Motorizing a dolly, with Pan option

After viewing Tom Lowe’s site http://timescapes.org and his amazing work http://vimeo.com/timescapes.  I was inspired to do more then the normal time-lapse on a tripod.  So I went onto the TimeScapes forums an asked a few questions.  Within a week I had a plan for my large motorized dolly system.   This system is designed for cameras from 15-50 lbs.  And it is not just for motorized moves this dolly is great for well, dolly moves.  My next build will be my small travel system for my 5D.  I have a few ideas and will have to do this quickly, since I travel with it the first week in Jan.  My plan is to build this one on my own and not purchase a base system.

When I first viewed Tom’s footage, I discussed this with my buddy Doug Jensen on a mountain bike ride.  Doug was the one who sent me the Dana Dolly link. http://www.danadolly.com/ Dana Dolly is my base dolly for this system.

Now Dana Dolly is only one of many great dolly manufactures.  I recommend a dolly NOT a slider, all the sliders I have used are just not smooth enough IMHO.  Both Doug and I picked Dana Dolly, since we were both shooting at the time with Sony XDCAM F800’s cameras and needed the beef.

Once the dolly arrived I used it on a few shoots as a dolly.   What an amazingly smooth system for a fantastic price.  Yes you have to buy the tubing but there are loads of options.  I went for the heavy aluminum tube.  The dolly is easy to setup and take down.  It is not the easiest to ship, but that is to be expected with a big unit like this one.  I also went with their recommended stands.  They were expensive but if you are on a set with 16-20’ length system they are great.  You could go lighter but I would keep the run shorter with lighter stands.

Interesting while writing this and checking on the Dana Dolly site I see they also offer a motion kit with some of the same parts.  I had talked with them in May about my system, great to see they jumped on it and offer the option to their customers.  http://www.danadolly.com/Timelapse.html

The next thing I did was I ordered all of my parts for motorizing the dolly from Servo City.  They were great to deal with, and happy to help make sure I was getting all the parts I needed to build and go.  www.servocity.com

List of parts

Part #                        Qty            Description

GPG845-BM               1            Bottom Mount Gearbox Kit

SG806A                      1            6” Round Arm

902MSD                     1            Dual Manual Servo Controller

ESC-7.2-24                 1            7.2V-24V Precision Digital Speed Control

RZ12-900-4RPM       1            4RPM Gear motor (3-12DC )

275-709                      1            Heavy Duty Momentary Switch 20A

Other parts needed to build the drive system:

1.  75AH AGM battery, which is also a spare in my van when I travel.  Not the lightest but will go on for weeks without a charge, I am sure you can use a smaller battery.

2.  Wire from my shop, make sure you wire that matches the amps you run through the system.

3.  A piece of plywood for the mount platform

4.  Bolts to secure everything together.

5.  Spool to have the line run around.

6.  Thin line with multi purchase blocks.

7.  Quick release hooks or line to tie the blocks to the dolly and end fittings.

Where my system stands now:

1.  I need to improve the arm on the cart and make it out of Alum

2.  Paint and seal the plywood platform

3.  Cut down and finish off the spool

4.  Set up one of my Storm cases to fit the whole deal in

Panning on the same motor:

Now this is not just a motorized dolly it is also a motorized dolly that will pan the tripod head on the cart.  This is done with the same motor by just adding a second purchase to the cart tied on the tripod handle.

You need more parts to have the pan option.  I use Harken Blocks, go to a marine store or as most of you will do, go to the hardware store and find blocks.  Harken has a micro ball bearing blocks that are 16mm in dia. and run super smooth.  They are expensive since they are built for the tough marine environment.  Luckily we have a big stock of them in our shop.

Then you will need line.  I use New England ropes 1.5mm spectra line.  Again here you can buy different line this is just what I had in my shop.  Make sure the line is smooth and it does not twist easy.

Click link to see short video on the dolly.