My original camera setup was this
beam trolley that travelled along an RSJ in my workshop
but I actually have two RSJ's in the centre of the shop
and I wanted to upgrade to something that would utilize both of them such as a rolling gantry.
The first parts I made were these end pieces that will support an i-beam between them.
I originally made these as prototypes to get the layout and measurements correct
and to see if the concept would work so it didn't video making them.
The intention was that once I got these right I would remake them with ply
but they turned out so well it was pointless remaking them.
The i-beam was made up of three pieces as you can see in the sketch.
The central vertical piece called the web and two upper and lower horizontal pieces called flanges.
I started with the flanges which I ripped down to 70mm wide
from an old board I had in my timber stack.
I first squared up one end and then cut them to
length which was 1290mm.
I then marked them out for screw holes that would fix these boards to the top
and bottom edges of the board that makes up the web.
The web piece was also cut from an old board I had and measured 1290mm long and 145mm high.
This old screwdriver wasn't much good as a screwdriver because the tip broke off
so I sharpened a point on it and it makes a great awl for marking drilling holes.
I drilled clearance holes in the flanges for screws
and then when I had them in place I used the same drill bit to drill a small mark
on the edge of the web and then used that mark to center a pilot drill
and drilled pilot holes for the screws.
I used a straight edge to keep everything aligned because as you can
see here the web board had a bit of a bow in it but that wasn't a problem
because the upper and lower flanges keep everything straight when the i-beam is assembled.
With that flange piece in place I just repeated the process and installed the other one.
With the i-beam complete I installed one of the end runners
ready for a test fit between the two RSJ's.
The second runner gets installed insitu.
How good is that!
The next part to make was the beam trolley that would run along the gantry
as shown in this sketch up drawing.
The beam trolley was basically a simple construction but that still didn't stop
me making the stupid mistake of cutting one of these on the wrong side of the blade.
Oh well, easy fix, that measurement wasn't critical so I just cut the other boards to match.
These pieces were ripped down to about 2mm wider than the i-beam
and we're going to attach these two boards that would be the sides and
the main body of the trolley.
This is where two of the pieces go, the inside one rides along the bottom flange
of the i-beam and the outside one will have the camera boom arm mounted to it.
The boom arm is attached with a single 1/2 inch bolt which allows it to swivel
360 degrees. I screwed in place a couple of small brackets against the head of the bolt
to stop it from spinning when I tighten up the nylock nut.
To install and remove the gantry between the two RSJ's
and also to remove and replace the beam trolley if ever needed
one of the end runner boards would need to be removed and replaced easily
so instead of just relying on regular screws which could loosen up over time
I decided to go with threaded inserts and 6mm threaded screws.
It was pretty tough threading those two centre inserts into this dense hardwood
and I ended up rounding out the bit for the allen key but I just trimmed them down with a
hacksaw and they are all good to go. There was no way they were coming back out.
The shape of the two end boards was refined by removing any unnecessary bulk
and then everything got a few coats of workshop grey.
When the paint had dried it was time to start assembling the pieces
and getting everything in place.
The beam trolley rides along the top of the i-beam with these old skateboard wheels.
They were installed on 8mm diameter bolts with 10mm nuts used as spacers.
Now I know a lot of viewers are going to think that this is totally over engineering
just for holding an iPhone and I agree
but I think it's going to give a lot of stability to the boom arm when it's fully extended
and it provides potential for other uses too.
This was an upgrade I've wanted to do for a while now
and I think it'll serve me well for many years.
I reused the old boom arm but added a third extension piece to the end and
a new camera mount that you can see there on the left.
Well that upgrade was something that I've been wanting to do quite a while
so I'm really happy that it's done.
The extra reach that I get now is fantastic.
I can reach the bandsaw which is behind you guys
I've never been able to reach that we'll get close to that before but now I can
and I can get different angles on some of the other existing tools.
Well that's it for another project. If you guys want to know what I'm up to
in between videos you can follow me on Instagram and as I mentioned at the beginning of this video,
if you're not subscribed to my channel I do invite you to do so and make sure you
hit that notification bell but until the next one you guys all have a great day.