• The SH Membership has gone live. Only SH Members have access to post in the classifieds. All members can view the classifieds. Starting in 2020 only SH Members will be admitted to the annual hunting contest. Current members will need to follow these steps to upgrade: 1. Click on your username 2. Click on Account upgrades 3. Choose SH Member and purchase.
  • We've been working hard the past few weeks to come up with some big changes to our vendor policies to meet the changing needs of our community. Please see the new vendor rules here: Vendor Access Area Rules

DIY camera arm build

EricS

EricS

Well-Known Member
Vendor Rep
SH Member
Joined
Dec 14, 2016
Messages
5,464
Location
Georgia
B6FC7909-83CA-4A9C-ACED-5CCC54CFD4E4.jpeg E1982362-8363-4C6D-AF6F-B5570EE809D3.jpeg 54274AE6-0B0E-4FA4-83D3-7B4B2F37CAE1.jpeg I’m not big on secrets but I’m also not finished but I will go ahead and post what I have done so far. I have access to all kinds of welders but they are over a hour away so I just used an oxy/acetelyne torch. It’s pretty simple. The tree bracket is a wild edge stepp. @SteppsbyWildEdgeInc you and anyone else are free to build off of this since for step users I think it offers a lot of options including a rifle test and a bow holder. All it took was brazing a 5/16 bushing into the corner of a stepp. It took some playing with to get it where I want for the leveling function to work. Brazed a nut into the v also. I went with. 5/16 on both since I new I had to tap the nut out after heating and I didn’t have a 1/4” tap on hand for the adjuster. I plan to add a small aluminum block to the lower arm about half way down. It will be tapped to 5/16 to allow me to put the bolt back through to tighten everything down for transport and ensure I don’t lose the bolt. Right now as it sits it is 2lbs 1.5oz. I think I can add another bushing for a lower limb bow hanger and stealth strip it and still be under 2.5 lbs. Also as a disclaimer you probably shouldn’t use the step again for climbing. If I do it will turn into my bottom step. If someone is interested I will get a materials list together. Everything but the stepp came from Tractor Supply. I think I’m around a 100 dollar bill all in. I found a button sized level to fit in the top of the plastic handle but have to order 10 to get them. You can save on the handles also. They are 4.99 each but it would be easy to turn a bolt into a thumb screw to save there.
 
@BassBoysLLP I plan to put the fluid head I got from you on top of it. Will it ever loosen up. That thing is TIGHT.
 
EricS said:
@BassBoysLLP I plan to put the fluid head I got from you on top of it. Will it ever loosen up. That thing is TIGHT.
Click to expand...
It shouldn't be that tight. If I loosened the screws all the way my g30 would still fall and drift to a point I had to tighten them slightly

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
BassBoysLLP said:
It shouldn't be that tight. If I loosened the screws all the way my g30 would still fall and drift to a point I had to tighten them slightly

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
In fairness and full disclosure, I sampled several fluid heads this winter and it was a race between

my trusted Manfrotto 128rc

vs.

4th arrow fluid head

vs.

Manfrotto 700rc2

vs.

Gitzo G2180

vs.

Lightly used Manfrotto 701hdv (I previously owned and sold a 500AH as well).

I ended up keeping both the 128rc and the 700rc2 and selling the rest. After this exercise, I'll likely never mess with a non-Manfrotto head again. They are all good heads, but Manfrotto continues to impress me.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
giphy.gif
 
BassBoysLLP said:
It shouldn't be that tight. If I loosened the screws all the way my g30 would still fall and drift to a point I had to tighten them slightly

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
I’ve got a manfrotto tripod with a pistol grip pan head I use with a small spotting scope I backpack with. Very nice for the money. I thought about taking a small tripod for hero shots but it occurred to me that I don’t take that many hero shots and I could always set my camera arm up on a tree for the same effect.
On a side note my stepps seemed quieter than when new. I decided to clean that one out and it had about three inches of bark and wood built up in the standoff. I ran a drill through it several times beating it against a plastic drum in between. As it started coming out it went from a dong sound to doiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing. Left me thinking maybe I should have left the wood in it.
 
