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[slackerinabox]

I picked up this hand truck from Home depot that I'd like to convert to a dolly for film making purposes. A dolly is the device that's used for those nice tracking shots - the camera moves (without shaking) from room to room or down a hallway. The effect is often used in horror movies, especially the work of Stanley Kubrick (Halloween, by John Carpenter, also had a long tracking shot in the beginning)... So any ideas? The useable area on the hand truck is 36" (length) by 14" wide and it's 11" off of the ground. Now I know that I can simply plop a big plank of wood on the thing but that wouldn't be totally safe nor would it be as smooth as I'd like - any ideas to make the cart very smooth, especially over concrete? What would be a good way to absorb shock? The front time seems pretty sturdy as it's inflateable but should I replace the back one? Any help would be awesome! Thanks!

p.s. the thing can hold 600 pounds total and is made out of steel.. I'd be standing on top of it with a 16MM film camera or a camera and tripod (16mm cameras way around 20 pounds, good tripods around 40lbs= total weight less than 300 pounds)...
Remember, film cameras do not have STEADY SHOT or anything like that

Side View
Top view

I'll gladly take more measurements or take more pictures if you need them... Oh yeah, I'm a film student that's why I'm being cheap... The real deals cost a few grand...

 

[slackerinabox]

bump

 

If the dolly has hard rubber wheels, replace them with tires from a wheel barrel, it would be too complicated for a novice to fabricate a suspension from scratch.

 

[slackerinabox]

Originally posted by: Roger
If the dolly has hard rubber wheels, replace them with tires from a wheel barrel, it would be too complicated for a novice to fabricate a suspension from scratch.

The front wheels are actually tires and the rear one is hard rubber- i'll replace that one.. Thanks for the idea.. While I'm a novice my dad is an engineer and a handy type of guy.. He's just too busy to actually make the plans- once I have them and buy the parts he'll help me put it all together (and he has all the tools required)

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Well, in movies they tend to have a rail setup.

 

Have him fabricate a simple suspension from the front forks of a junked motorcycle 🙂

 

[slackerinabox]

Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth
Well, in movies they tend to have a rail setup.

It depends..Sometimes they set up tracks, sometimes they use a steady cam and sometimes they use a dolly... I was at a shoot where we used tracks and I just can't afford to do that.. I have a steady cam for small MiniDV cameras but can't use it with my 16mm camera and a replacement would cost an arm and a leg...

 

[J0hnny]

Pretty easy to make a isolated platform that will absorb the shock. Use the following configuration:

camera
----------
wood
----------
rubber mat
----------
wood
----------
rubber mat
----------
wood
----------
dolly bottom

 

[slackerinabox]

Originally posted by: J0hnny
Pretty easy to make a isolated platform that will absorb the shock. Use the following configuration:

camera
----------
wood
----------
rubber mat
----------
wood
----------
rubber mat
----------
wood
----------
dolly bottom

Sounds like a nice idea! Any idea how thick the wood and rubber should be? How do you think that I should bind them - I was thining about using clamps and two bolts going down the dolly... I'm sure my dad could help me mount it but I'd like to go in with an idea first so that he knows that I did some research 😉

 

[sillymofo]

Originally posted by: freedomsbeat212

Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth Well, in movies they tend to have a rail setup.

It depends..Sometimes they set up tracks, sometimes they use a steady cam and sometimes they use a dolly... I was at a shoot where we used tracks and I just can't afford to do that.. I have a steady cam for small MiniDV cameras but can't use it with my 16mm camera and a replacement would cost an arm and a leg...

Well, you can get some plumbing pipes and ingenuity to hold them together for a temporary rail. It's still much better than a dolly because you won't have to worry about lateral movements. You can still use the dolly, just put the wheels between the rails.

 

[J0hnny]

Well, first off, make sure you find a soft rubber material and not hard rubber, otherwise it wouldnt absorb the shock, but just the vibration.

Well, I once designed a completely isolated hanging motor mount with just rubber, some washers and steel bolts.

I don't think you necessarily need to bind them. The rubber should be thicker than the wood. If you use a clamp or bolt, it would be fine. Just not too many. I think 4 C-clamps should work.

 

[slackerinabox]

Originally posted by: cr4zymofo

Originally posted by: freedomsbeat212

Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth Well, in movies they tend to have a rail setup.

It depends..Sometimes they set up tracks, sometimes they use a steady cam and sometimes they use a dolly... I was at a shoot where we used tracks and I just can't afford to do that.. I have a steady cam for small MiniDV cameras but can't use it with my 16mm camera and a replacement would cost an arm and a leg...

Well, you can get some plumbing pipes and ingenuity to hold them together for a temporary rail. It's still much better than a dolly because you won't have to worry about lateral movements. You can still use the dolly, just put the wheels between the rails.

You know, I was thinking about making "rails" with pipes as well but have a lot of questions... Wouldn't this take a very long time to set up? Also, what would prevent the pipes from just sliding around? Any ideas?

 

[Demon-Xanth]

If you need some cheap thick rubber mats, go to a place that sells horse feed and fencing supplies and pick up some stall mats. They're 4'x6' and cost about $38 each and are about 1" thick. They're damned near industructible, so pickup a good utility knife w/ some blades for cutting it, and use a metal straight edge. A straight jigsaw blade also works.

For the metal pipe idea, get some smaller diameter pipes or fittings that can go inside to hold the lengths together, and to hold them apart use some cross pieces mounted from below.

 

[slackerinabox]

Great ideas guys, keep them coming.. 🙂

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Oh yeah, those rubber mats generally require two people to move. To smooth out the surface try using some thin (1/4") plywood sheets and tapeing the edges together to eliminate jumps.