Filmmaking Guide: How to Make Your Own Dolly

A dolly is a widely used piece of equipment used in filmmaking to make your camera's tracking movements more fluid and going towards a specified direction. For this practical dolly project, you need a regular camera tripod and a do-it-yourself dolly base made of PVC pipes. You also need skateboard wheels attached to the dolly base.

1. Gather your materials: tripod, 3 pieces of 40mm PVC pipes, 2 pieces of T-shaped PVC pipe connectors, 4 pieces of right-angle brackets, 8 skateboard wheels with bearings, and 4 pieces of 30mm by 30mm timber. Also, prepare your tools and other related construction materials: saw drill, threaded rods and nuts, and wood screws.

2. Build a dolly base using PVC pipes. Fully extend your tripod's three legs to get an accurate distance between the tripod's first two legs, which should be aligned together. Measure and mark the center of the first two legs, then get the distance between this center and the third leg. If the first two legs are aligned together, the third leg should be at the back of the first two.

3. Place an inverted T-shaped PVC pipe connector to the center of the first two legs, then connect two PVC pipes of identical lengths to the left and right sides of this inverted T-shape pipe connector. These pipes must be about 4 inches longer than the position of the tripod's extended legs.

4. Attach another long piece of PVC pipe into your inverted pipe connector. Connect the long pipe at the middle of the tripod's two front legs and back leg through your inverted pipe connector. Ensure a length that is about 4 inches longer than the distance between the middle of the tripod's first two legs and third leg.

5. Attach another T-shaped PVC pipe connector at the opposite end of the long pipe.

6. Attach two identical PVC pipes to the opposite end of the connector where the third leg is. Connect them in the same way you did with the attachment made for the first connector, but this time, your pipes have much shorter lengths. While the length may vary according to your preferences, as a benchmark, you can make each one about 4 inches long, which totals to about 8 inches long, once the two pipes are placed together via your second connector.

This completes your PVC pipe dolly base. Visually, this makes one inverted T shape on the front and a T shape on the back of the base. They share the same vertical line to create their T shapes. However, the horizontal line of the inverted T shape on the front is longer than the horizontal line of the T shape at the back.

7. Drill three separate holes on top of your dolly base. The holes should match the spots where the ends of your fully extended tripod legs will be placed.

8. Attach a right-angle bracket to cover two adjacent sides of each of your 4 pieces of 30mm by 30mm timber wood squares.

9. Drill a hollow onto the middle surface of each timber. Ideally, the drilled surface can be about half a centimeter deep. Each one should match the end of the PVC pipe to be attached to it.

10. Attach two skateboard wheels on the right angle bracket of each timber -- one wheel per 90 degrees where a bracket is placed. Do the same for the rest of the other three timbers.

11. Attach each timber piece to each horizontal PVC pipe's end, specifically the end of each T-shaped pipe. Ensure that the wheels and bracket of each timber face the same frontal direction. This way, your dolly base secures the wheels on the ground.

12. Attach the ends of your fully extended tripod legs into the holes you made on your dolly base. Place your camera and set the proper height for you tripod before shooting.

Heading to the movies? Get an instant mobile coupon to use at select theaters for free popcorn!