EricS said:
I’ve got a manfrotto tripod with a pistol grip pan head I use with a small spotting scope I backpack with. Very nice for the money. I thought about taking a small tripod for hero shots but it occurred to me that I don’t take that many hero shots and I could always set my camera arm up on a tree for the same effect.
On a side note my stepps seemed quieter than when new. I decided to clean that one out and it had about three inches of bark and wood built up in the standoff. I ran a drill through it several times beating it against a plastic drum in between. As it started coming out it went from a dong sound to doiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing. Left me thinking maybe I should have left the wood in it.
Click to expand...
I put ear plugs in mine.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
Man, earplugs, and DIY camera arms, I love it! I've been thinking about a DIY camera arm, it's pretty low on my to-do list since I can't film in the urban archery which is the bulk of my hunting. How hard is it getting the arm level? Love the earplug idea, is that better than wrapping the outside or do you recommend both?
 
@donnieballgame I put the bushing on so it’s slightly leaning away from the tree so so if it needed to be on the high side of a lean you would still have some adjustment in the lower bolt. The horizontal is all in setting up the step and how level that really needs to be and how hard it is to get it level is still to be determined. I think the leveling function of the fourth arrow is awesome. I started this project trying to figure out how to use a stepp in place of the ratchet on tree bracket in conjunction with the fourth arrow arm. Then looking at the weight just decided to try to just make the whole thing. There may be some trees I can’t use it on but it would have to be leaning in more than one direction.
 
BassBoysLLP said:
I put ear plugs in mine.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Dap spray foam works great too. It basically weighs nothing, doesn’t over-expand, cleans easily and can be removed if needed. Earplugs make great caps with the foam inside.

b5903f1c38312c36274fa386ba8ec946.heic


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Chistavocat said:
Dap spray foam works great too. It basically weighs nothing, doesn’t over-expand, cleans easily and can be removed if needed. Earplugs make great caps with the foam inside.

b5903f1c38312c36274fa386ba8ec946.heic


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Good to know. I've used Great Stuff foam on climbing sticks but that stuff adds more weight than one would think. I'll look into this foam.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
Love seeing stuff like this! Very well thought out! We have been messing around with a few different camera arms ourselves and here is one that I used all last season and I loved it. The Stepp locked the camera arm tight to the tree which prevented the bounce of the camera which we saw in every other prototype we made. There was literally no bounce in this way of attaching the arm and it was rock solid enough to lean on or use as a handle when hunting out of a saddle and even shoot off of with a gun. If I was leaving a set to hunt again I would just leave the camera arm stepp uncammed but still tied to the tension I used to lock the arm to the tree so that I could just slip the camera arm in under the rope and lock it in with little to no effort the next hunt. This also allowed me to use the stepp to attach my bow hanger to and hang my back pack off of. Self filming is like anything else in hunting, simply less effort= more success. I will post more on my filming set up and system later that I got down to a legit set up that was always easy enough that I never left the camera at home. Let me know what you guys think. These arms and a few other variations of this MAY be available soon.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_0583.jpeg
    IMG_0583.jpeg
    566.5 KB · Views: 79
  • IMG_0582.jpeg
    IMG_0582.jpeg
    542.1 KB · Views: 75
  • IMG_0554-1.jpeg
    IMG_0554-1.jpeg
    305.9 KB · Views: 72
EricS said:
@donnieballgame I put the bushing on so it’s slightly leaning away from the tree so so if it needed to be on the high side of a lean you would still have some adjustment in the lower bolt. The horizontal is all in setting up the step and how level that really needs to be and how hard it is to get it level is still to be determined. I think the leveling function of the fourth arrow is awesome. I started this project trying to figure out how to use a stepp in place of the ratchet on tree bracket in conjunction with the fourth arrow arm. Then looking at the weight just decided to try to just make the whole thing. There may be some trees I can’t use it on but it would have to be leaning in more than one direction.
Click to expand...
The hardest part if the leveling factor! We are working on a light weight leveling option but in reality I rarely struggled to find a spot on the tree that I couldn't make work.
 
I’ve got a inch of adjustment maybe more but I figured if it’s leaning that bad I can just move it around the tree some.
 
157A21C5-A6D9-4BA0-8E0A-1E3638BE32EA.jpeg The bolt I was using to attach the arm to the stepp was in the way for cramming the step over. Had to find somewhere to store it. I found a threaded insert for inserting into wood. I drilled a hole for it and then four small holes for the points that were supposed to stick into wood. Pressed it in then removed it and epoxied it back in. So far it’s holding well and keeps everything together.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top