4 easy cheap ways to stabilize your video camera shots: Part 3

On part three we will cover a easy to make shoulder rig from my favorite building material PVC plumbing parts.

The parts list:

• 2 1 inch PVC ‘T’s (if you can get 1 inch to 3/4 inch ‘T’s get those and skip the reducer below)
• 2 1 inch to 3/4 inch PVC reducers
• 1 foot of 1 inch PVC pipe
• 3 feet of 3/4 inch PVC pipe
• 2 90 degree elbows
• 1 45 degree elbow
• 1 90 degree bend (this you can get from the electrical section) that will be the over the shoulder piece
• 1 chunk of 3/4 pipe insulation
• 1 3/4 end cap
• 1 1/4-20 by 3/4 inch long bolt
• Optional ShapeLock plastic (see link below)
• PVC Cement
  

First you will need to download the immensely useful TinkerTubes System Components PDF and pay attention to Page6 on the ‘SnapOn T and reducer bushing as this is one of the critical components as seen below in the screen captures (Which by the way if you are a DIY guru you should be able to make from the pics.) You will need a 1 inch ‘T’ some scraps of 1 inch PVC pipe and a 1 inch to 3/4 inch reducer…

Make two of these. From there cut a couple of handles about 8″ long from the 3/4 PVC pipe. Next a 16″ long piece and a 12″ piece. Assemble as seen below.

The camera attachment is easy you drill a 1/4 inch hole in the end cap and put the 1/4 bolt through it. Then what I did was fill it with some ShapeLock plastic (this stuff ROCKS by the way) to lock the bolt in. You could use an epoxy or CA glue to lock the bolt in too but the shapelock sticks to the PVC better in my opinion. Then I just spin on the cap to the mount on the bottom of the camera and push it into the snap ‘T’.

Now you need to glue all of this together with the exception of the snap ‘T’s but wait until you get all the handles in the right spot and mark the location before you do. This then will disassemble into an easy to pack rig that lies flat in you bag.

Stay tuned though I am just finishing off a super cool idea on how to make all the components snap in without needing glue so you can really compact the rig. I hope to have all of that finished here in the next week.

For those out there that would like to see a 3D model for this and be able to tweek on the computer go and get Sketchup CAD (it’s free!) and download this model for the rig.

Enjoy!

“4 easy cheap ways to stabilize your video camera shots: Part 1″

“4 easy cheap ways to stabilize your video camera shots: Part 2″

“4 easy cheap ways to stabilize your video camera shots: Part 3″

“4 easy cheap ways to stabilize your video camera shots Part3.5″