With help from many DIYer’s and my handy neighbor, our Igus Slider is for the most part ready for dolly time lapse shots. The gears, belt, and motor all came from other true DIYer’s.
Gears, Belt, Rods, etc… I got this idea from KOKO Monstrum. Here is his video, and on his site he even gives the specs and where to order the parts from…here. All the parts cost me a total of $50 or something like that.
Motor…. I got this idea from John Waskey over at New Sky Productions. He posted a Youtube video where he put a telescope motor on his Kessler dolly. You can watch it here. He found a telescope motor made by Celestron that runs on a 9 volt battery. This motor moves extremely slow. It is not good for using in video mode. Only really good for using for a time lapse because how slow it moves. The motor cost about $35. You can get it here.
Here are some more pics of our set up. We have shot one test with it, and it works! The test footage is not worthy of posting just because what we were shooting is boring…really boring. But it still works! Now the goal is too see if you put a bigger battery on the motor, if it will make the motor move faster.
Good job! One question, which Igus models did you use ?
Hey Christophe, I used the model….WW-16-60-10 DRYLIN W CARRIA….. WS-16-60 DRYLIN W RAIL.
Ok thank you very much!
“Gears, Belt, Rods, etc… I got this idea from KOKO Monstrum. Here is his video, and on his site he even gives the specs and where to order the parts from…here. All the parts cost me a total of $50 or something like that.”
How did you spend only $ 50 if the slider alone costs $ 135?
Thanks
Paul
When I say parts, I am not talking about the slider itself, just the parts to for the motor and belt, etc.
Ok thanks.
Do you know a shop on the internet that I can sell the slider to a lower price?
Thanks
Paul
Paul, Do you mean sell a slider or buy a slider?
I would check Ebay or Amazon for good deals.
Hi Great post been looking everywhere for some instructions for this kind of thing, no one in the UK seems to have done one – do you have any diagrams / measurements of you end pieces as there neater then the kokomonstrum.com one?
Many thanks
Hey James, I don’t. When I got all the pieces that Koko had suggested, I just figured it out. The mount for the motor was dremeled down a bit to make it fit.
Great job! I would ask as possible, as I turn and
laps, and I find all the material needed to build a system like yours,
could send me a list and places to find stuff, I was very grateful, if
possible in Europe. On the other hand if you are interested to sell a system equal to its already mounted, or by munter but even with all the pieces, we can reach an agreement;)
Once you cut the belt and wrapped it around the bolt on the slider, how did you connect the belt back on itself as shown in IMG_1483? I can’t quite see how the belt is fastened.
I have found myself taking the belt off so I can use the slider for faster moves, etc…. so for a temporary fix, I would just staple it. As a long term fix, I would try to super glue it, then maybe put a heat sink tape over that.
Way to go man!!! I’m so excited someone else is adopting this. Looks like you have a really great setup here and I look forward to seeing it in action.
-John
Hey Mate, one question.
Is the motor continuos? I’m trying to attach a motor to my slider for star time lapse and I usually run 20 second exposures.,so it has to shoot move, shoot, move.
any ideas? cheers
Charles
Hey Charles, yes it is continuous.
I built one just like, but added cheap nylon idlers next to the pulley. Now I can go fully vertical (moving upward) with my 60D and heavy duty head. full speed takes 2 hours to go 30″ and 8 hours at slowest speed. Works like a charm for Timelapse. It could easily handle the weight of a motorized head. Total cost for parts: $300 Including my labor: $3,000!
Tip: I use a cheap cylindrical fishing rod case for transporting it. To secure the timing belt to the sled, I used tiny black zipcords as a temporary thing, but found they hold well and don’t look bad at all. To remove the belt, just unbolt the sled and unloop the belt. Also, remember to flatten the shaft at the attachement point to the Celestron and this will prevent slippage.
Did you ever attempt to increase the battery to get more speed? I ordered larger pulleys which would make it move 30″ in one hour, but returned them as I see no need for this right now since all of my timelapse is at longer exposure times.
No I didn’t. Since building this one, we had a big job come up where we purchased a Kessler pocket dolly with motor. I still have my DIY, but only use it for 2nd unit stuff.
Although it works great for timelapse and looks good, if I had to do it again, I would probably buy a Kessler. But how well does the Kessler do with timelapse? It’s hard to beat the compactness of the DIY slider…
I’m trying to find an elegant way to add a power cutoff switch when it reaches the end of the rail. Have you seen anyone that has accomplished this?
BTW – Great site!
Orac, I have not heard of a shut off for this type of DIY. Seems like your need some type of clutch system to tell the motor when too far is too far. Or maybe something when the power begins to surge from the struggling to go on. Ask a radio shack guy.
I added a $5 mini-toggle switch next to the Celestron/pulley. As the sled approaches the Celestron/pulley it pushes against the toggle and switches it off. Works like a charm! Now I don’t have to babysit the timelapse or worry if it is going to strip the belt. Cool!
Love this and great timing finding this article since I was trying to figure out a similar system, but when I added everything up is was more like $100. Did you not use every part in the koko belt system?
Hey, i was wondering if this set up would work with 30’s exposures of stars?
Would you notice the blur from the movement or is it slow enough where it might work?
I am trying to get a nice smooth motion time-lapse of the stars.
If not do you have any ideas?
Great DIY, well executed
thanks
30 Secs should work great.
Hi, how long does it take to travel the full length? Thanks
35-50 minutes
cool setup! What does the nylon idler do? How does it help you going vertical?
Thanks!
Hey Tom!
It has bearings in it that allow the rod to turn smoothly. We never used it for vertical shots. The motor is not strong enough. Since…we have sold it. We now use a Kessler Pocket Dolly. Our custom igus was a fun time, but we soon had to get something that was tested and build stronger for our travels.
What does the motor turn?
I got a Celestron motor and nothing spins. It just makes a sound like it’s spinning when turned on. No rods came with it.
Basically, what I’m asking is what is the metal rod sticking out of the bottom of the little black tube?
And is it supposed to rotate?
Great bit of kit – I’m looking at doing something similar, but the Igus rails are just so expensive now. I’ve been looking at developing something with some extruded aluminium instead.