How to Build a Dolly Track for $50 (Cinematography Hacks) | Filmmaking Tips 

Or just buy a roughneck dolly for approx $20. Normally they have pivoting wheels too so even better than roller skate wheels and no effort to build.

@Lela Gray Or just buy cart wheels at Walmart

@@whengrapespop5728 I wish I could do a cart wheel.

@@ElementsMMA pivoting wheels suck because they will pivot when you don’t want them to, causing jerks in the footage.

And if that doesn’t work, 5 below has skateboards for $5 each. Just buy 2.

Greg Wallis The weight of the camera, tripod, and dolly pretty much forces the pipes to stay equidistant without need for struts.

Yeah that’s true you can keep yours like that but I like the idea of that extra security measure. In the end i know Il be happy with my shot sequence.

with the angled wheels the track will be forced into that distance, I'm sure you could even use a a length of tubing to create round or curved track if you wanted.

Will you share a video of how it is done? Thanks

@@VOZM damn, what a way to take me back 5 years haha Sadly no, did not get any footage and it didn’t last very long. I needed a weird specific slider so I took it apart and made the slider with it. It was a lot better than my dolly ! Maybe one day I could make a slider tutorial ? Idk. As for the dolly I don’t remember what I did different from the tutorial. Maybe I used thicker and softer wheels from a longboard (don’t do that, get very hard wheels, the softer ones tend to skid over the pipe), but I’m sure you can achieve great results just watching this. Careful when choosing your pipes, pvc isn’t always straight and it can suck.

Author please ?

@@warsameadam5572 I'll do you one better. Here's a link to the book. www.thriftbooks.com/w/persistence-of-vision-an-impractical-guide-to-producing-a-feature-film-for-under-30000_john-gaspard_dale-newton/762927/item/451231/?mkwid=qmNYahkX%7cdc&pcrid=11558858230&pkw=&pmt=be&slid=&product=451231&plc=&pgrid=3970769304&ptaid=pla-1101002864651&Bing+Shopping+%7c+Arts+&+Photography&NYahkX%7cdc%7cpcrid%7c11558858230%7cpkw%7c%7cpmt%7cbe%7cproduct%7c451231%7cslid%7c%7cpgrid%7c3970769304%7cptaid%7cpla-1101002864651%7c&msclkid=dfde5c3471371f216e663c9fc18b9abb#idiq=451231&edition=4158891

@@firebird7479 worth the read still?

@@rickhickman2730 Yes. This is pre-video (Film look was the technology of the day that turned made things shot in video look like 35mm) and pre-digital. The authors used 16mm film. But there are tricks and techniques in there for low budget filmmaking that is still useful.

show it!

This guy ripped it off from pOnysmasher.

@@anirudhgoud5035 shut up

Thanks David! We did end up trimming the bolts, but it's not in the video. For anybody else reading this, you can use a hacksaw or a Dremel to shorten the bolts.

I would guess that the angled wheels and downward force of the weight of the rig stabilize the pipes naturally. You could, however, build a support platform for the pipes but that is probably unnecessary.

Fill the pipes with cement

I've heard copper pipe instead of pvc works

Sand bagging each end works

"EMT" galvanized steel electrical conduit would be more rigid than PVC. You could make a wood "trestle" that could be leveled and shimmed underneath, and that would hold the pipe tracks. You could drill a small hole in the pipe at the trestle locations and screw through into the wood. (larger hole on top of pipe to get screw through, smaller hole on bottom/contact side). Then the outriggers on the trestle could be weighted down with sandbags or CMU concrete blocks.

You would probably need the wheel assembly that connects to the wood to swivel to account for the curves. That's not a hard addition to the project. Should work in theory.

Try adding more weight to your dolly. This could help prevent the vibrations.

Put baby powder on the pipes. I was on a set that used something similar to this and the powder did the trick!

Look up PEX piping

Chad R. Hembree I would say you need a set or to of notched blocks to level each end of the pipe with. Should be a simple fix although perfect results are impossible.

Chad R. Hembree try using some sandbags under the pvc pipe.

How much weight are you trying to hold? You may need to change your base material to hold the proper weight per square inch and keep the weight of the overall construction light.

I would guess u woukd have to use a board twice the size and thicker wood and stronger pipes so it can support the Weight of a person plus a chair and camera