Flashback: $ 14 video camera stabilizer

This first step is very easy. Just attach T-Joint and one end cap into one of the pipes to form a basic handle.

Use Vise for the final tightening. Do not tighten the T -joints and end caps of the pipe using your hands. You just hurt yourself and do not make it tight enough.

As shown in the figure, put one of the end caps into vise. Next, make a hole in the cap in the center of the cap. You don’t have to put it in the center completely, but the closer you are, the better. I want to use VISE because I excavate a quarter -inch zinc plating chelch. It is enough to bring a weak drill to the stop, and if you try to hold it, you will definitely do a lot in your hand. Needless to say, it can get hot. Protected eyewears such as safety goggles must always be worn when using electric tools. A little machine oil (or vegetable oil) can help you maintain it and maintain a drillbit.

When the bit comes out on the other side, I like to use slow speed, as grabbing the metal shakes. It is much more comfortable to have a jerk than suddenly jump out of your hand.

Excavation in an area where cleaning is easy. Many metal fragments are produced. And don’t use your finger to wipe off the fragments! They enter your skin. Use a brush or vacuum.

Do this with two endcaps.

Installation requires bolts, two rock washer, flange washer, nuts, wing nuts, and drill end caps. Place the rock washer on the bolt and place it on the end cap. As shown here, it is necessary to exit the bottom of the bolt from the top of the outside part of the end cap. Wear another rock washer and put the nut. Place the end cap on the vise and tighten the nut with the pliers. The rock washer does not rotate the bolt.

You’ll want to make it really tight because the camera can be attached. Not because the camera may fall, but to wear a camera and remove it. When this installation is loosened, the bolt turns like the camera, making it difficult to keep it in a stationary state. If this occurs during shooting, you need to stop and find pliers.

Use a hammer to dip the center of the flange washer. To do this, place the washing machine on a heavy hole, place the bolt’s head in the hole, and hit the bolt. The washing machine distributes power from a single contact point. The larger the washing machine, the better. If you don’t use a washing machine, the camera not only shakes a lot in this connection, but also stresses this small place. If you lose this washing machine, do not use a stabilizer, as it could damage the camera.

Use your finger to tighten the mounting wing nut. Do not use the pliers. You can peel the thread on the camera or break the tripod mount. Both are bad.

Barbell weight and rock washer, two flange washer, bolts, nuts, and drill end caps are required. They go together in the displayed pattern. The bolt passes two washer sandwiching the weight. Next, paste it on the end cap, put a rock washer, and finally on the nut. The parts are perfect for a letter.

The rock washer deep in the end cap keeps the grip on the nut, so there is no need to paste pliers to turn it. Just turn the cap. Next, paste the cap into a vise, tighten the bolt using a driver, or grasp the weight. The weight should turn the bolt, and VISE does not turn the cap.

I like to tighten the bolt until the outer washing machine starts to turn inside. This reduces the amount of bolts protruding, and the bass is more stable when set down.

If you use the base as a stand (not recommended because it is easy to knockover), you can buy round bolts and small amount of rubber feet. These are better basses that are not wobbly. You can say that I want to do this, and I say it’s easy to knock out from experience. But my camera still works.

Finally, take the remaining two pipes, screw it into the handle T -joint, and attach the bass and mounting. And you’re done! You can tighten these parts as much as you want. Give them a good hand or tighten the full-fledged Vise and-Pliers. The only reason not to use Vise and Pliers is whether the stabilizer or swap component can be collapsed. You can change the length of the pipe and the weight of the barbell as you like.

I probably call this combination a “sports model”. This is mainly because the balance point (with camera) is near the T -joint and can rotate quite well with the handle. It is really agile. Longer and heavy weights change handling.

When the stabilizer is stored without attaching the camera, the installation machine is finally protected. It is recommended that you take off the wing nut, wear a washing machine, and then restore the wing nut. It does not get lost in the washing machine.

A mechanical friend and I spent about 45 minutes to build this camera stabilizer in a sparing garage workshop. It was generally easy and did not hang anywhere.

The most difficult thing was to excavate the hole in the end cap. I used a stationary drill press instead of a handheld drill. Unfortunately, I didn’t do much work to focus on drillbits in the end cap. The hole was straight, but it was not close enough in the middle for my taste.

The second excavation was better because I punched around the end caps and knew where to excavate. However, one thing must be added to the end cap when drilling. Fortunately, only two endcaps with holes are required. If one is ruined, you can use it as a cap below to retry.

The end cap is swelling at the top. I flattened them in the file. I was able to avoid this step and would have been okay, but I thought the flat top would stabilize the camera.

I came up with another way to bend a flange washer. In our method, we have bolts at the center of weight, like sandwiches (the weight of the center, the washer on both sides is held together with bolts). We used this device in a vise to tighten the bolt nuts until the flange washer was appropriately bent. The drawback of this was that both flange washer were bent as well as what they needed. It’s not the end of the world, but if you’re worried that there is a flat flange washer at the bottom, pick up extra things at the store.

I tested using the 5 -pound weight and using the video function of the OLYMPUS D550 camera (weight less than 1 pound). The counter balance was too heavy for my camera, so the video had a lot of cameras. Still, it was better than running with a camera alone. We plan to purchase lighter weight when passing through Sporting Goods Store.

-Robin Outis