HD wiring upgrade to a Master sled

[Quaid Cde Baca]

Hello,

How difficult/ what is the process for re-wiring a Master series sled to support HDSDI? Maybe even swap out the 4 pin HiROSE to be all 2 pin LEMOs and throw on another Aton plate to the front of the K section too.

I plan on keeping this sled for a few years so upgrading it is not a option, just wanted to try and bring it up-to-date.

It all seams like a challenge over my head, is there anyone to be recommended for this in the LA area? Trying to know what i am getting into before I make the first step.

 

Thanks.

Edited October 7, 2013 by Quaid Cde Baca

[Eric Fletcher S.O.C.]

Honestly you'd be better served getting a better sled. That was a bad sled when it was new

[Tuomas Viitakoski]

Hi,

The Master series rigs (like any other CP/Tiffen rig) were not built be too modular and easily accessible (serviceable). They were built to those days' standards. I find the rigs quite neatly made but the complexity makes them a little pain in the a**. For a skilled service engineer who knows the sled throughout it requires quite a few service hours to fully disassemble, make the changes and then to rebuild it.

I suggest that if you get the HD-SDI upgrade to your rig you should get the 12V/24V lines upgraded with larger gauge to support higher amp loads (F65/Alexa etc).
Remember; the frameline generator/level is not HD compatible so the inbuilt "computer" will be disabled after the upgrade and if the coax cables are removed.
Changing the Hiroses to Lemos is not an issue.
A lot of people have an extra Anton/Bauer Gold mount plate on the front, Afton Grant has made instructions for this upgrade http://www.aftongrant.com/steadicam/Master24VConversion/index.html or maybe the service engineer you find can suggest you another way to deal with this - e.g. having hot-swappable batteries with series/parallel and 12/24V switching system.

Just make sure you get someone on the job who has done it before since there are few tricks you know only by trial&error = experience :)
Or like Eric said - you can buy another rig. But I think it'd be easier to sell that rig if these changes were already made.

Best of luck!

[Tuomas Viitakoski]

Found one photo of my previous project with Master sled (the "computer" is left out from photo).

On the left you see the post cable (in braided cable sleeve) with two separate coax cables equipped with miniature connectors.
Fitting the HD-SDI/3G triax and larger gauge 12V/24V line is going to be one challenge because the lack of space in the telescoping post.
I'd also consider having a hot-swappable dual battery mount together with the third battery mount.

Here's a photo of Ultra Cine sled. Just so you get the idea of the wire inferno that Tiffen sleds have :)
Originally posted by arielmanuelsalati http://www.steadicamforum.com/index.php?showtopic=17742

How about the most obvious thing - asking Tiffen how they would do this?
I don't know who works there nowadays but mister R. Thwaites who has been really helpful to me whenever I've had questions.
email: (SteadicamProfessional@tiffen.com)

And answer to your original question,
- Difficulty: 5/5 - ninja level skills required.
After upgrading three (Masters and Ultra sled) I'd have to think twice if I was offered one more since it's so time consuming.
If more special changes have to be done there's no standard spareparts are available so all mechanical parts need to be designed and machined to operator's needs.

 

 

 

[Eric Fletcher S.O.C.]

All the more reason to not upgrade that sled and get something modular. This is a great example of the closed system that Tiffen promotes

[Steve Acheson]

What wire did you use to upgrade the HD signal? Im looking to just have a separate line ran down the post and plug right into the monitor and not use any of the on board electronics.

 

Do you have a wire number or part number?

[Quaid Cde Baca]

Well you can not upgrade an SD signal. The quality of the wire is physically too weak. You need a 75 ohm wire. I suppose you could run a hyper thin one Dow yourself (post extended first) and terminate both ends with a BNC connector a cheap solution.

But I highly recommend just going to see Terry West.

He's the man and can 1000% help you out.

[Ken Nguyen]

There are 2 composite video signals cable inside the post with connectors.

They are good enough for HDSDI signal.

Just disconnect them to signal processing and splitter.

Connect both ends to BNC connectors then you have 2 HDSDI connections.

 

Here is how;

Keep all the connections from stage-to-post and post-to-bottom-electronics.

Inside the nose, keep the one that connect to BNC. Disconnect the other cable that connect to the 4-pins Hirose, cut off the signal splitting cable to the back-stage 4-pin Hirose. Drill a hole on the side of the nose for a second BNC, then solder the video cable to that BNC.

Remove the cable which connected to the 4-pin in the bottom electronics. Cut off all connections to composite signal processing.

Build a new BNC, then solder that cable ends to.

DONE. you have 2 separated solid direct HDSDI connections.

Mines are fine with 3G-SDIHD

 

Have fun,

 

Ken Nguyen.