How To Build A Pro Slider @ $75 In 3 Hours

While there are many sliders out there (some even at $75), the secret to getting a good slider is getting it to slide smoothly. The team at Rhino did something I truly appreciate in a brand and released a video showing how to build a cheap (semi) pro slider.

You can see the video above, and get some tips after the jump, but for me this video goes beyond the simple idea of a how-to video. I would love to see more brands giving free education even if it not directly associated with their sales. (I assume that if you are building a $75 Home Depot slider, you are not gonna buy their $800 slider). But I love the idea that educating young filmmakers and making “fancy gear” accessible to them will drive the industry higher and hopefully make the cake bigger.

More about the DIY slider after the jump

There are three things that I love about the slider:

It uses roller bearing wheels that provides really smooth motion (It seems that painting the rails was not helpful to the cause)
It is something that you can build practically wherever there is a Homedepot or Lowes which makes it both accessible and a good last minute resort if all else fails.
It is almost tools free to build

The slider is built around 2 conduit pipes as rails and a few angled L bars for support. One thing I liked is the fact that all the angled bars are pre drilled so they do not need drilling to build the unit, or to mount on a light stand.