DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

How to Build A Big Axx 4 Meters Homemade Camera Crane

May 28, 2013 by Guest Author 5 Comments

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Not a long way back we shared a cool tutorial on a homemade Travel Jib (kinda like this Portable Mini Jib). But for those times that you need to carry heavier cameras and you want to trade portability for stability you may want to use a crane.

Charlie Mac created this wonderful tutorial for building a the Travel Jib big brother – a camera crane. It is not as portable, but way sturdier and can handle bigger loads.

How to Build A Big Axx 4 Meters Home Made Camera Crane

Sample Footage

Parts list

  • 1 x Speaker Stand
  • 1 x Speaker Top Hat
  • 1 x camera tripod head
  • 1 x steel right angle bracket
  • 2 x 12mm threaded rods
  • 4 x 12mm bolts
  • 4 x 12mm rounded cap bolts
  • 2 x 20mm square, three meter length steel square tube
  • 2 x 20mm square, one meter length steel square tube
  • 2 x 16mm square, one meter length steel square tube
  • 1 x 10mm u shaped, one meter aluminium rod
  • 3 x 8mm nuts, bolts and washers
  • various 6mm nuts, bolts and washers
  • This all cost less than £100 (even considering I had some of the nuts and bolts in my garage anyway).

Building Steps

How to Build A Big Axx 4 Meters Home Made Camera Crane

The Raw Materials. 2x3m, 2x1m and 1x1m thinner steel square tube and 1x1m u-shaped aluminum rod.

How to Build A Big Axx 4 Meters Home Made Camera Crane

I cut the 1x1m thinner tube in half and bolted one each into the ends of the 1m thicker tube. This would be where the pivot point was and so I classed these two 1m sections as “the handle”

How to Build A Big Axx 4 Meters Home Made Camera Crane

I think I meant to measure out 25cm into the thicker steel tube….oh well, it worked.

How to Build A Big Axx 4 Meters Home Made Camera Crane

drilling the holes to bolt the thinner steel tube into the thicker one.

How to Build A Big Axx 4 Meters Home Made Camera Crane

So, once the thin tube is bolted to the shorter thick tube, take that and put the other end of the thin tube into an end of the longer thick tube and bolt them together. Repeat with other thicker tube etc.

How to Build A Big Axx 4 Meters Home Made Camera Crane

Had to cut down some of my bolts

How to Build A Big Axx 4 Meters Home Made Camera Crane

Two completed arms with the handles on the end. Total of 4m

How to Build A Big Axx 4 Meters Home Made Camera Crane

Bought a simple speaker stand and speaker hat from amazon. Wish I’d spent a bit more money here. The stand isn’t that sturdy, and the metal is really weak. Was tightening the hat onto the top of the stand and the damn bolt went straight through! oh well…still holds.

How to Build A Big Axx 4 Meters Home Made Camera Crane

Drilled a hole in the longer thick tube about an inch or two infront of the join between “the handle” and the main arm. This is to be the top arm.

How to Build A Big Axx 4 Meters Home Made Camera Crane

Kept forgetting to take pictures….by now, I have used that 1m aluminium bar and cut it into about 6 inch lengths to use as strutts between the two arms placed about every half meter

How to Build A Big Axx 4 Meters Home Made Camera Crane

…I then went back to the local hardware store and bought a meter of 20mm wide flat steel bar to create a handle at the pivot point. I have made sure to be able to lock this into place so I can either hold the camera level throughout the movement of the crane, or i can unlock it so i can control the tilt angle of the camera (quite proud of that bit)

How to Build A Big Axx 4 Meters Home Made Camera Crane

Painted! Simple black spray paint. Wish I had washed it down slightly though as the steel was slightly oily and so the paint didn’t stick as nicely as I was hoping.

How to Build A Big Axx 4 Meters Home Made Camera Crane

Paint’s still wet…I found this bracket lying around and so just bolted it to the top hat, and then to the top arm. Later on, I added a piece of thick wood between the bracket and the top hat as the plastic was flexing way too much.

How to Build A Big Axx 4 Meters Home Made Camera Crane

In the top left of the image is the bolt that I use to lock the arm in place to keep the camera level. just need a spanner to tighten it or remove it.

How to Build A Big Axx 4 Meters Home Made Camera Crane

This is the head from an old p.o.s tripod i had lying around. Would cost around 20 quid from amazon though at it’s cheapest.

How to Build A Big Axx 4 Meters Home Made Camera Crane

FINISHED!! all balanced with some weights.

How to Build A Big Axx 4 Meters Home Made Camera Crane

How to Build A Big Axx 4 Meters Home Made Camera Crane

Charlie is going to release a  video tutorial on how the crane was build so keep an eye on his YouTube channel.

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailAmazing Light Camera Crane Build Video Default ThumbnailHow To Build A DIY Frugal Crane 2.0 Default ThumbnailHomemade Camera Panoramic Head Default ThumbnailHow To Relieve Your Neck With A Homemade Camera Harness

Filed Under: DIY Tagged With: Video

Guest Author: from diyphotography.net

About Guest Author

We love it when our readers get in touch with us to share their stories. This article was contributed to DIYP by a member of our community. If you would like to contribute an article, please contact us here.

« Panolapse Fakes Camera Moves On Time Lapse Footage
Thoughts About Value And The Cost Of Doing Business »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Learn photography

Recent Posts

  • Sony unveils three wireless microphones for content creators
  • This is why you should stop shooting music videos
  • First look at the Laowa Proteus Flex interchangeable flare optics
  • The Fotodiox RhinoCam Vertex shoots medium format images on L mount cameras
  • San Francisco filmmaker tracks stolen camera gear, police do nothing

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy