balancing indian stabilizer
 

hi,

i bit the bullet and bought a stabilizer from that indian company on ebay,

it's really well made but i just can't stabilize it...

the problem is that both of the rails on the bottom of the post are movable horizontally, that means i can't get it really aligned, i tried with a rope and by eye, it just does not work...

i can move the gimbal, the sled can be moved horizontally in two axis', i can move the weights back and forth, but can rotate those rails they are on...

what steps do i have to follow so i can balance it really correctly?

i tried by balancing vertically first with the gimbal moved to the GC and then put it down so it's a 2 second drop time, but it drops not straight, but diagonally... i can't figure out why...

and then i balanced horizontally first with quite a bottom-heavy setup, but still cant seem to get the hang of it, after balancing vertitally to a 2 second drop it's off again....

here's a picture, every time i try to balance it, it gets back to that position if i prod the rig a bit...

thanks for any information provided in advance... i am really stuck here :(

regards from vienna, xax

XiaoSu,

If I were balancing the rig as shown in your picture I would move the back weights a far down as they would go and make them equal in distance from the post. Next I would check the drop time and make it 1.5 seconds to start. Now I would move the camera (if it's still pointing down) toward the back or "uphill" to bring the post vertical. I would do the same for the side-to-side adjustment always moving it "uphill". In the case of your picture it looks like the camera is leaning a bit to the right (as well as towards the front) so "uphill" would be to the left. Now reset the drop time to about 2 seconds (depends on preference) and redo the front-to-back and side-to-side adjustments.

There are many ways or adjusting your type of rig but this is how I would do it.

This is explained and shown in our training DVD along with a tip for balancing dynamically.

Hope this helps.

Tery
Indicam

hi terry, thanks for the quick response...

also thanks for your tips, but i got to the source of the problem


it seems to be the same fork problem that arises with glidecam 4000's, in which if i turn the post by 180 degrees, the balance goes off...

well, i'll have to work something out with washers on the fork, but am still experimenting...

thanks for your reponse!

You're welcome XiaoSu.

Good luck with the yoke problem. If there's anything else I can do please ask.

Tery
Indicam

i found the problem for all of it.

the holes in the yoke are very misaligned.

now i have to look for a new yoke, i wrote them already so that they send me a new aligned one but i am not trusting them so i will try and find myself a new one ;)

regards, xax

XiaoSu,

What size is the pan bearing sleeve that the yoke fits around? What size is the center post on the outside (ID of the pan bearing)?

Tery
Indicam

the sleeve is 2 1/2 inches
and the center post is 1 inch

could you build one?
would be awesome!

XiaoSu,

That is the size or our gimbal. How much did you pay for the whole sled?

Unfortunately we are going on a month long shoot to the islands of Tonga. We will be shooting a royal 21st birthday celebration (and other things) and won't return until the beginning of January.

If you will be using the original pan bearing and sleeve you have to make sure that the bolt holes are 180 degrees exactly (within 5 thousandths.) If not you will have the same problem. The yoke and the handle bolt have to intersect at the middle of the post. It's not an easy thing to do and must be machined correctly.

I'll try to keep up on this thread while gone but I don't know if I will be able to in Tonga.

Tery
Indicam

thanks for the offer, i wrote the original seller an email and am getting a new yoke shipped. we'll see how that works out, i paid 950 usd for the whole rig incl. vest and arm...

thanks again and good luck shooting! ;)