my homemade cable cam.

[DSvideo]

http://www.dsvideo.ca/kelsorace.html

that was teh first race of the O-Cup this summer so it was a good chance to test out my new cable cam.

it gets better near the end.

now I just need more cable so I can get useable shots.

[scottmcleod]

Yeah, srsly. Looks awesome, but you DEFINITELY need longer runs.

[tuc11]

howd you make it?

[scottmcleod]

I could be wrong, but it's usually done with pulleys & cable. (either a single line with the pulleys on the camera mount, or a roundabout line such as a clothesline, with the pulleys on the end mounts...)

[scottmcleod]

(great thread here)

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=40251

[scottmcleod]

+1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4umh...eature=related

A bit more of a budget... but DAMN that's some sexy footage.

[DSvideo]

here's my cable cam. there's a piece of wood taped to the other end of it because we had ALOT of speed at that shoot and tried to rig up a bit of a brake...Didn't work. Oh well.

[destruct007]

very cool, I never thought to make one of those. I'd probably copy something more like your design over those bigger ones.

[Erik Bien]

Not to be a killjoy, but I would urge anyone wanting to build something like this to proceed with extreme caution and a healthy respect for the forces involved: there's a reason there are very few companies who rig these things professionally (one of the best is Spydercam, my home-town heroes).

Putting a long span of cable under extreme tension is a bit like cocking a crossbow. Several years ago I worked on a stage production of the musical Barnum. The script calls for the actor playing P.T. Barnum to perform various circus stunts: juggling, stilt-walking, and crossing a tightrope. The producer had brought in a tightrope "expert" to rig that last stunt so the tightrope could be quickly set and struck during the show, and the expert had constructed a series of thick steel plates and long eye-bolts which we drilled and bolted through the brick walls of the theatre. A stout length of braided-steel aircraft cable long enough to span the 48-foot proscenium opening with a large pintle hook on one end and a 4000 lb. hand-winch "come-along" on the other formed the tightrope.

The first time we set the gag in rehearsal, the actor was having difficulty because there was a bit of slack in the cable which allowed it to sway and move slightly, making it impossible for him to cross. At the director's and the expert's behest, I cranked as much tension into the come-along as I could.

All of a sudden I heard a very loud "BANG!" and toppled backwards, watching the two-pound pintle hook fly across the stage at warp speed, somehow threading its way harmlessly between the half-dozen people standing onstage before crashing to the ground in the wings near me. Turns out nobody had noticed the building had been sheathed on the outside with foam insulation and synthetic stucco, which "gave" just enough under the extreme tension to snap one of the eight-inch-square steel plates on the outside of the theatre in half.

Needless to say, had anyone been unfortunate enough to be in the path of the head-high flying cable the result would undoubtedly have been a closed-casket funeral. I left the director and the expert scratching their heads onstage and chain-smoked in the alley until my hands stopped shaking.

Combine those risks with the possibility of a loaded camera trolley crashing down on unsuspecting heads heads below and you quickly realize there's much more at risk from doing things wrong than a smashed camera.

[Koppel]

The camera cable will never have such high tension.

[destruct007]

haha yeah his set up it not like the one with the guys in their own cable cart, his just has the camera on a cable.

[Erik Bien]

Sorry, but that's spoken like someone who has never done the math to calculate the safe working load of a piece of aircraft cable (or "wire rope" as it's more technically known).

Safe Working Load = rope diameter (squared) x 8 tons

Example: 1/2" diameter cable: S.W.L.= 1/2 x 1/2 x 8 = 2 tons (4000 lbs.)

Consider that half-inch cable is huge, that you can easily apply that much force with a simple hand ratchet come-along (as I did), and that the S.W.L. can be reduced still further by improper anchoring, loops with tight radii and/or rope damage.

The rules of rigging safety are written in blood. To ignore them is to invite lawsuits, injury and possibly death. Sorry, but no shot is worth that!

[DSvideo]

I have cable that is rated more than high enough, I have a tightening mechanism that's rated high enough, I have straps that are rated high enough, and I'm adding max 15lbs depending on setup to the strain on the cable, nor do I need to tighten it particularly tight, in fact if I have sag in it then it could help slow the rig down for when I catch it at the end .

[tuc11]

if you used wire how easy would it be to move from location to location?

i am interested in building a portable cable cam where you find two trees and adjust the wire or rope to fit the distance. if you used rope, could you tighten it by just figuring something out, not an actual mechanism. the weight on the cable wouldn't be much, just the rig that rides it and the camera.

[Braceface]

I did some studying of cable cams because of this thread, and I probably would only get much use out of one for down hill shots where you don't need to start 40 ft. off of the ground . A natural downward pitch of the ground makes it easier to ( and more worth it ) to use, and that is why it seems that 90 percent of the footage with these cable cams are of mountain biking!!. I live in Florida, LOL. Flat as your sisters chest.

[DSvideo]

...my sister is kinda flat too...

[scottmcleod]

...my sister is kinda flat too...

... and the "Most awkward comment of the night" award goes to...