Dollies....
 

I'm trying hard to achieve not just the film-look, but a general degree of professionalism as well. Would anyone be so kind to post a link, or write a step-by-step guide to building a decent dolly. I've seen pictures of homemade ones before, especially on homebuiltstabilizers.com, but no guides (Including parts listing, estimated cost etc.)

Anything like this would help!

Thanks in advance, Corey

Willy's widgets offers the most important part of the dolly, the wheel and track system. You can start as low as $200, supplying the plywood yourself and running on PVC pipe.

www.willyswidgets.com/pr_wheels.html

You might also want to consider renting. I don't know about Durham, but here in Phoenix I can get a Matthews Doorway Dolly that will run on rubber wheels on smooth ground, a few sections of steel track, track wheels and all the accessories for about $180/weekend. That's a lot of real pro level equipment for the money!

See if you have any grip houses or video rental outfits near you. Many of them will cut you a deal if the equipment's not going out on your shoot dates. You could also build your own dolly that's compatible with steel track, and just rent the track.

I found 2 links in your area:
www.mandy.com/home.cfm?c=onl014

www.telefilm-south.com/NC/OLNC/6085ALL.shtml

Hey, thanks DUDE..I'm looking for something I can build with 150 dollars or less, and a track system would make things too complicated....This is something like I aspire to make:

http://www.homebuiltstabilizers.com/offdl.html

That's an awesome dolly! I wonder if the center column rotates? That would be the ultimate. Not much different in theory than these (but a lot cheaper):

www.matthewsgrip.com/asp/details.asp?item=395043
www.porta-jib.com/spider_dolly.htm

Why don't you ask the webmaster at homebuiltstabilizers to contact the builder on your behalf? Maybe he drew up a set of plans he would be willing to share.

As for under $150, I wonder if you could even buy the raw materials for that? Do you have access to a machine shop and welding equipment?

The only suggestions I might make are to use tires with less tread, so as to be able to get truly smooth movement, and to cover the entire top with inddor/outdoor carpeting, as this helps traction.

You could build something like that with a lot of already pre-fabricated parts. Check http://www.mcmaster.com and home depot for parts.

check out the garden truck at your local costco, its 90% there for $90

I'm building one with parts strictly from Home Depot. I'll hip you to the plans and step by step process soon.

Any progress?

Dolly parts @ Home Depot? Me too...
 

OH hey, I also just started building my own dolly as well (using the shadowgirlproject.com specs) I figured out how to do the wheels (mostly guess work) and now it's all waiting for me to put it together. I plan to take lots of photos and document the process very soon (maybe even tonight)...if I get anything done on it, I will throw a web page up...to be continued.

Quick parts list available now....
 

Well I whipped up a quick page listing the parts for the dolly I'm making. Check it out if you want at:

http://www.pcenginefx.com/dolly

Super Track Dolly by Doug Underdahl
 

Corey,

Save yourself some time and check the Super Track Dolly from Doug Underdahl at Long Valley Equipment.
http://www.longvalleyequip.com/dolly.htm

Very nicely thought out design, one of the few in this very low price range that actually allows for the cameraman -and- a focus puller to actually live on top of the dolly.

Tell Doug that Don from noisybrain. sent you ;-) Doug is a very helpful filmmaker with a heck of a lot of experience. Doug is in Long Valley, NJ.

Let us know how you make out,

- don

Cool but...
 

That's a cool dolly setup...but making a dolly is really the way to go (it is SO easy.) Plus it will save yourself lots of $$$. In the end, my dolly will have cost less than $150...GRANTED, mine won't work on curved track and only has 4 sets of wheels but still...

Wow, that's surprisingly cheap, considering some of the other options I've checkes out, but I'd have to agree that building my own is the way to go.

Thanks.

....Anything new?