How to Build a Camera Dolly Yourself
Using a camera dolly is a great way to create fluid motion and increase production value for a film. However, renting a dolly from a professional film equipment house can be too expensive for independent film makers. Using some simple household materials, low budget film makers can create their own DIY dolly. A DIY dolly is endlessly customizable and can be changed easily to fit your needs.
Other People Are Reading
Things You'll Need
- Tripod
- PVC pipe
- 4x6 foot plywood sheet
- Scrap wood (if necessary)
- 4 L-brackets
- Skateboard wheels
- Nuts and bolts
- Screws
- Drill
- Saw
Instructions
-
-
1
Affix the L-brackets to the bottom of the plywood board using the drill and screws. Use scrap wood if the screws are long enough to go through the plywood. The L-brackets will be used to affix the skate wheels to the platform. Make sure that they are equally spaced and that the platform will be balanced when supported at the wheels.
-
2
Affix the skate wheels to the L-brackets using the nuts and bolts. The wheels will make a V shape on the L-brackets; you will use at least 8 skate wheels, two on the inside, and two on the outside where the track will go.
-
-
3
Cut the PVC pipe to a length of six to eight feet as a good starting point. To create the track, you will want two pieces of PVC pipe which are the same length for the skate wheels to sit on each side. You can always get more PVC pipes to make different lengths, but it's very hard to connect two sets of pipe together because the track will not be smooth at the point of connection.
-
4
Give the rig a test run. You may have to adjust the size of the PVC pipe, the placement of the skate wheels and/or the spacing of the L-brackets. Make sure that the platform will travel smoothly across the track.
-
5
Place the tripod on top of the platform and do another test run. You may need to use some scrap wood to rebalance the platform when the tripod is on top, or readjust the placement of the wheels or L-brackets a little more.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Dollies come in all shapes and sizes, so keep testing and refining after you have built this basic skeleton.
Test the dolly on a flat surface. A bumpy or uneven surface will not be good for your dolly.
References
- Photo Credit Hemera Technologies/PhotoObjects.net/Getty Images
