by

License

Give a Shout Out

If you print this Thing and display it in public proudly give attribution by printing and displaying this tag.

More from Camera