My Rig Building Attempt

[trung dau]

thanks for ur purchasing Mike!

I mind measure the length of the bones, the pivot holes on the bones, if they r all the same  on each bones then the problem is cause the pivot hole on the wrist. if the problem is caused by the bones then it's a good news for u cause the bones are easy to do, the wrist is another story. U should deal with the machinist about the tolerance. It would cost u a bit more, but it's safe.

The bracket which connect the wrist and the male socket is so nice. If u don't mind can u know the assembly of the male socket and that bracket. Do u use bearing for the shaft which through 2 rodends?

[Mike Mann]

You're welcome Trung.  The problem is definitely with the bones.  The wrists were made by a well experienced machinist that I used to work with.  I moved the socket block back closer to the rear, but I'm still having trouble with the elbow and shoulder joints clanging against the wrists sometimes.  About the only thing I can think of is to modify the shoulder by shortening it a bit.  I'll probably make a new handle some time as well.  It seems to bulky for me.  I'll put a few pictures up in a little bit.

[Mike Mann]

Here are a few pictures with my ugly mug.  I'm starting to get a feel for this thing, but much more work to be done.  Too many people to thank.  Thank you Charles, Cody, Trung, Jake, and my machinists Jeff, Max and Steve and everyone else here that has ever posted their knowledge on HBS.  You guys got me this far.

Mike Mann

[trung dau]

it's great to hear that the fault doesn't cause of the wrists. The handle of ur gimbal is a bit too long. Otherwise ur sled is to far from you and ur 2 hands need to be a bit close together to easy to operate.
But anyway ur rig looks amazing.

[Mike Mann]

Still have a lot of modifications and add-ons that I want done.  I'll keep tinkering with it and try to get it to my liking.

[Phil Kindred]

I think it looks quite impressive.  You will work the kinks out I know.  I agree with Trung--your gimbal handle is much too long--I'd cut it by 2/3's.  You will see and feel the difference.

[Mike Mann]

Thanks Phil.  I actually didn't realize how big that handle was until I took these pictures.  I added some purple o-rings to give it some color just for you, but you can't really see them that well in the pics.  One thing that I can say about my rig is that the gimbal handle is very smooth.  I was very pleased with the fairly simple design, but I do want to add some sort of foam grip that I can move up and down.  Anyone have any comments on this old post about the bearing I used?  http://hbsboard.com/index.php/topic,1652.msg20841.html#msg20841

Thanks

[Mike Mann]

One more question I have is should I turn the optical image stabilizer on or off.  When I tested the rig I had it turned off.  It really didn't look like I needed it.  I read somewhere on here that it could cause problems when performing a whip pan.  Thanks.

[Charles King]

Turn it off. If you rely on it than you will not know if you're improving or not. Learn the hard way.

[Mike Mann]

Will do Charles.   I shortened the post by 7 inches and moved the socket block back about 6 inches today.  I don't mind tearing stuff apart and rebuilding, but rewiring is not my thing.  These two modifications helped out big time, but I believe I'm going to have to move that socket block back even further.  May try to shorten that gigantic handle tomorrow as well.

[Michele Coser]

Mike, how much was long the post in the pictures?

[Mike Mann]

The post was originally 83.82 cm / 33 inches.

[Mike Mann]

I know that some of the problems I'm having are operator error, but some might be due to a design flaw.  Trung pointed out a few things that didn't look right to him.  I'm having a problem when booming down.  The lower arm segment seems to drop quickly and bottom out when the upper segment of the arm has barely even opened up.  I'm wondering if maybe I should have had higher gauge springs in the lower section to counteract this.  Or can this be adjusted with the screws going into the spring plugs?

Thanks

[Jake Danilchik]

Mike,

Yes , you need to be adjusting the pretension with those screws.  Hopefully you won't need to re-make the cables to allow the amount of adjustment you will need.      It looks like you are close considering one is high and the other low ( taking into account that the first arm segment has to carry the weight of the sled + the second arm segment )

how heavy is your sled ?   did you end up using the century springs #76  ?

regardless, it looks great Mike.  Keep tweaking !!!

[Mike Mann]

Thanks Jake.  I did wind up using those springs because the machinist I was working with moved away.  The cables weren't too awfully hard to put together and I will have to redo them with longer ones.  I tested it out today with the socket set moved even further back (can't go back much further though).  The footage looked alright on the horizon, but I need to keep from turning the post unintentionally side to side.  Maybe with the shortened handle, foam grip and more practice I can take care of that.

Edit:  Moved the screws in deeper on the lower arm segment and out on the upper arm segment.  This fixed the bottoming out issue.  Man I've got a lot to learn.