PRO 2 landing pad and weight plate

[Steve Fracol SOC]

Hello all...

 

The long awaited flat plate landing pad with traditional dovetail size to fit directly on the PRO 2 is now finally available. Sorry for the delays folks.

 

The attachment dovetail piece will allow you to put Antlers on the bottom of the sled which is excellent for low mode work as well as traditional work depending on the type of shot your doing. It is also specifically designed to allow my weight plate system to slide right on the dovetail...but what is probably the best thing FOR PRO 2 operators is that it will allow you to rest the rig gently on an apple box between shots if you need to without putting added pressure directly on your batteries.

 

Many of the PRO 2 users that saw my weight plate system for Tiffen rigs asked me if I could make something that would work with a PRO 2 sled. They also said they wish they could rest occasionally on a box between shots because that was one feature they really liked about the Tiffen rigs (having a flat bottom), etc. I asked AC Steve Peterson to design this unit and I think it turned out quite well. It bolts directly onto the curved battery rails on the PRO 2 and it becomes quite solid. It is held on by 3 rods that fit directly into the PRO 2 battery rails. The mount allows Dionic and/or small Hytron size batts to fit on the front with no problem.

 

Here are a few photos. Go to the sales/marketing page for pricing.

 

Well...no matter how small I made the photos the site will not let me load them. I will send them to Alec/Eric/Erwin and see if they can load them for me. Thanks for your patience.

 

Thanks,

 

Steve Fracol, SOC

323-301-6790

steve@fracol.com

[Alec Jarnagin SOC]

Pictures:

[Alec Jarnagin SOC]

More pictures:

[RonBaldwin]

it would be great to add a battery to the bottom sliding plate and design a way to plug it in parallel with the rear two batteries for more amperage as well as ballast.

 

again, nicely done

 

Steve, I forgot to ask last night...how much does it weigh?

 

rb

[Steve Fracol SOC]

Thanks Ron,

 

SteveO Peterson tells me the PRO dovetail weighs about 20oz. I do not have a scale here to test that yet. He hollowed it out as much as possible because we figured 90% of the PRO operators would make it a permanent part of their rigs. I know I would if I had a PRO. The "FracoliZer" weight plate that attaches weighs 1/2 a lb. roughly with just the slider plate alone with no extra weights attached.

 

I can do anything to these plates you wish. For example- Grayson Austin flies a U2 rig and he wanted the slider plate as light as possible and with an IDX plate attached. I simply hollowed it out and taped it for an IDX plate. He still has the option of adding the steel weight plates or gyros if he wants. All that is possible per order for a minor extra charge depending on what needs to be done.

 

Also...anyone that wants to DEMO one can do so for 5 days. If not satisfied return the unit in like new condition and just pay the shipping each way. If you like it I will email an invoice and you can buy the unit.

 

Thanks,

 

Fracol

[Jens Piotrowski SOC]

it would be great to add a battery to the bottom sliding plate and design a way to plug it in parallel with the rear two batteries for more amperage as well as ballast.

 

again, nicely done

 

Steve, I forgot to ask last night...how much does it weigh?

 

rb

 

 

you can just use the Anton Bauer hot swap adapter.....

 

 

[RonBaldwin]

you can just use the Anton Bauer hot swap adapter.....

 

when I upgrade the hot-swap will be an accessory I will want to have in addition to Steve's "foot". Though the sled's profile would be at least a few inches narrower with the additional battery in-line and lower? Who knows? They are both great options and as we all know having several ways to solve problems is the way to go.

[Steve Fracol SOC]

It looks like I will get to make it now to the monitor shootout at Noon today. I will bring some of the PRO and the FracoliZer weight plate system with me if anyone wants to see it in person.

 

Steve

323-301-6790

[Erwin Landau]

Hey Steve,

 

Nice job on the "Landing Pad" my friend.

 

I had a couple units on my cart during the Monitor Shoot out today and generally the remarks were positive, but almost everybody commented on the weight, great if you need more weight on the bottom, especially with the HC batteries being again lighter yet... But if you just want a "foot"... oh well, opinions... I guess. There is a lot of space to go crazy on lightening the unit, it doesn't have to be that beefy... at least a couple of holes in the plate... But it does exactly what it's suppose to do.

 

About the Anton Bauer hot swap unit...

I bought one back in 2002 for my then PRO Lite, I posted about it on the old forum, oh well... I was thinking to get more usable weight below the Gimbal instead of dead weight... The Compac's at the time were starting to get tired so I wanted to double them up and the Hytron 50 had still trouble to turn over the 435 and at $500.- a piece, pricey as I had 30 batts back then.

