Some video/stills of my new DIY dolly....
 

I love it! Very, very smooth. My dolly grip and I however need some practice...

Tell me what you think.

http://www.birthofthecool.com/dolly.html

Matt

Re: Some video/stills of my new DIY dolly....
 

<<<-- Originally posted by Matthew Cherry : I love it! Very, very smooth. My dolly grip and I however need some practice...

Tell me what you think.

http://www.birthofthecool.com/dolly.html

Matt -->>>

Looks very good, Matt.
How does the push handle hold up - will it need some angle bracing to keep it firm??

Also, I noticed you shifted away from the standard wheel mount design and mounted your wheels on each side of the bracket (perpendicular to the flatboard).

I particularly like the clean cuts on the flatboard. You have also finished the front and rear end of the board with something. What is that material?

Look great!

Earon,
Vancouver

The pushbar holds up very well. It's throughbolted onto the deck and the threading is very secure. The fact is, this thing glides so smoothly on the track that you can push it with one or two fingers, even with an operator on it.

I went with this wheel configuration for a variety of reasons. At first I thought I would have to construct a special T track but it turned out I wouldn't have to it works great on the PVC. The first reason I did it this way was ease of construction. I felt it was easier to use angle iron in this configuration using one bolt/axle per wheel set than to do it in the traditional way. Also, this is the way that wheels, and more importantly the bearings, are designed to be used. I'm probably wrong but I felt that with the added weight of an operator the would work better this way. Also, with the wheels mounted in this fashion the dolly could be used, or at least easily moved, on any smooth, flat surface. I've tested it and it actually tracks rather well. On the ends I applied some non-skid material that was sold at home depot and just happened to be the perfect size. It wasn't necessary but for $5 I thought it looked cool...

Thanks!

Matt

<<<-- Originally posted by Matthew Cherry :

.... I went with this wheel configuration for a variety of reasons. At first I thought I would have to construct a special T track but it turned out I wouldn't have to it works great on the PVC. The first reason I did it this way was ease of construction. I felt it was easier to use angle iron in this configuration using one bolt/axle per wheel set than to do it in the traditional way. Also, this is the way that wheels, and more importantly the bearings, are designed to be used. I'm probably wrong but I felt that with the added weight of an operator the would work better this way. Also, with the wheels mounted in this fashion the dolly could be used, or at least easily moved, on any smooth, flat surface. I've tested it and it actually tracks rather well.
Thanks!

Matt -->>>

Yeah, it seems that with the wheels configured that way, a center of gravity would be maintained on the wheels.
Good work!
Earon

Looks great!

Any chance of getting a parts list from you?

I'm impressed! That was the kick in the pants that I needed to just get my own dolly done once and for all...

About 9 months ago I bought a crap-load of RollerBlade wheels off ebay... and if you type in "skateboard wheels" or "bearings" you'll find more wheels and bearings then you can imagine. I got a ton of Abec 7. I've also got two different sheets of Baltic Birch (13 ply or is it 15?)... The only thing I didn't get yet was the angle iron... Sound like a parts list for everybody else?

The one thing that may have been a mistake for me is I went with these all black wheels that are actually Rollerblade brand. There is a place called TGM Skateboards that has an auction for them all the time. It's like $20 for 16 of 'em... shipped even! The bearings were around $75 though! But anyway, the wheels I got are not really pointy... they are almost perfectly round... meaning if you cut one in half like a pizza and then looked at the face of the cut. I think getting the most pointy wheels you can find would be a good idea. Also there were some scooter wheel auctions on ebay where you could get a set of what looked like really big in-line skate wheels. They were like 5" diameter. Imagine how easy those would roll!

So anyway... I'm gonna' get on my own dolly project since I've got almost everything I needed anyway. Thanks for the inspiration. The shots looked good to me... and actually you did a nice job with your website too.

I just went back to your site to check everything out and you also did a good job of proper lighting in that short... now I want to see more. (The pin-ups were a great idea for a theme too... I wish I'd thought of it that first... classy and sexy.)

Thanks guys. Matt, I hadn't thought of scooter wheels, now that would be even better. Hmmm....

For a parts list, I'm doing this off the top of my head because I didn't actually have one written down or anything.

(2) pieces of 3/4" birch plywood, 2' x 4'
(2) pieces of pre drilled angle Iron - 3' long. I bought this in the "garage door" section of a home depot. I would have gone with 4' pieces but they actually had a few pieces that were 3' long already cut so I used those to save the hassle of cutting down a longer piece myself. I positioned them in the middle of the board, length wise, at the sides.
(24) roller blade wheels and bearings. These I bought at Sports Authority - they were $90 for all the wheels AND bearings.
(??) A bunch of washers bolts and nuts, I'm sure you can figure this part out yourself. Just make sure that the bolts for the axels fit properly and that you use washers on each side of the wheel.
(2) pieces of non-skid made for stairs. I didn't have to cut this at all, it fit perfectly
(2) 3/4" in pipe flanges (and bolts, washers and nuts) for the pushbar
(2) 3/4" sections of 3' pipe
(1) 3/4" cross bar
(2) 3/4" elbow joints
(3) 1" pipe flanges for the tripod legs

That's it, along with the pvc pipe for the track.

