Making a Panorama Head with a Difference.

[Seapy]

I am quite enthusiastic about making some 360-180º panoramas, I'm not so enthusiastic about the commercially available specialised pano heads I have seen.  They strike me as poorly designed, messy construction and flimsy.

So I decided to make my own.  It won't be light but it should be solid.

I did a deal with a local scrapyard and obtained a large chunk of one inch thick (25.5mm) magnesium-aluminium alloy about three feet (900mm) in diameter, weighing 38Kg, for a song, well actually they swapped it for some scrap.  I don't intend to use all of it for this project!

What I intend to do is to make a curved Arca Swiss plate which mounts on a rotating head with detents.  The camera/lens will be attached to the crescent shaped curved (200mm radius on the centre line) plate and will cause the lens nodal point to remain exactly on both  the vertical and horizontal axes with a minimum of 'fiddly bits' yet be rigid and stable for robust use in the field.  This was initially inspired by (but not copied from) a very solid movie tripod head, which is in the fourth picture.

These are pictures of the plate aluminium, which I am reliably informed was once part of a shoe manufacturing machine!!!

I hope to update this thread as I progress through the process.

[simato73]

This is bonkers! (in a good way)
I could be curious to see it in action one day...

[BEZ]

This warms my heart  ......a real Englishman in his shed, making things from big lumps of metal.

You are my hero, well done sir!

Regards

[richardHaw]

 

[Akira]

Wow, this is quite a project!

At first, I thought you would stand on the disc holding a camera and have someone to rotate the whole thing!   

[arthurking83]

....
At first, I thought you would stand on the disc holding a camera and have someone to rotate the whole thing!   

Would have been easier that way.
Easier than holding the eventual massive contraption, and a lot easier than cutting it all up!

Looking forward to see the results too.

[golunvolo]

This is bonkers! (in a good way)
I could be curious to see it in action one day...

  Beautifully bonkers. Please do share the rest of the project

[Seapy]

 

Thanks for the encouragement guys, I am waiting to get the disk in my friends lathe, I know it will fit but not sure if the tooling will reach the edge to turn it down to size and cut the outer dovetail groove.  Although I'm sure we will improvise something, I do have access to an even larger lathe if needs be.  Mine is only a five inch lathe, it won't stretch to 17", well not easily

I am deliberating whether to make the dovetail two inches wide or stick to the Arca Swiss, one and a half inches, 38mm.  I like heavy and strong but perhaps 38mm is strong enough in magnesium aluminium one inch thick (25mm) Also it will allow standard parts to fit the rail.  Given this rail is curved I may need to introduce a radius in the nodal rail clamp which grips my curved plate.

I am waiting for two Arca nodal rails from eBay but they seem to be lost in transit, may not even see them this year.   

I take it the only way of getting video on here is to host it on You-Tube and post the link? 

[Jakov Minić]

Robert, we are all eagerly awaiting to see the results of your marvelous endeavor!
Feel free to post a link to YouTube, of course

[Seapy]

Thanks Jakov, I recently acquired a dinky little Go-Pro cube thing and plan to use it to record some go the process. 

[Frank Fremerey]

It is quite amusing and absurd. Mattew Rogers makes a  head that is really sturdy and relatively light weight. Look for 360 precision absolute

[Seapy]

Frank, this for FUN, you don't do fun???

I enjoy making things, as well as climbing mountains and taking photographs and probably a hundred other things you may consider absurd.  I shall continue with my little project despite your apparent disapproval. 

Thank you for the pointer to a very delightful designed panoramic head.  After delightful design, flimsy was the first thought which came into my head (pun intended!). 

Can you imagine my D3 and Nikkor 300mm f2.8 mounted on one of those heads...  I shudder to contemplate it and the flimsy head would probably shudder too/  The nodal point of the 300 f2.8 is about 215mm BEHIND the lens mount.  Not quite sure how your suggestion would handle that.  My design will handle it with aplomb and will be rock solid.  But perhaps you consider using the 300 2.8 for panoramas is absurd too?

It may be absurd to you but I will enjoy making it and using it that's is more important for me than going out and spending a lot of money on someone else's excellent and artistic design.  You never know, others may like my design and reproduce it themselves.

[Akira]

Robert, hope you keep pushing your project forward.  I have almost no idea of what you are trying to make and am sooooo intrigued!

[Seapy]

Thank you Akira, indeed I will.  This evening am visiting my friend to try the lump in his lathe.  Tea and biscuits, surrounded by historic racing motorbikes in his shed!  A 250 Rudge hillclimb bike, an HRD Vincent and a prototype three wheeler which paved the way for the most controversial sidecar world championship title ever, the Greenwood special, which my friend is currently restoring (with a little help from me).  Oh joy!

Might even make some swarf... 

[Hugh_3170]

Indeed  and +1 from me too.

Maybe another George Daniels?

This warms my heart  ......a real Englishman in his shed, making things from big lumps of metal.

You are my hero, well done sir!

Regards