Yet another slider.. for my 60D

[George Odell]

Wanted to share my slider design. This was made specifically for my Canon 60D. Uses 1.25"ID PVC rigid electrical conduit for the track and plumbing fittings for the corners and T's. The top plate is made from a $4 kitchen cutting board. The wheels are all of the skateboard variety. The white ones were new and the black were recycled. All had new bearings installed in them.

The plate can be flipped over and used on any smooth surface sans the track. The T's have a nylon insert machined to fit a 5/8" grip stand. A locking thumb screw is used to secure it. The track can also be flipped over and used on the ground or set atop some apple boxes. Track is 43" before it goes in to the corners.

The photos will give you some ideas for your own slider project. Ask questions if you have them. Happy to help.

[George Odell]

Been a while since I updated this slider project. I added a motor a few weeks ago and thought I'd share just what I did. From my 16mm film making days I had an old (like 40 years old) Arri electric lens motor attachment for an Angenieux 12-120mm zoom lens. Probably the most popular zoom lens used back in the day for 16mm work. The motor was in a small metal box with a sort of split-ring mount that would have gone around the lens near where the middle zoom collar portion was located. The small gear on the motor's shaft would have mated up with a larger gear that went completely around the zoom collar.

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/attachme...1&d=1411071922

It is what is known as a DC timing motor that is geared way down internally so it has plenty of torque for it's small size. Haydon, the manufacturer in Connecticut, also made AC synchronous motors for wall clocks. The beauty of this old motor is how smooth the rotation is and this is due to the very high gear ratio.

I removed the motor from the box and mounted it to a piece of 1/8" aluminum stock cut from my supply of 19" rack mount plates I keep around. The small gear was on with a tiny Allen socket that was not coming out so I made a "cap" to go over it on my small Harbor Freight metal lathe. On the end of this cap I tapped a thread to accept a small bolt that would secure an old rubber idler wheel from a 1/4" tape recorder.

The idler wheel drives only one wheel of the trolley. This is all that is needed to propel the trolley with camera forward and backward.

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/attachme...1&d=1411071922

In the inset picture you can see the original hand controller. One cable goes to the motor and the other to the power source. I have a small 12vdc wall wart as part of the package or if outside I can use a 14.4vdc Anton-Bauer brick. I get a bit more speed with the higher voltage from the extra few volts of the battery.

At the top end of the controller is the variable speed. You can set it so that the trolley just barely moves at all... it really is almost imperceptible... to a full speed that gives you end to end travel in 15 seconds. The two buttons control for forward or reverse.