My Home made Wimberley Sidekick

Euan

Euan

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So ive been wanting one of these for a while but couldnt justify buying one. Im lucky enough to work somewhere that has a fairly good supply of stainless tubing, fixtures and fitting and access to a lathe, pipebenders and a welding set. So basically thought why not! Heres the result. (Unfortunately couldnt take any pics of it in pieces as were not allowed camera's at work.)

With the 120-300mm mounted.


Home Made Sidekick-17-2 by FrogDriveR1, on Flickr

Close ups

Its basically two pieces of 1/2" Swagelok tubing welded together and welded to a piece of mild steel to clamp onto the tripod head. A two nylon bushes inserted into the shorter tube. An M10 allen screw fits through the bushes and has had the head cut and an M6 tapped hole to allow the arca swiss clamp to be fitted. An old valve handle with the brass insert tapped out to M10 is used to adjust the friction. I added a couple of brass washers to make sure the nylon didn't get worn.

Two coats of grey primer and two coats of matt black paint to finish it off.


Home Made Sidekick-7 by FrogDriveR1, on Flickr

Didnt quite drill 100% straight here!!


Home Made Sidekick-4-2 by FrogDriveR1, on Flickr


Home Made Sidekick-5-2 by FrogDriveR1, on Flickr

Looks at a dodgy angle but thats the way the tripod head was set!


Home Made Sidekick by FrogDriveR1, on Flickr

Anyway i hope someone found this interesting, i really enjoyed making it and am over the moon with the results. I'm currently working out the best way to make a full gimbal head!
 
I like it, but its not a full Wimberley Head but a side-kick, its not working like a counterbalanced Wimberley!
 
Hence the title "my home made wimberley sidekick", the full gimbal is next on my list. Glad you like it though!
 
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Hence the title "my home made wimberley sidekick",
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Swear that wasn't there when I first read it, please accept my apologies.
 
Nice to see the lens got there alright :). But it works better with the camera on it. Would like to see the next one. What did it coast to make, mutch of a saving ?
 
Ziploc said:
But it works better with the camera on it.
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The camera is on there in the first one, its hidden by the enormous lens!

I made quite a saving, it cost me exactly £6.98 in spray paint, thats all.
 
OK, so I am very knew to photography, can someone explain what a 'Wimberley' is and what is used for?

Fantastic welding!
 
Sorry guys, newbie question here, but what is a wimberley sidekick? :thinking:

Edit: David beat me to it! :D
 
Have a look here for the full range, they are Gimbal heads used to make tracking moving objects nice and smooth with long lenses. They also counterbalance the lens and camera so it wont just drop forward etc if you let go. The sidekicks are cutdown versions that mount to a normal ball head. They are the rolls royce of the gimbal world.
 
Thanks, Euan.
I'm guessing your DIY job cost an awful lot less than £245!
 
Mandoo said:
Thanks, Euan.
I'm guessing your DIY job cost an awful lot less than £245!
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Your welcome!, yep as mentioned above it cost me £6.98 for two tins of spray paint. The rest was kindly "donated" by work ;)
 
£6.98 for the paint????

This reminds me of when my dad worked at a British company that made aircraft and weapons parts to aircraft tolerances. He once made himself a plastering trowel at work in works time and using works materials. He did it over a few night shifts but he was happy as it cost him nothing (he didn't need to paint it) anyway when he went to a DIY store and found that they cost £3 to buy he then worked it out with what he was paid and the cost of the materials the one he made cost someone about £140 so real good value.
 
the paint was the only thing we didnt have at work, so got some from a car shop. I agree if you look at it the accountants way even though it was all off cuts etc lying in our workshop it probably cost a fortune in manhours/materials!
 
Must have given you a great sense of satisfaction to do that, aside from the considerable saving. What ball head are you using in the photograph?
 
It really did actually especially when i got it home and it fitted and worked! I didnt have the head with me so it was done of guesswork and i found the approx dimensions of arca swiss plates online.

The ball head is a Manfrotto 468 this one
 
Very impressive piece of work Euan, you should be proud.

It is good to see the get down and make it yourself spirit if you want something is still alive in this age of instant gratification.

Well done.

Paul
 
Cool ............... if I give you £6.98 ............ can you make me one
 
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