Panning Timelapse Rig

In Tutorial by admin

Yes, I have a bit of a timelapse fetish. I got a kitchen timer for just $3 and made this awesome panning timelapse rig that circles 360 degrees in 1 hour.

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Notable Materials:
> Kitchen timer
> 1/4-20 bolt
> 1/4-20 t nut
> Quick set epoxy
> Plywood scrap

Notable Tools:
> Bandsaw
> Disk sander
> Drill press
> Angle grinder

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Build Details

So it just starts with this cheapo kitchen timer that was only a few bucks at the big box store. All it takes to disassemble it from it’s casing is a screw in the back.

I take the timer mechanism and put it on top of a piece of plywood to trace it out.

The circle is cut out to rough size on the bandsaw and then I drill a hole through the center and use this on my disk sander to sand it down to a perfect circle.

I pull the top of the timer off so I can attach a bolt there for a way to mount the camera.

I first drill through the bottom of it to locate the center of the dial and then bring it over to my drill press to drill a 1/4″ hole through the top deep enough to mount a bolt.

While I’m there, I also drill out the plywood base, both for the tripod bolt to fit into and also for the base of the threaded t-nut that I am going to be installing in the plywood.

I grab a 1/4-20 bolt from my hardware drawer and insert it into the dial so I can mark it to cut to length.

The bolt is mounted in a clamp and cut down to size with my angle grinder.

Now it’s just a matter of assembly. I mix up some quick set 2-part epoxy and use it both in the plywood base and also in the dial.

The t-nut is installed in the plywood base and then the bolt is installed in the dial.

I also use the same 2-part epoxy on the plywood base in order to fasten it to the timer mechanism.

The pieces are then all mounted together. The tripod threads into the t-nut in the plywood base and the bolt in the dial is threaded into the camera.
Then it’s just a matter of cleaning it up and painting it to make it look a little more sleek.
It’s super easy to mount it by just threaded it on between the tripod and the camera, almost too easy for the really cool results.