Not for me....I haven't had ANY time to even look at my dolly parts this past week. I should be finishing my dolly in the next two weeks however...

Anything new....yet?

A quick fix might be a wheelchair (ala R.Rod in El Mariachi). Seems you would need a solid surface though (hallways, wood floors?). Anyway, an alternative witha semi-hand-held approach.

I've finally had the time to work on my dolly....actually it took less than an hour to attach all of the wheels and sand the boards down all nice. I shot a few photos of it below.

http://www.pcenginefx.com/temp/DCP04234.JPG
http://www.pcenginefx.com/temp/DCP04233.JPG
http://www.pcenginefx.com/temp/DCP04232.JPG
http://www.pcenginefx.com/temp/DCP04235.JPG
http://www.pcenginefx.com/temp/DCP04236.JPG

I don't have any video footage yet to show off, but I can tell you that it is SILKY smooth rolling on the pipe...and the setup can easily hold a person up to 200lbs+camera & tripod (using pvc pipe that is non-reinforced.)

Nice effort on the home-made dolly.

Where are you going to get a wheelchair from? How much do you think it will cost you to buy one?

- don

<<<-- Where are you going to get a wheelchair from? How much do you think it will cost you to buy one?

- don -->>>


I'm sure with some dilligence one could find a boat load of deals. I'm talking an old-school manual style chair here.

--- Looked on e-bay (curious) and they go from $25.00 for an older basic manual chair. ---

I prefer a letig dolly, but having a wheelchair on hand seems like a good idea for that "guerilla indi style" and the more I think about it, I'll probally keep an eye out for a cheap one for future reference.

Nicely done Aaron

Well, I finally got to use my homemade dolly this weekend for our LadyX episode and I'm pretty damned impressed. We used it for two shots, one inside at a party scene and another outside next to a card. The outside one was in muddy ground but it still worked ok. I will need to examine the rushes a lot more carefully to make sure it's perfectly smooth but for look seems good.

I made my dolly from the shadowgirl design, the same as Aaron N did.

I can't post some footage of it's usage just yet as it will give away some of our episode but I'd recommend it or anyone who needs a cheap, workable dolly for a lowbudget production.

Aaron

The tripod sits on .. what exactly
 

I have a question on these home built dollies.

How do you fasten the tripod so that it doesn't move on top of the plywood?

Good question. I have seen and used a similar design in the past and there was nowhere to 'fasten' the sticks. It was just a flat surface.

I used a ground level spreader and just drilled holes through the bottom of the feet. I currently only use it as a traditional three wheeled dolly but it's very easily adaptable to a tracked dolly. I designed it so that one day I could change to the roller skate type of dual wheels everyone is using.

I made the whole base unit including wheels for about $50 in parts from Home Depot. I don't know where to post pictures here so I'll email them to you.

Keith. What I did with mine was to place a frame around the plywood base. It was about 2-3cm wide and about 4cm high. This does raise the issue of comfort, but you can then spread out your tripod till it hits the sides of the frame and it "locks" in place.

People were pretty impressed with how well it worked. Even guys who work in the industry. Sure it's nothing like a real one with all the bits, but it can't be beat on price/performance.

Cheers
Aaron

The tripod & camera have more than enough weight to remain steady on the dolly...if not, a few sandbags will do the trick.

You can also put a border of small wood strips around the top of the board along the outside to keep anything from slipping off if you don't want the extra weight of sandbags...just a few things to try.