Tag Archives: diy video dolly

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Portable camera sliders are great, but they can't replace very long tracked dolly movements. Here's a recent DIY Seated Video Track Dolly project from Vimeo member TLA Productions. If you're planning on tackling one of these projects, here's a video with some tips to make your platform more stable, and some considerations about working on uneven surfaces.

I've actually built one of these before, and the most critical part is assembling a good wheel set. The wheels really have to be drilled perfectly to sit on the track exactly the same. Not an easy thing to do when you have a 16 wheels. If you drill just a few millimeters off, you'll notice it once you're going down the track.

For DIY projects, you'll most likely be using off the shelf pipes instead of professionally laid out tracks. For this, the swiveling design wheel set is the best because it can move and correct for misaligned tracks or imperfect alignment of your wheel mounts. A good set of swivel assemblies can also be used on curved tracks. Keep in mind you'll have to dish out more for a decent set of wheels and high quality bearings. There's a few good looking assemblies on eBay (Click Here).

Swivel Dolly Track Wheel Caster Set AssembliesDIY Wheel Dolly Track Swivel Set
find-price-button DIY Track Dolly Swivel Wheel Assemblies

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CamonWheels DIY V Groove Dolly wheels

CamonWheels is offering up some new V-Groove roller wheels for under $8 bucks shipped. Images show the grooved wheels fitting on 15mm rods, 1/4" rod, and 1" PVC. The overall OD of the wheel (outside diameter) is at 1". If you were to build a track dolly of sorts, the V-Groove or U-groove type wheels will help keep them on track.

V-Groove WheelsV-Groove Wheels CamonWheels
find-price-button CamonWheels Video Dolly DIY Wheel Set

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Running a bit late on the shoot today, but we wanted to have a rail longer than a 4ft. slider. Ran over to Home Depot and quickly assembled a raised dolly track fit for the SpiderTrax Video Dolly. Everything comes right off the shelf, clamps together securely, pretty portable (except for the long rails). The stock wheels fit perfectly inside the Strut channel (same one used in the Cheesycam DSLR Fig Rig Cage). I'm a bit late, but these longer dolly shots should add more worth to this project. Ok, i'm out, but will have some fun BTS video of this shoot soon.

Below: Click for SpiderTrax Rotating Video Dolly Pricing
spidertrax-for-sale