Can’t Afford a Fancy Camera Slider? Build One!
TheHyperFix couldn’t justify the cost of a fancy DJI camera slider, so he built his own.
Trying to succeed as a maker on YouTube is really hard. Not only do you have to be good at making things, but you have to be good are presenting those things, too. The bar is high when it comes to what viewers expect for production quality, so cinematic camera shots are almost the bare minimum. Camera sliders go a long way there, but TheHyperFix couldn’t justify the cost of a nice DJI model. So, he built his own camera slider.
To keep the budget as small as possible, TheHyperFix planned to use parts from an old 3D printer. He wanted his camera slider to pan and tilt, in addition to the linear sliding. If you add those up, you’ll get three axes — exactly the same number that the 3D printer possessed! The 3D printer’s parts also included a controller, lengths of aluminum extrusion, and other miscellaneous bits that would be useful.
TheHyperFix figured he could simply reassemble those parts into a new form with 3D-printed brackets, yielding a nearly free camera slider.
And that was a good plan that initially went pretty smoothly, until a mishap caused the controller to fry itself. Luckily, the solution was pretty affordable. TheHyperFix was able to replace the controller with an Arduino UNO R3 MDB (Microcontroller Development Board) and a CNC shield that hosts stepper motor driver modules. But those, plus a handful of other parts, stressed TheHyperFix’s budget enough that he was forced to sell his beloved Nissan 350Z.
It is sad that TheHyperFix had to make that sacrifice, but it wasn’t in vain. The new parts let him build a functional camera slider with pan/tilt capability. It was jittery, which is something you don’t notice until seeing video from the camera, but TheHyperFix addressed that with new stepper drivers that have better microstepping and sturdier 3D-printed parts.
The results are great and TheHyperFix is able to capture some very nice shots now. More importantly, we think his channel deserves some subscribers for the dedication he put into this project. So, smash those “like” and “subscribe” buttons, folks!