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Homebuilt Video Camera Stabilizer

Posted on by by Posted in DIY, Video Equipment, Videography

Preventing the Blair Witch Jitters

Homebuilt Stabilizer with Canon HF-M301 Camcorder

Homebuilt Stabilizer with Canon HF-M301 Camcorder

One downside to the ultra-miniaturization camcorders and other video recording devices is the increased difficulty in holding the camera steady. The earliest camcorders, despite their awful video quality by today’s standards, did from a pure stability standpoint have the inherent advantage of larger size and mass going for them. Resting a heavy camera on the shoulder tames some of the worst jitters, but palm-sized cameras simply aren’t large enough in any axis to stabilize against the body.

Using even the simplest video stabilizer with a camcorder can result in a large improvement in picture stability. Optical and digital stabilization in camcorders can only fix a limited amount of camera mishandling – it pays to have a stable platform to start with. Learning to balance and operate a stabilizer effectively will take a fair amount of practice, but even if your movements do initially wallow around a bit when tilting and panning, the worst jitters will be gone almost from the moment you start using it.

I probably shouldn’t start off trying to explain physics behind video stabilizers – it’s a topic that is well-covered elsewhere, and you may want to skip this beginning part if you are more interested in the project.… Read the rest

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Animated Semaphore Stop Light

Posted on by by Posted in DIY, Sculpture, Molds, & Casting, Vintage

Working Semaphore Stop Light – 5 1/2 Feet Tall

This early metal casting project is the unfortunate result of an urgent need to build something out of poured metal without first doing the proper research into what I was making. Over the years I have managed to find a few images of real semaphore lights, and what I imagined they looked like was not really close to what I built. Anyway, it is what it is, and at least I can say that it is unique.

Out of fairness, this was made more than thirty years ago, shortly after I had caught a passing glimpse of a real one in a street scene of Spielberg’s “1941”. At this time there was no web, no Google images, and VCRs and laserdiscs were just starting to become available, so even the ability to replay a movie scene on your own tape or disk was yet to come. Even at antique shows that I frequented, such as the Chicagoland slot machine & antique advertising shows, I never saw any other than the common three-color stop lights in all the years I attended. Semaphore signals had to have been there at some time, but not when I visited.… Read the rest

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DIY Resistance Soldering Outfit

Posted on by by Posted in DIY, Electronics, Tools & Machinery

Put Soldering Heat Where You Need it – Now!

This Home Resistance Soldering Rig Can Deliver Over 350 Watts of Pinpoint Power

This Homemade Resistance Soldering Rig Can Deliver Over 320 Watts of Pinpoint Soldering Power

Resistance Soldering

Resistance soldering is a process by which objects to be soldered together are heated by passing a current through them rather than by applying heat from an external source. Localized heating is caused by relatively high current passing through the resistance of the junction. As long as the heating rate of the junction exceeds the thermal dissipation rate, the temperature will rise high enough for solder to melt and flow.

There can be several advantages to using resistance soldering for certain applications, but two big ones stand out:

  • Speed – a resistance soldering unit can generate heat in a localized spot much more quickly than application of a 700 to 800 degree soldering iron which relies on conduction for heat transfer. A resistance soldering unit can also exceed soldering temperatures, heating a junction to bright orange, actually welding small parts together.
  • Steep temperature gradient – because of the rapid heating of the joint being soldered, it is possible to obtain a very high temperature gradient over a short physical distance, making it easier to prevent nearby solder joints from melting and falling apart.
… Read the rest
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Building a Theatrical Prop Candy Machine

Posted on by by Posted in Coin-Op Machines

An Original Design Inspired by ’40s-’50s Stoner Vending Machines

Finished Prop - A Candy Machine That Never Existed

Finished Prop – A Candy Machine That Never Existed

This was a fun little side project that came out of nowhere.

I was approached to help with development of a working prop for a stage play that was in the works for a Minneapolis theater. The prop needed to be a candy machine, specifically a Lifesaver vending machine that would be rigged to hit the jackpot and spill at least twenty lifesaver rolls out on the floor when a lever was pressed. It also had to take a coin, but that did not need to be part of the functional mechanism. There was no requirement that the prop look authentic; it just had to be recognizable as a candy machine.

The play was based on a story set in a department store the 1960s, so there was a real opportunity to make something more decorative than a simple box vending machine of later decades. I had been handed a few functional requirements and tentative dimensions, but I was already fixated on the idea of making something in the deco style of a vintage Stoner candy machine, some versions of which vended both candy bars and roll candy.… Read the rest

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