Thing-a-Month 1: SteadiCam
SteadiCams are useful things, especially for someone with shaky hands, like myself. SteadiCams allow you to walk or run without the camera jerking around when your feet hit the ground. Great thing to have, but a professional SteadiCam will cost you a LOT of money.
I recently stumbled upon a video tutorial from Makezine that gave instructions to build a SteadiCam for $14. I ended up spending a bit more than that, but the result is the same and I didn’t have to shell out $100 to $200 for it so I could hardly complain.
Here was my process:
Step 1: Parts:
These are the parts I used:
- 3,1/2″ x 12″ Steel, threaded pipes
- 3 Steel endcaps
- 1 T-Joint
- 3 Lock washers
- 2 1 1/2″ Bolts
- 2 Nuts
- 1 Wingnut
- 3 Flange Washers
- 1 5 lb weight
I purchased everything except the weight at Ace Hardware for about $30. The weight I found at Target for $8. Not a bad price tag if you ask me.
Step 2: Handle
Screwing one of the steel pipes into the center section of the t-joint makes the handle, easily the simplest part of the construction. The rest… not so simple.
Step 3: The Camera Mount
Now things start getting complicated, first I had to drill a hole through the remaining end caps. I started with just a drill and metal drilling bit and made little progress. After I remembered my mother had a drill press, things went much faster.
The other part about this section is that one of the flange washers needed to be domed out. There are a couple of ways to do this. The tutorial I found told me to line up the flange washer with the hole on the 5 lb weight. I also found another tutorial that had the weight and the bolt put into a vice and you will achieve the same results. I went with the hammer method but I would have preferred the vice method. However, it is important to note that doing either will bend the thread from whatever bolt you decide to use, I had to go to the store and get two more bolts because I ruined both of them.
The order of this construction is:
- Bolt
- Lock Washer
- End Cap
- Lock Washer
- Nut
- Wingnut
- Domed Flange Washer
Step 4: The Mounted Weight
The order of this part of the construction is as follows:
- Bolt
- Flange Washer
- Weight
- Flange Washer
- End Cap
- Lock Washer
- Nut
This one was kind of difficult to do because the nut inside of the end cap kept spinning. I solved this problem by putting in a pair of scissors to hold it in place while I screwed in the other end.
Step 5: The Finished Product
After you have assembled the two ends, screw the pipes into their respective end caps and screw those both to the remaining ends of the t-joint. You have just made a cheap SteadiCam. Congratulate yourself.
2 comments
Very impressive, Dylan. You are amazing.
That is really impressive! Talented man you are!