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This is how I built my time lapse dolly, it was made with a whole bunch of trial and error, hopefully this will help you build yours.
A lot of the stuff I used I had on hand, don't know where I got it, or have no idea what it worth but I'll do my best at giving you a complete list of what I used and where you might get it.
This is very much a "prototype" build and posses very little polish, I would approach this Instructable as a very rough guide of what you should do, do not be afraid to substitute the parts I used for parts that you have or can get easily.
This is my first Instructable so I apologize for any shortcomings.
DIY Time Lapse Dolly from Derek Mellott on Vimeo.
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Signing UpStep 1Doin' Rails
I will start with the rails because I found it super simple to set the width of the dolly cart if you already have the rail made.
Parts and Tools (all costs are an estimate, I didn't pay close attention to costs because it scares me)
2 x 8ft 1" square aluminum tubing $30 each here in Canada probably much cheaper down south.
1 x 4ft 1/4 20 threaded rod $2
6 x 1/4 20 sex bolts...yeah (aka barrel nuts or Chicago bolts) $1 each.
6 x 1" steel hinges $2-3 a pair.
Drill bits and a drill and a 1/4 20 tap/ thread cutter, preferably a drill press to keep things straight.
Some thing to cut the aluminum tubing, I used my compound miter saw.
Hack saw
Allen wrenches
Step 1 Cut the rails to length
I originally used the full 8ft but found it a pain to move around and handle in general so I cut mine down to six feet leaving me with two 2ft pieces to use for other parts.
Step 2 Cut the cross members.
The overall width of my rails is 6.5 inches so my cross members are 4.5 inches long and I used 3 of them.. You make these any size you want, remember the width of your rails determines the size of your cart. This is also a good time to drill the holes where you will attach the tripods. Measure out the center of the cross pieces and drill a hole, I used a no. 2 drill bit then ran the 1/4 20 thread cutter bit into the hole. This will be the bottom of your cross members. test this on a piece of scrap first.
Step 3 Attach the cross members to the rails with the hinges.
I clamped it all together and then put the hinges in place to mark where to drill the holes. This is very important to get right so take your time and make sure everything is square and the hinges are flush and your holes are marked out correctly. After you have marked the holes for the hinges go ahead and drill your holes. You are going to want to drill the right size hole for the screws that came with the hinges. test it out on a scrap piece of aluminum, if the hole is too big the screws won't bite enough to hold it all together and the hole is too small you will strip the screw head or break the screw trying to get it in.
Step 4 drill the holes for the "clamp bolts"
These bolts are what make the rails rigid. You have to drill a hole big enough for the shaft of the barrel nuts to fit in. Mark the center of your cross members and transfer that mark to the side of the rails.
*IMPORTANT* DO NOT DRILL YOUR HOLE FOR THE BARREL NUT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE RAIL!!!!! make the hole as low as you can with out the lip of the barrel nut going below the bottom of the rail, you need the top of the rail to be clear for the bearing to roll on. See image.
Now you cut a length of the 1/4 20 threaded rod that will reach in between the two barrel nuts. You may have to trim it down or cut a new piece if it's too short, no worries this stuff is cheap. Make sure you get a good fit and you can tighten good, you don't have to tighten too much but you don't want any movement in the rail. You want to do this for all three cross members.
There you go! You now have a foldable rail!
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I'm going to hook this up to my rig at some point. It cost me about $30 (without 18v battery) and has variable speed and LOTS of torque. The push rod in the caulking gun was the same size and TPI (teeth per inch) as a scrap timing belt I had.
-it has a planetary gear drive.
-can go VERY slow & the acceleration gets faster on the higher end.
-could run on a $10 harbor Freight 18v battery
-has a cut off switch already wired to it. (originally to stop the gun when the caulking was out)
Antique truck
Here is mine - although I use it mostly for video!
Excellent! I just finished building our dolly from your instructable. It works almost perfectly. I have one question. I am not too familiar with using a PWM and am not sure if I just have a bad one. I purchased the the motor and the PWM you linked too, however, the motor does not work until the dial is turned up to about 20%. From all the way turned down to about the 20% mark, nothing happens. With the size of the belt pulley and an 8' track, it takes about 5.5 hrs to make the whole thing, however I was hoping that I might be able to get it slower. Again, thanks so much for putting this out there. I've been wanting one of these for a long time.
Good luck with your build!
That's SO META.
regards from Bulgaria
Again, thanks for posting.
Regarding the shutter I can see on your photo that it is an external one, on the video you posted, when you see the camera going up to the deck, how fast did you took the photos and how much did you moved the camera between shots ? I see it very smooth no step by step, What software did you used to make the video (to combine the photos) ? Sorry, I ended with lots of questions....
I compiled the frames in Adobe Lightroom.
Good luck with your build.
Cheers!