I welcome all fans to craft something out of nothing, as well as photographers and video operators who need this device.
We will make a tripod for a photo or video camera from what is in our workshop.
Tools needed.
1. Welding inverter.
2. Soldering iron for polypropylene.
3. The Bulgarian.
4. Electric drill.
5. Vise.
6. The hammer.
7. Drills.
8. Tap.
9. Scissors for polypropylene.
10. Sharpening machine.
Materials and consumables needed.
1. Polypropylene pipes with a diameter of 20 and 25 mm.
2. Brass pipe from the old shower.
3. A metal tube from an old cornice.
4. Fittings for polypropylene and plumbing.
5. Bolts and nuts.
6. The hairpin.
7. Metal coupling with a diameter of 1/2 inch.
8. Steel bar with a diameter of 6 mm.
9. Paint.
For a tripod rack we use a meter-long segment of a polypropylene pipe with a diameter of 25 mm. To ensure greater structural rigidity and to be able to adjust the height of the chamber inside the polypropylene, we insert a meter-long segment of a metal or brass tube. In this case, the brass pipe from the old Soviet shower came up very well. We cut off the tube with a grinder and we clean the slices on the grinding machine.
Now we need polypropylene fittings. An adapter with a diameter of 25 mm to 20 mm and a polypropylene coupling with an external metal thread 1/2 inch. Solder the fittings to the rack using a soldering iron for polypropylene. It is possible, in principle, to heat with a gas burner.
We make the base of the tripod. We weld three bolts to a metal coupling with a diameter of 1/2 inch. Bolts need to be selected with a diameter so that a polypropylene pipe is wound on them.
We weld a nut to a piece of metal bar with a diameter of 6 mm and weld the resulting workpiece inside another coupling. Why this detail is needed I will tell later.
We process welding joints, sharpen the free end of the bar.
From a polypropylene pipe with a diameter of 20 mm, cut three segments of 25 cm and solder the tees to the ends.
In the tees, drill holes for the available bolts and cut the threads. We also drill a hole and cut the threads in the rack.
For legs, you need a tube with a diameter slightly smaller than the inner diameter of the polypropylene tee. A tube from an old, Soviet cornice is well suited. We cut three segments of 20 cm and clean the slices.
To fix the legs in the base, you can use the wing bolt, but we made our fastening from bolts and plastic nuts for fastening the toilet tanks.
Well and naturally it is desirable to paint all metal parts.
Now we proceed to the most critical part of our design, we mount and rotate the camera mechanism. In our workshop, in a box with all small things, we found a metal ball in which there was already a thread matching the thread in our soap dish. As they say, we were lucky, otherwise we can’t do without the services of a turner, we only had to slightly bring this ball to condition.
For the housing of the rotary mechanism, we use a metal stud, a union nut from a Soviet mixer and a brass adapter with a 1/2 inch thread per fitting. The fitting was sharpened a little and driven into a tripod rack.
For more convenient control of the camera, a small segment of the bar can be welded to a hairpin, but we found the handle of a typewriter and fixed it with two nuts. Also, for better glide of the ball in the housing, a fluoroplastic gasket was installed.
Here is such a, in principle, not a complex design.
The legs adjust the vertical position of the tripod.
It is also possible to adjust the height.
The handle is controlled by the camera.
If you plan to shoot outdoors, we unscrew the tripod and take with us a part with a pin.
In this position, we go in transport.
And in this, having stuck the pin into the ground, we are shooting.
Good luck to everyone in work and success in creativity.
You can watch a video on making a tripod here.