Thread: Looking for help making a gymbal mount

There are some cheap steadycam knock-offs made in India available through ebay - that might be a simple solution.

U-Flycam Stabilizer Steadycam fr GR-D870 NVGS15GC ZR800 - eBay Other Camera Stands, Camera Stands, Photographic Accessories, Cameras. (end time 25-Jan-10 22:57:45 AEDST)

Hi Master.

Cheers dude, I checked that out.

I am trying to build something a bit more solid, similar to this

Flycam 3000 Caméscope Stabilizer Body Pod for 5dmarkII - eBay, Altro, Accessori per tradizionali, Fotografia e Video. (end time 26-Jan-10 23:05:12 AEDST)

due to the weight of the older style camera I have.

I have DIY plans and fundamentally, it comes down to good maths (knowing what to weight where) and a central stick through a ball bearing and the ball bearing welded to a gymbal arm, which then attaches to a vest (i got an el cheapo one)

There is a strong DIY community for building these (with plans!), unfortunately they're all o/s.

I can make the gymbal using a screw mount or using PVC, but it occurred to me if I could find a local sydney machinist or welder who wanted to charge me for a couple of hours help, I might be able to get a reasonably sturdy and free moving gymbal arm together.

In many of the designs, the gymbal connects to a sleeve with a clamp to attach it to the pole on which the camera sits.

I am not trying to get a Hollywood result with a Bollywood (Villawood?) budget (lying, yes I am, lol) but out of all my options this seemed a logical proposition.

Not ruling out the 'buy an el cheapo' but it's a stick on a gymbal. That just makes me feel silly not giving it a try )

Rgds

MJEB

I have no real idea of what you need but if you can supply a drawing or sketch I maybe able to put something together if your interested.

I have DIy plans!. I'm based in Five Dock in Sydney. if you can PM me, I'll email ya what I got.

Cheers

MJEB

Are you trying to make a boom/ vehicle mount unit or a walk around and how big a machine are you trying to mount.

the pivots and such should be the easy bit.....the gyro's & motors will take a bit of doing.

Do you also have a LARGE camera operator to carry it.

In the early days of steady cam in the US they used to employ large football players as steady cam operators...even they often ran into trouble.
many a large man laid flat on his back by the gyro's.

before you start remember these things are heavy and hard to handle especilay if you are mounting older, heavier cameras.

are you sure you wouldn't rather build a boom or a dolly and some track.

cheers

Hey SM.

First, some housekeeping - I was taking a punt in asking for help here and I am amazed and humbled by the interest and responses. Thanks guys for letting me post and hats off to a community of people actually doing stuff.

Sorry SM, just felt the need to express the love )

Tracks and dolly were my first thought but the more we looked at it, we would have needed 400 metres of track (3 minutes at avg walking speed) + level surface.

Jibs are too wobbly and handheld also wobbly, wont get that dreamlike quality.

A poor man's steadicam was about all I could afford and I figured it was worth a shot (hence being here )

The Beechworth Ned Kelly Reenactment group liked our song about Ned and have offered to be in it, which makes it possible, but we have to travel and stay etc so even at mates rates, a true steadicam Op was out of reach, and adding distance to gear rental is too much.

I picked up a 2nd hand vest and arm from ebay and am prepared to get an el cheapo stabilizer, but the more I looked into it, the more nuts I felt it was to buy something low end (suitable only for teeny cams) when it was possible (note the honesty there) to get a working solution cos the mechanics are not that hard.

I'm not a small guy and the weighting of the rig is OK (I carry an guitar amp in each hand when we load in). If I get the thing working, I can test it and learn to use it before March when we try shooting the clip. That's the plan (Hurrah!).

It may all come unstuck, but I am getting some great tips and feedback from the site so if its a daft idea, I'll soon know.

Having stuff go wrong is Situation Normal. Trying it out, even when it's nuts, is even more appealing!

mjeb.

You could always go for one of the quick and dirty methods.

First more or less fix the camera on the head of the staff......don't even think about tilting or panning the camera head in action or during shot.........2 pieces on "U" channel and some bolts will give you a fixed adjustable tilt head.....you pan by walking around the staff.

from there it gets easy

dirty method 2...... just use fixed masses instead of gyros... feeling strong.....there are some domestic quasi steady devices that are simply weighted staves with a grip...and they work sort of.....and that wont sit you on you bum if you try to stop or change direction too fast

still with a fixed staff... a horisontal and 2 vertical gyro's made of gym weights should not be too difficult.........think bicycle hubs or similar... drive on end...weight disk on the other.

with a bit of devious thinking you could do it all with little more than a welder and a drill press.

cheers

Just had a thaught about the gyro's...gym weights probaly arent areal great option.

best option....if you can lay your hands on them would be old capstan wheels from large format tape machines like BVU or 1" video tape or large format multitrack audio.....they will be well ballanced smooth running and you could salvage the flywheel, shaft, bearing system, drive system and motor.

just a thaught.

cheers

Cheers SM.

We're having a look at the plans from the DIY site now. I think my terminology may be throwing you off (no surprise, I don't know doodly about metal work).

The 'gimbal' is basically a pivot point that allows the central pole to move back/forward - kind of like holding a staff in between thumb and forefinger.

The 'Gimbal' holds a central bearing on the horizontal (flat). A pole runs through the ID of the bearing and attaches to a plate at the top with a Camera at the top and a plate with a weight at the bottom. (the vessel with the pestle? lol)

By setting the bottom plate (weight holder) in the opposite axis to the camera plate, it reduces Yaw.

You can make one of these out of wood and bits of PVC (called the poor mans steadicam) but its not quite as stable as a metal version.

Here's a link to a gimbal design (complete apols if Gymbal means Motorised Gyro in the Real World)

The Ultimate in Homebuilt Stabilizers!

We'll give it a go and if it explodes, we'll post the wreckage pics here )

Rgds

MJEB

Howdy folks! What a day. What a dude. Seriously.

I'm going to post some pics etc of the first version Pipeclay built. Stay tuned.

I am flabbergasted by the willingness of people to help out just because they can. It has renewed my faith in the ingenuity of my fellow Australians. Ok, at least one of them anyway!

We used the DIY plans (see prev post for links) which Pipeclay then modified to suit his tools (machining the parts instead of welding) but it looks the business and we're going to be testing it shortly.

A huge thanks to Pipeclay and to the forum. As soon as I get the images and article online I'll put another link up.

MJEB

Pete builds us a D.I.Y Steadicam style camera stabiliser, introducing the SHAWCAM!

Pics and article about the final result!

How's that for not mucking about eh? LOL!

Cheers to all.

MJEB