DIY cheap alu shoulder support

This is probably my first post on C5D but I'm here from the start reading all the ups and downs...lol. I decided to make a little rig just because I enjoy the proces of making something out of nothing.

I have also made some aluminium jibs and a really nice trackdolly which I maybe post later. My goal is to make everything without any welding cause I still can't weld unfortunatly.

This shoulderrig you can make for about 30 euro's. But don't compare it to any real product cause it's a lot of fiddling around with nuts and bolds.

Folded version:

I put this thing directly in the daypack of my survival bag.

Unfolded:


The clamps are origionally from a heater installation. They are made for 15mm watertubes. They suck a little bit but I wasn't able to find something better yet. It just is a hustle because it's made of 4 pieces instead of 2. If you are a good welder, just weld the top ones together and the bottom ones together. The rails I used where first for mockup. They are 16mm hollow aluminium which I was going to replace by nice solid alu 15mm's. In the end...this works fine but I will upgrade later and use these for a cage. I hate to waste aluminium cause it's so bad for mother nature. The rails are 60mm appart so I should be able to mount a FF & mattebox after upgrading it.



The clamps in the middle hold an aluminium square block whith 3 holes (2 big ones for the rails and one small one for the camera) which mounts the dslr on with a 1/4inch screw. A nice upgrade would be to put a manfrotto quick release plate on it. Behind that are 2 more clamps that hold a manfrotto plate for the tripod. Handles in the front could be better too but I'm a busy guy...it works like this allready.

And for the shouldersupport itselve I bended two strips of aluminium, bolted together to make it a solid piece. The foam had sticker on the back which holds surpisingly well.

I was surprised it worked so good. The first rough test was on a 135mm+2x extender. So that makes it 270mm x1.6= 432mm. I was actually able to make a shot of a bird flying by with background. Pretty nice result for 30euro's and one evening of drill&saw activity. Hope was was usefull but feel free to ask stuff and please show your ideas.

Big ups to guys like halfinchrails and easom who are a lot of steps ahead, but great inspiration.

Where do you live JKD ?
Great looking rig. Do you plan on painting it ?
.vince

Thank you!
I live in The Netherlands near Rotterdam.
Well yes, just maybe when I find something better than these current clamps.
Haven't figured out a nice way to make that yet.
For me the only reason to make it black is because of camo reasons. Not to necessairly make it look nicer. But it would be worth it more if the pieces came closer to the real products out there.

That looks great!

Nice job.

Thank you!
I live in The Netherlands near Rotterdam.
Well yes, just maybe when I find something better than these current clamps.
Haven't figured out a nice way to make that yet.
For me the only reason to make it black is because of camo reasons. Not to necessairly make it look nicer. But it would be worth it more if the pieces came closer to the real products out there.

What is your better solution to the clamps? Can you pls tell me. nice job anyway.

Thanks. well I haven't bumped into anything better yet. I have tried to make them out of aluminium too but you need pretty good tools to make it good.

You are most creative! I like it. Makes great sense.

Howard

Is there anyway you could post a materials list? I am looking to build something like this ASAP.
thanks

yeah what type of pieces are those that your using to clamp the rods together?