Gen 1 Flyer with some upgrades and homebrewed mods

[Michael Desiderio]

So after a long wait I managed to get Tiffen to send over a few new pieces so that I could tool around with our Gen 1 flyer and make it a little more interesting

 

-original top stage is backwards compatible with new CF extending post

-new gimbal also works with original flyer arm

-bypassed the "spar" at the bottom of the sled and instead have a 15mm rail system (thanks Tom Wills for supply the original basis for the upgrade on the old gen 1 post; I have changed it up in a lot of ways to accommodate the larger post)

-yes that is a cute little J-Box at the bottom. Made from a standard aluminum project box. Prototype really, for 12v only. Don't think there's any reason to go 24v.

-75ohm bnc at the top and bottom with hd-sdi run through the sled

 

I designed the J-box with the idea in mind that I think it is more comforting to power things like Red setups by keeping the battery mounted to the camera. The power can be looped back through the sled from the top stage, and the breakouts at the bottom can accommodate accessories mounted to the 15mm rail system. Means less V-droop from extensive wiring. Means being able to exchange a ton of accessories from the top stage and putting them at the bottom instead (ex. going to be using a Hyperdeck 2 mounted to the bottom instead of up top).

 

Fully adjustable, can have bottom rails as wide as you want via extensions for absurd levels of pan inertia. Any battery type easily swapped out. All 2 pin lemos, very easy to work with. You can mount anything you want to the bottom as well via those 15mm rails....example, I did a couple of 360 gopro steadicam shoots that requested there be no footprint below the cameras and the rails can be made to just a few inches and also provide mounting. Pretty neat stuff.

 

Just a little project I had been working on this past week. It's been repair and upgrade season for me here.

 

Next step is probably going to be figuring out a couple of circuit breaker points as well as creation of a j-box for the top stage. I've seen Brian Freesh's old implementation but I can't help but get the feeling that having a box so large and close to the gimbal must be troublesome....

 

Click the link for the rest of the photos.

 

 

Rest of album

[Brian Freesh]

Excellent upgrades Michael! I always wanted to do rails on the bottom :)

If it helps, my Flyer's upper J box has never felt large or obtrusive for me, and no reports of issues from anyone I've rented it to. It's not really that close to the gimbal because the gimbal must be low enough to dock anyway. That J box is probably the only thing on my Flyer with no downside! The top stage even has an easy way to mount the box without modification.

[Michael Desiderio]

Brian, that's really reassuring to hear. And yes I'm planning to bolt straight through the existing threads.

[Jerry Holway]

Nice mod!