Howdy Folks
A while back, I started building a home made Steadicam in order to film a clip for Last Drinks At Glenrowan (jeez...two albums ago). We'd gotten up to the Balancing stage when our Ned Kelly actor shaved his beard off and the clip idea went out of the window.
With the new album on the way, I thought it was high time we finished this unit so we can try using it in some of the new clips.
If you're reading this for DIY purposes, see the following articles for the initial build stages:
As you can see, we're particularly scientific about our use of legumes.
When we left off, I hadn't figured out how to attach the weight to the sled so we could being the balancing process.
At the suggestion of our very handy friend Vicky, we're going to try using magnets as the weighting component.
Of course, the bottom of the sled is aluminium (aluminum for our Norte Americano readers) so that would mean attaching a metal plate.
Also there's the worry of the Steadicam getting stuck to the fridge, or nearby lamp poles when filming with it, but heck, we'll cross that one when we stick to it.
So, step one, find some weighty magnets.
I found a local Sydney supplied that was close to me www.neosid.com.au and went to their warehouse to see what we could come up with.
I opted for the Ferrite magnet rings so that I could incrementally adjust the weights. Each ring is 225 grams.
So here's the sled we built from plans we found on the web (a knock off of Cody Deegans plans) You can see the gimbal, centre pole, sled and the tiny camera I have been using to test the rig with.
The guys at Neosid were very helpful and hardly raised an eyebrow when I showed them what I was trying to do. However, they did teach me to be very careful when adding or removing the magnets as they slam together pretty darn fast and can give you quite a nasty pinch if you don't keep your fingertips well out of the way.
With $60 worth of magnets carefully secured in a box, I headed to the hardware store to source a few other components.
Now if you have a look at the bottom of the sled here, you can see where the design allows for a weight to be mechanically fastened to the slider plate , to allow you to adjust the weights position.
Rather than gluing a pieces of magnetic metal to the sled, I struck upon the idea of using a steel fence bracket ($3.00) and drilling a hole through it, then fastening the plate to the sled.
As you can see, the ferrite magnet ring fits perfectly inside the metal plate, by drilling a hole through it, I have been able to attach it to the sled with ease. I then stack the magnets up to the appropriate height/weight and slide then back and forth until the correct balance position is reached. or so the theory goes.
To ensure balance, I picked up some attachable spirit levels.
Not quite sure where to attach these to yet...hmmm...Double sided tape?
I've been testing the weighted camera sled out now and have done some test filming with it (chasing the dog around the back yard). It works, Panning is ok (turning the camera) but if I move off a central line, the thing swings wildly. This is going to take a bit more reading, maths, calculations, trial and error and practise as I am no where near Dynamic Balance yet.
I'll post the results as I go.