Jerry Holway

Always working on new things... these in response to customer's requests... Visit jerryholway.com for more 3D printed items. Stay safe everyone. 1384010595_Newstuff.pdf

A custom spanner wrench for the top nut of the Master Series gimbal. It also fits the Ultra 1 gimbal. $50 includes shipping in the USA. The tight fit to the center post and the thickness of the wrench keeps the pins securely in the holes in the top nut. The wrench can be modified to fit other gimbals that do not have a "Blue Whale" tool. Other custom accessories available - see jerryholway.com

I disagree. Keep the Volt. Practice like hell without it, but there is zero point in risking a minor horizon flub when on a real job. The point is to get the shot, and get it well. Who cares how on the day? It's your career and reputation for getting the shot, being efficient, artistic, pleasant to work with... and the Volt will only help you.

Stiffness is a function of the OD of the material, and of the ID of the material, and of the material itself. With carbon fiber posts, there are a host of factors affecting stiffens, and stiffness can be quite different form one post to another, even if the first two factors (OD and ID) are identical. I'm sure any post that Greg makes (okay, and the M1 post) are super-stiff and won't give anyone any problems.

Just a heads up: I haven't tried any of the aftermarket forks, but one should be aware that the Volt gimbal sizes and shapes are different. The fork anyone sells might work best for the M1/M2 gimbals and the modified M1/M2 gimbals, but work less well with the PRO modified or Shadow/U2/and Archer modified gimbals.

One thing that needs to be said (repeatedly?) is that it is not just the post diameter that needs to be considered when adapting the Volt to other gimbals - there is a lot of engineering work in adapting the yoke and bearings and mounting of the motors. It's a lot easier to adapt the M1/M2 gimbals to post sizes less than 1.75 inches (with spacers). But for a post diameter larger than 1.75 inches, the gimbal must be modified. Companies must decide for themselves if it is worth it, as they are in business as much as we are.

Exactly,, Lawrence....

I keep adding parts to the catalogue as ops request them. The latest is a very small item that fits into Tiffen socket blocks to guide the arm smoothly into the block. I believe the original socket blocks from CP were machined with an internal taper (as are PRO socket blocks now, I think), but the newer blocks (say the last 30 years...) had a "well" between the large and smaller diameter holes in the block. Regardless, this part fills that gap and makes life easier. I've attached a PDF of almost everything I'm making now - this part is on page 24. Stay safe! 1402493684_3Dprintedacc.2_12.2021.pdf

Charles- I don't think Arri has adapted their gimbal to the Volt. The M2 gimbal/Volt combination can come in a 1.750 post size, which will probably work with the Arri centerpost at 1.740 - I suggest you get a good set of calipers on the ARRI post and also communicate with the Tiffen factory to be sure everything will work out, or if Tiffen can make specific spacers to account for the .010 nominal difference in diameters. That should be possible.

Here's a sample of some new things I've been making....(new stuff) and the complete list of all the parts I've been making 696551202_3Dprintedacc.1_16.2021.pdf New stuff 1.17.21.pdf

I think post length should be altered to get the specific shot - either to change the lens height range and/or the rig's inertia. Choosing to configure your sled only one way is like playing 10 keys on the piano instead of all 88.

mark- one of the design ideas with the Tiffen dock was to keep everything below the fork so that the Volt bits on the gimbal wouldn't be inadvertently hit and damaged. Using the Hill bracket with the Tiffen fork is possible, but there is more opportunity for accidental collisions.

Correction- My pivots do mount to the SmallHD bracket (I forgot how it worked). The design makes it so that tilting the monitor does not try to rotate the tensioning screw. It's also about as thin as it gets. Slightly different versions of the pivots are available for TV logic, Stargate, and BON monitors to Tiffen's universal bracket. And I've made some pivots for different Tiffen fixed width monitor brackets, like the one on my trusty old Ultra2.

No- it mounts directly to the small HD....

I have a 3d printed solution to this problem....

Always improving and making new things... this time with a few items for Aero and Zephyr owners. Check out the pivoting small monitor mount, the plug and play 2nd battery mount for the Aero (AB or IDX with cable and jack), and the "big" pivoting monitor mount for 7" monitors. See the full PDF for all the bits I/m making. 3D_printed_accessories_11_21.20.pdf

The Volt can handle a great deal of imbalance - it handles wind loads very well. For the big glass shifts, you'll have to crank up the tilt strength. Of course, a constant correction of imbalance will require more power - hence the typical work to get the sled in neutral balance for most shooting - less work for the motors to do. I think there are some videos on FlySteadicam of the Volt with wind and maybe one with an IMAX (??).

Benjamin- Minor point: Tiffen's rigs have 1.50, 1.58, and 1.75 inch posts. The Volt can be adapted to 2" posts, but the other manufacturers will have to do the work - As Betz has done. It doesn't make business sense for Tiffen to do the engineering and testing etc. themselves, but they have been more than willing to cooperate to get the Volt onto other rigs.

Typically this is a problem of the operator's posture. When you put any arm over your shoulder, the section closest to the body will pop up as you lean back. Same thing happens if you lean back when operating... and the Master arm is more sensitive to this (a design trade off in making it very isoelastic)

I've made some new items... including this Zalex Longplate M bracket to IDX battery mount and cable. Please check out the new PDF of all the items I'm currently making. 3D_printed_accessories.small.pdf

Most likely the centering of the pan bearing to the yoke is the culprit, based on the pictures. You might be able to shim it to get it more centered. More expensive rigs either have some mechanism to adjust this centering and/or much better machining and control of tolerances. You got what you paid for...

Regarding the panning: If you've done the "hand-free" test and the rig pans, it may be that the pan bearing is sticky and needs a good cleaning. Or, alas, replacing. If the "hand-free" test shows no panning, then it's likely a combination of lack of pan inertia (typical of small sleds) and heavy-handedness, both of which are easily fixed, as described above.

This is entirely Peter Abraham's fault. He asked me if I could print a bracket that fit under his Longplate to hold a BFD receiver. There's a lot of room on many camera builds for receivers, transmitters, and other accessories under his plate. One thing leads to another and there are now six new items for sale, and options for more. See the PDF for information. 3D_printed_iems_for_sale_8_31.20.pdf

Another posting for the VGTBE. 3D_printed_iems_for_sale.pdf

Isaac- Because you have the base and monitor one one plane with the Aero 30 (a necessary thing) and if the camera/mic holder & accessories balance the rig statically, then you are most of the way there for dynamic balance. You don't need to worry about the mic holder. The challenge comes with trying to move the camera and batteries forward or backwards, opposite each other, and getting in static balance again, and then spinning it fairly slowly (like a real panning shot) and seeing if it is in dynamic balance. I'm not sure what choices you have for moving the battery in and out on the Areo 30. If both the battery and monitor positions are fixed (in and out-wise, if that's a word) then you are kind of stuck. If the battery moves (or even the monitor) in and out, you should be able to find dynamic balance pretty quickly. From the setup in the pix, I'd suspect the camera c.g. should be just a little behind the axis of the central post, maybe .25 inches. Jerry