SkyHook

When I saw the Sky Hook that 'doubleboost' showed in his YouTube video, I sat upright in the recliner and thought what a brilliant solution to the problem of tripping over tripods and the space they take up.

I then said to myself:

"I can adapt that to run in the OverheadCrane Unistrut I'd recently put up!"

Then the normal process of thrashing out ideas before the final design was reached.

Eventually I came up with that shown in the photos, but not without grief with regards the new length of Unistrut I fitted above the workbench.

The uprights that had the pins in them, that slide along the inside of the Unistrut, where dimensioned as the OverheadCrane, BUT the new Unistrut was either a reject or it had need extruded beyond acceptable limits as I couldn't get the uprights to fit!

I had to grind the tops of said uprights right down to the pins before they would slide along, so that precluded the use of roller bearings. Not a deal breaker, just not so easy to move along that's all.

I already had a few lengths of pipe I used as rollers to position the machines, but just needed a slightly larger outer tube.

Fortunately there is a gold mine scrap/parts hoarder/dealer close by who had what I needed, as well as longer lengths for the Carport SkyHooks to be added later.

Machining and assembly where straight forward, but the only design limitation, on mine at least, soon showed up when on first test as I couldn't get the thing to lock securely.

The thin contact point between the LockingShaft and InnerTube just didn't cut the mustard, so a solution was sorely needed. It is just a plug of aluminum with a concave machined in one end to match the InnerTube diameter, and loosely held in place by a pin to the LockingShaft.

It now locks with less than a 1/4 turn on the LockingShaft.

I now need to make a second one, so that I can do multiple videos, but need to practice using it/them before taking a video of the BH600G Apron being removed to replace the parts I mangled.

I'm very pleased with the design, and can now pack the tripods away.

Did think of adding a quick release base to the camera bracket, but ditched that as its quick and easy to swop cameras.

Hope it inspires others to adapt 'doubleboost's' design.

Geoff - Photos up in Album of same name as thread.

Hi OuBallie,

Nice project, well done and nicely recorded.

Do you do video recordings for You tube?

Regards, Bear..

Thanks for the comments Bear.

I've been wanting to make YouTube videos for some time now, but never plucked up the courage to do so, and the universal problem of positioning the camera/s put me off as well.

Now, however, there is no excuse thanks to the SkyHook design from 'doubleboost' so yes, I shall be doing videos as and when I am doing something interesting, be it ME or working on the Austin Seven.

The first will be taking the lathe's Apron off again, but I need to make a second SkyHook beforehand.

Will keep everyone updated.

Geoff - Sausages here I come.

I like it John, and that will work a treat with my Kodak camcorder.

Watched your video when I read the 'screw cutting made easy' thread.

Geoff - Bad night so taking it easy today.