Matt

BTW, Matt,

I go into principal photography next week on a "real" short film - wish me luck. When it's done i'll let you know!

Matt

Good Luck... hopefully I'll have some dolly action of my own to post by then, but I've been so busy that I just get a quick shot of DVinfo just before bed and right after I get up.

$90 for 24 Rollerblade wheels and bearings sounds like a pretty good deal. For other readers of this post you may want to check locally and also check ebay... As usual I over-thought the whole project and got high-end bearings. Where I screwed up is in getting wheels that are too round and not as pointy (cross-section)... Now I'm thinking I may order those scooter wheels and see what I can do with those. They're just like Rollerblade wheels but they're nearly 5" in diameter.

Keep us posted on the other work you're doing... it's clear that you've got a good handle on what it takes to make good stuff... so we want to see more when you get a chance.

Scooter Wheel Dolly?!
 

<<<-- Originally posted by Matt Gettemeier : .... Now I'm thinking I may order those scooter wheels and see what I can do with those. They're just like Rollerblade wheels but they're nearly 5" in diameter.

Keep us posted on the other work you're doing... it's clear that you've got a good handle on what it takes to make good stuff... so we want to see more when you get a chance. -->>>
Matt G:
If/when you bild that scooter wheel dolly please post he details here. My interest has just accelerated further. I'm assuming, though, that you will need a laerger dimension of angle iron to accomodate the 2.5" radius of the scooter wheels.

I can just see the other Matt's design with scooter wheels - it might look like a highway trucking rig. And it might work really well.
Earon ,
Vamcouver

Earon, the only reason I didn't get the scooter wheels the first time I saw them was that very reason. It complicates the design. Perhaps more then the benefits would warrant. You would have to either cut holes in your deck (and then put something over the wheel where it comes through) or else mount the wheels near the edges of the board (which brings an array of potential design problems). You just reminded me of why I just got Rollerblade wheels. The reasons for the inline skate wheels is that they come in much softer compounds then skateboard wheels... and because of the wheel profile there is virtually NO resistance... even more so then skateboard wheels.

Last year when I first wanted to get this dolly made I bought a ton of different stuff. I ended up giving away 6 skateboards at an average cost of $40 each! Then I made scooter boards for my neices... who knows how many crushed fingers and scraped knees I'm responsible for... Well my intentions were somewhat good.

So anyway, I think standard inline wheels is probably best 'cause you want your dolly to be as low as possible and they really do roll with an amazingly low resistance.

(I counted them and I've got 32 of 'em... I bought so many 'cause I planned to use these in a jib-arm design also. You could make your pivot with 8 wheels per end and have a jib that works so smooth it would blow your mind.)

Matt,

Do you have plans for that jib arm?

Matt

Matt, Sorry I didn't make any plans. Just for sake of experimenting I'd planned to use fence poles. (The galvanized steel kind.) They're only about $6 each for a 10' pole, at Home Depot. Basically the whole deal with a jib is to make a paralellogram (spelling? I'm tired.)... so you just use the skate wheels (2 together) at the top and bottom of each pivot... on each side. I figured this would take two of those poles and 8 wheels per end, plus 2 in the middle.

Most of the crap I do is planned as I'm cutting the material... I mean that both as a joke and a fact. Normally I'm pretty good at building stuff, but my ideas start in my subconscious and I don't really even know what the thing will look like until it's done.

Some days I feel like I'm riding inside myself... kind of like "Being John Malkovich"... only it's "Being Matt Gettemeier"... and I'm the one in the little room.

(Now I'm laughing at my own sh*t... sorry I'm spent...)

Matthew I made a link to your site from mind by adding a small thumbnail on HBS website. Hope you don't mind? Beautiful dolly.

<<<-- Originally posted by Matt Gettemeier : Matt, Sorry I didn't make any plans. Just for sake of experimenting I'd planned to use fence poles. (The galvanized steel kind.) They're only about $6 each for a 10' pole, at Home Depot. Basically the whole deal with a jib is to make a paralellogram (spelling? I'm tired.)... so you just use the skate wheels (2 together) at the top and bottom of each pivot... on each side. I figured this would take two of those poles and 8 wheels per end, plus 2 in the middle.
...
-->>>

Matt,
I invite you to make a rough sketch and post it. This loose method of yours seems quite creative and I think it has some merits.
I wrote a 400 page PhD dissertation on interpersonal communication as improvised performance using a similar approach. Of course, it took awhile because I had to keep looking at it and reshaping it. But it worked for me.

Also, being a former carpenter, I enjoyed the reference to fence posts. ha ha.

Earon