Do-It-Yourself tracks for Davis & Sanford dolly

How to shoot best high-definition video in various specific situations, regardless of camcorder model. Accessories: tripods, stabilizers, lights...
Post Reply
User avatar
Doughie
Global Moderator
Posts: 452
Joined: 22 May 2010 16:57
Location: Mexico

Do-It-Yourself tracks for Davis & Sanford dolly

Post by Doughie »

acgold7 wrote: Not shown were the two Davis & Sanford rigs with fluid heads and dollies! They're not built like tanks but are a pretty good value at about $200.
My mate with the FX1000 has exactly that Davis & Sanford tripod. AND the dolly. We built a 6meter track for it too, out of PVC tubing and alloy 'railway sleepers'.
Last edited by Stephan on 15 Feb 2011 08:55, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: split posts from HXR-MC2000 thread
steve
Posts: 74
Joined: 28 May 2010 10:04
Location: UK

Re: Do-It-Yourself tracks for Davis & Sanford dolly

Post by steve »

Doughie wrote:
acgold7 wrote: Not shown were the two Davis & Sanford rigs with fluid heads and dollies! They're not built like tanks but are a pretty good value at about $200.
My mate with the FX1000 has exactly that Davis & Sanford tripod. AND the dolly. We built a 6meter track for it too, out of PVC tubing and alloy 'railway sleepers'.
For those from outside the nation that brought railways (railroads) to the world, he means 'railroad ties'. Sleepers are something different in toontown and thrillers.

Sorry Doughie. <grin>

Steve
User avatar
Doughie
Global Moderator
Posts: 452
Joined: 22 May 2010 16:57
Location: Mexico

Re: Do-It-Yourself tracks for Davis & Sanford dolly

Post by Doughie »

No worries!
- i just never heard of them being called railway ties before... OK sleepers / ties ....all good! those transatlantic differences always good to add a bit of confuision..
acgold7
Global Moderator
Posts: 400
Joined: 14 May 2010 23:03
Location: Woodinville, WA, USA
Contact:

Re: Do-It-Yourself tracks for Davis & Sanford dolly

Post by acgold7 »

Sweet! Did you have to modify the wheels? How did they conform to the track?
Adam
User avatar
Doughie
Global Moderator
Posts: 452
Joined: 22 May 2010 16:57
Location: Mexico

Re: Do-It-Yourself tracks for Davis & Sanford dolly

Post by Doughie »

acgold7 wrote:Sweet! Did you have to modify the wheels? How did they conform to the track?
Pretty easily. see pic 1 below - these are not out wheels, but close representation of how they conform to the track.

We got a Davis&Sanford tripod dolly W3 (see last pic below) and took off the single-wheels, and bought some 4-wheel dolly wheels (see 2nd pic below), drilled out (bit bigger) the original holes in tripod-dolly where the original single-wheels bolted in, and then attached the 4-wheel buggy things. They spin freely, so orient themselves great when running on the track, see the 1st pic below.
Track was strong PVC tubing, around 2inches diameter. Cut into 1meter lengths, with smaller PVC tubes glued inside one end, to 'sleeve' with the other tube. 6meters of track and dolly, super-smooth motion. Straight or curved track - the PVC tubes flex quite a bit if you need them to. The metal 'ties / sleepers' were just alloy cut to length, and screwed into the track with adjustable screw things.

It basically is similar to this one (see link on left) -

except ours is twice as long, cost around US$250 in total -- Libec's cost US$2100 is half the length and really isn't as good ! Plus ours is more stable as we have multiple sleepers/ties, and at each sleeper/tie where it rests on the ground, the screw is a long-thread and is an adjustable screw, so that on uneven ground we can stop the track flexing and undulating which can be a problem with dolly tracks. almost all the cost of the track-and-dolly was the US$180 for the set of dolly-wheels, but it really is smooth motion and the track can even be curved quite a bit for semi-circular track. The PVC is long enough and flexible enough to do that, no problem.

am sure i'm off-topic with all this stuff..... ;-) but yeah thats it really. Making mechanical stuff like this isnt that hard and with a little bit of thought and ingenuity and a coupla trips to hardware stores and some basic tools, you can save yourselves US$2000 like we did by making this track and dolly rather than buying it ready-made.
Attachments
4wheels.jpg
4wheels.jpg (13.32 KiB) Viewed 19100 times
dolly wheels, about US$180
dolly wheels, about US$180
wheels.jpg (87.42 KiB) Viewed 19100 times
Davis&amp;Sanford tripod dolly
Davis&Sanford tripod dolly
D&S-dolly.jpg (9.62 KiB) Viewed 19100 times
acgold7
Global Moderator
Posts: 400
Joined: 14 May 2010 23:03
Location: Woodinville, WA, USA
Contact:

Re: Do-It-Yourself tracks for Davis & Sanford dolly

Post by acgold7 »

Very, very nice.
Adam
User avatar
Stephan
Site Admin
Posts: 592
Joined: 20 Mar 2010 18:51
Location: Paris, France

Re: Do-It-Yourself tracks for Davis & Sanford dolly

Post by Stephan »

As discussed separately, I've split this thread from the Sony HXR-MC2000U review topic.
rlippert22
Posts: 1
Joined: 14 Mar 2011 16:22
Location: Florida

Re: Do-It-Yourself tracks for Davis & Sanford dolly

Post by rlippert22 »

Where do you buy the wheels from? I have that exact tripod/dolly from davis and sanford. I am looking to do the same thing. Having trouble finding the wheels though.
User avatar
Doughie
Global Moderator
Posts: 452
Joined: 22 May 2010 16:57
Location: Mexico

Re: Do-It-Yourself tracks for Davis & Sanford dolly

Post by Doughie »

rlippert22 wrote:Where do you buy the wheels from? I have that exact tripod/dolly from davis and sanford. I am looking to do the same thing. Having trouble finding the wheels though.
The wheels are Ikan dolly wheels, bought from B&H for US$185:

These are the only pricey part of the track-and-dolly. The wheels probably cost around 70% of the parts used for the track-and-dolly. (ignoring the tripod).
skmedia
Posts: 1
Joined: 20 Jul 2011 19:01
Location: New York

Re: Do-It-Yourself tracks for Davis & Sanford dolly

Post by skmedia »

Hi guys I am very interested in building this track. Where Can I buy these railway sleepers here state side?
Home depot...???

Eric
Film/Video maker
http://www.skmediagroup.com
Post Reply