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Home Made Camera Stabilizer
5/29/2004 - I finally have a working prototype. It is still far from finished, but then again do I *ever*
consider any of my projects finished? :)
Why did I build one?
Well, I've always wanted to make films. Recently I've had the honor of working with
Joel Cranson to film 3 Star Wars fan films. The first one was essentially a proof of concept to see what
we could do. During the making of that film I realized that not having a camera stabilizer made some of our
shots look very unprofessional. Before we filmed the final 2 films, I wanted to make sure we could get the
quality of shots that would enhance the story, not distract you from it. I came to this realization
in April of 2004, and the first shot for our film was scheduled for June 13th. I had 2 months to build,
test/debug, and learn how to use a camera stabilizer... fasten your seatbelts, here we go.
How Did I Build It?
After searching the Internet, I discovered the most incredible resource called
Home Built Stabilizers
which is a nice group of very knowledgable people who know how to build these things.
So, I started reading and studying the designs. I started building mine and
quickly realized I had NO idea what I was doing. I am very comfortable working with wood,
but I have never worked with metal before. So, not only was there a huge learning curve with
camera stabilization, I was also learning how to work with metal and still be able to count
to 10 with my fingers. I ended up buying 99% of the parts I needed from Ace Hardware.
Below I'll give you a quick rundown on each part of the system and essentially
how it went together.
The Arm
The arm was created using 3/4" and 1" square aluminium tubing. The pieces form 2 parallelograms
connected in the middle with a short "elbow" joint. The entire arm connects to the harness by
a similar "elbow" joint.
Inside each vertical tube, there are 4 inline-skate bearings (2 per bolt) making each
piece of the arm completely friction-less. Inline-skate bearings are relatively cheap and
if one goes bad, you can get them readily at most sports stores. I picked up 2 packs of 16 bearings
at my local Sports Authority for $20 a pack. Each arm section is loaded with 2 springs. I know there is a
science to this whole camera stabilization thing, but to get started I just got the heaviest springs
that they had at the local Ace Hardware. They seem to work just right for now, I can always refine this later if I need to.
The top connector is some part I picked up in the hinge section, it is part of a gate hinge of sorts. ?? Works great.
The Gimbal
This piece is vital to controling your camera. It allows rotation on all 3 (X,Y,Z) axis.
The main pole is 3/4" aluminium pole. The large bearing in the middle
of the pole is held in place with 2 collars held in place with set screws. The collars can be moved
up/down the pole so that the center of gravity of the entire rig can be moved for optimized control.
There is a collar around the outside of the large bearing. This was a steel piece of threaded piping that I
cut down to size and then ground down the threads to get the bearing to fit inside. I left some of the
threads under the bearing so that it would have something to "sit" on The bearing slips into the collar and a few set screws
keep it in place. The square "U" piece around the main bearing is made with 1"x 14" aluminium and 1.5" "L" aluminium
cut down to 1" pieces.
The handle is a piece of 90-degree bend PVC piping with bearings inside allowing the whole bearing to pivot at the handle.
The Platform
The platform can be adjusted in both the X and Y planes. Wingnuts underneath loosen the platform to adjust for
left/right balance. The black knobs on the sides can be loosened to allow the platform to be moved forward/backward
for front/back balance. Also, there are 3 separate holes in the platform so you can mount your camera in a different
place depending on mounted accessories. The collar is attached to the platform with JB Weld and has a set-screw
to attach it to the main pole. The bottom of the platform does have a hole cut in it so that a video cable
can be run down through the middle of the pole to the LCD screen on the sled. I put some rubber-like material on the top
of the platform to give some protection and grip to the camera.
The Vest
Of all the parts in the system, this is the one that is still very much NOT completed.
The metal portion of the vest is made from 2" x 1/8" aluminium bent, then doubled-up for strength.
The waist band is 2" nylon strapping which I got from my local JoAnn Fabric store along with an adjustable
plastic snap-clasp. The upper-body strapping is 1" wide, although I might consider 2" if the 1" pinches too much.
Special Design Consideration
There's no secret that I'm a big guy..with a big gut. This proves to be quite a problem for building
a vest for a camera stabilizer. The connector coming off the main belt needs to be straight and level as possible.
With my belly sticking out, it was causing the belt to angle down and throwing *everything* off.
I had some connections at Cranson Custom Upholstery
and Alan the owner was awsome enough to help me make some special padding for my vest. The waist padding is special
heavy foam that will keep the belt even with my belly, and keep everything on the rig working correctly.
Alan is in the process of making the rib-padding and seatbelt-style pads for the over-the-shoulder strapping.
(No, the strapping will not go behind my neck as you see in the top picture right now... this is only temporary)
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