 

So I bought one of the demos right of the floor at NAB ($150.- bucks... a no brainer). I thought I was set...

 

Now the problem... There is electronics build in to the plate that controls, which of the batteries is actually supplying power to the pins on the Camera/Rig. Only one at the time is actually used that's what the name says, it's for hot swapping. It uses one battery at the time until exhausted and switches to the next... If that's what you want then that's the unit to get.

 

Also the new units are incorporating an attachment for a wireless bracket that has to be machines away before you can use all batteries that you own, It will only accommodate the new style like the Hytron 50 or the Dionic 90, anything else will hit that attachment... it's mostly hidden on the photo, but you get the idea.... Just an FYI.

 

Ron, I have one if you want to experiment.

 

 

 

 

Just add some links for Archival purposes (this one is in For Sale which will disappears in a while) :

 

http://www.steadicamforum.com/index.php?showtopic=9993

 

http://www.steadicamforum.com/index.php?sh...amp;#entry43427

[Erwin Landau]

Oh found it:

 

 

http://www.antonbauer.com/Products/QRHOTSWAP

[Jess Haas SOC]

I would think that it would be rather easy to swap out the electronics for a diode to allow safe paralleling of the two batteries. If anyone wants to look into that and has one I can borrow and open up I wouldn't mind doing it.

 

~Jess

[Steve Fracol SOC]

Erwin,

 

Thanks for showing the landing pad around. Much appreciated. I am also glad you like it for the most part...and any and all feedback is appreciated!

 

I do not build these things to make a lot of money but more as a way of helping people solve issues. Several PRO owners asked for an adapter to make the weight plate work on a PRO so we decided to try this first. If people have issues with our stuff we want to know about it to make things better. All info is good to know. I am all about customer service so I want people to be satisfied. So far it sounds like it is a hit for the most part. Whew....I am glad.

 

I never expected to please everyone with this product just as none of us are 100% happy with our rigs as they came from our original companies that made them. We tend to modify nearly everything, myself included. That is why I stated earlier that anyone that wants something changed on these plates is simple. All you have to do is ask. I am glad to lighten the plates up with more holes, certainly possible and I am glad to do it. But as an overall product design for the masses I thought this was a good start on this first run. The only thing that were aware of that might have to change soon is the length of the side rails as the new AB batts come out. The rest can be changed on an individual basis per request.

 

As for the Anton Bauer hot swap thing. I think they need to offer one that is in Parallel as an option. That just makes sense with today's pwr hungry cameras. Back about 4 years ago or so when I had my original Ultra1 I did away with the Tiffen 24v batts and I turned the AB Hot Swap into a 24V powering machine. I adapted the mount from AB to Tiffen old school mount and it worked great. It just took some re-wiring to make it a 24 V source. 2 Dionic 90's made it a great power source. The only issue was that it made the width of the sled a bit wide. That was one of the great things about the original Ultra was the slim design it had (but it was also a sail when it was windy). Glad I have a U2 now. I used Dionic 90's and Pro Pack's until I bought my U2 that came with Pwr Cubes. I was skeptical at first about the Pwr Cubes but they very quickly proved themselves and now I have no issues at all. I also like the charges that the pwr cubes use as they charge all 4 batts at the same time. Perhaps all this battery talk should be moved to the Battery section. Sorry...!

 

Thanks,

 

Steve

[Steve Fracol SOC]

Steadi Ops-

 

THis is an update on the Landing Pad 2.0. It is finally done and ready to ship. Several units have gone out already and with very good feedback. Attached is a photo of the latest version.

 

As you can see we listened to as many ideas and gathered input from as many operators as we could to create a better system. We made it smaller and lighter yet with the ability to still attach a standard dovetail plate to the bottom for accessories and or gyros. We took off all the sharp edges and made the side rails a bit longer to solve the issues with various size batteries that everyone uses. We also changed the shape of the side rails a bit to accommodate the various slight changes or versions of PRO2 sleds (as they progressed over the years and made improvements). And probably the biggest change we were able to make was to build it cheaper to get the price down. Now at a cost of $375.00 + tax and shipping.

 

I am sure at some point we will find something else that someone wants to change to work better for their particular system and we are more than happy to try to customize a version or make the next batch better if we think the change might be worthy. Regardless take a look and let me know what you think.

 

I will allow free demo's to anyone interested. They can be purchased through a website called www.flyitlevel.com

 

Thanks,

 

Steve Fracol, SOC

[JamieSilverstein]

Steve;

I'd love to take a look at the landing pad. Do you have one circulating around NYC. After this last F35 job on a golf cart, I'm pretty sure that I want to buy one, I'd just like to check it out before hand.

Let me know.

Thanks;

Jamie