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After procrastinating over which gimble head to purchase I made my own
Very versatile I think-
1 cam + large lens
Macro work
2 cameras top and bottom
1 camera and up to 3 flash units
made from 10mm aluminium and will take up to 30Kg
weight less than 1kg
Comment please






Cheers Jim

Looks good.
If you are planning on shooting wildlife though, I would suggest painting (powdercoat??? Anodise???) it black to minimise reflections scaring your subject.

Does the bottom mount point have a thrust bearing in it?

Brilliant!!! I suppose if you can't find what you want, there's no reason why you can't make your own.

Hi Jim - looks like your engineer side is working for your photography .
Please bring it along to the next meet so I can have a play - you may get some orders
ps THE Camoflage powdercoat could be a big winner / or simply a coat of black paint
DebT

Looks very interesting and useful.
How much is the obvious question?

Looks very nice, so when can we place orders?

HI Guys keep your collective design hats on as this can be interactive.Anodise or 2 pac black paint will be used on the final product.I will adopt a system such as the Wimberly where Forum members may try and return if not happy.Wendl the thrust washer after much deliberation is 5mm thick Teflon as this gives a very low c0-efficient of friction and can be locked in1/4 turn.
Jim
And Deb I am hanging out for a group meet but evey day chosen I am working--damn

bloody hell Jim...last time I saw you you were taking nice quaint pics of the equines jumping fallen logs...looks like you got bored!

when and if I ever get time to do this tog stuff properly i know where to go!

cheers

R2 PS the printer has been a winner!!

HI Damien Glad the printer worked out if you ever get that 300 F2.8 out of Nikon you may need one of these
I will have a price and fin product --Mk11 ready in 7-10 days
Cheers Jim

Jim let me know when I can pop up the road and have a look at this wonderful beast in the flesh. Top effort.

Geez Jim looks terrific and i just forked out for a cheap Indian Wemberley look alike!
Good luck with the concept.
P.S. Geez you've dragged out the lust in me with that 200-400VR
cheers
marco

I have absolutely no use for this but seeing it all set up I want one anyway .

Looking forward to seeing the next iteration.

Fantastic bit of engineering there, I like the why not build it myself attitude you get some much more control over the finished product and can tailor it to suit your specific needs!

looks great Jim,

on the final product, for me anyway, it would be nice to have an arca-swiss clamp to attach the lens to.

When shooting with a gimble head, I find that I can stabilise the lens better if I have my left hand on top of the lens, roughly in line with the top of the lens foot. On this design, it may be hard to do looking at the space you have between the lens and the top of the loop on the gimble loop. Maybe having a hand slot on the top could be a good idea. It would raise the flash but I wouldn't think it would be too high.

Hopefully, you understand what I mean, if not, let me know and I'll try to clarify.

cheers,

André

Very promising!

As André says, an Arca-Swiss clamp is important for some of us. As well as providing a QR mechanism that's compatible with my gear, it also provides the important means of balancing the rig front/back.
As you switch lenses, bodies, add a battery grip, etc the centre of gravity will change and it's important to be able to move gear forwards/back to re-balance. Gimbal rigs work best when perfectly balanced: let go and it doesn't move.

Come to think of it, you have no way to balance it up/down (e.g. as you switch to lenses of different dimensions). Have you thought of how to solve that problem?

Also I agree with André's comment about resting your left hand on the lens. This is a critical component of good long-lens technique to dampen the vibrations, and also makes it possible to manipulate the focus and zoom rings during shooting. This is why most Wimberley users put the gimbal arm on the right side, leaving the left free to access the lens.

Lastly, you should have some easy way to tighten/lock the horizontal and vertical axes in the field (i.e. without needing a spanner).

Keep up the good work!

Wow!

Nice work! When I grow up I want one of those

As they say, there is always room for improvement, true, but being able to make yourself what you need is priceless. Further, I bet you had lots of fun in the making process, from design to proof of concept.