PTZ Truss Mounting

[techiejay]

Hey all,

I’m looking for some ideas on how to mount a PTZ to an existing ceiling truss, but at a 1m drop.  Doughty and others do boom arms with clamps already welded at the top, and I can attach a half coupler to my PTZs but that’d leave them sideways and not secure at all if on the end of a pole.  Wondered if anyone could share an idea for correctly mounting them upside down on a drop bar - I’m thinking I’d need something T shaped or U shaped but not really finding much online using those terms 🙂

~J

[themadhippy]

what sort of fixings are on the ptz? is there a tripod mount? adapt that to 10mm,bit of 10mm stud and a half coupler

[david.elsbury]

We use 244RC magic arms from Manfrotto with a super clamp on the end. Works a great.

[sleah]

Worth looking on the  UNICOL website, they make things that pretty well attach anything to anything, and very securely at that.

[TomHoward]

If you can attach a half coupler to the PTZ presumably it has a 10mm hole, 1m length of M10 studding in a half coupler or hook clamp at the top?
Put a bolt both sides at the top & bottom obviously to make both connections tight..

This may vibrate under movement though, in which case budget options may involve scaffolding couplers or Unistrut.

[p.k.roberts]

Have you looked at the Doughty modular stuff? You could put together a half-coupler at the top of a drop-arm and a stirrup at the bottom allowing you to mount the camera (with it's half-coupler) in the correct orientation.

[sunray]

11 hours ago, themadhippy said:

what sort of fixings are on the ptz? is there a tripod mount? adapt that to 10mm,bit of 10mm stud and a half coupler

Had a situation in December where a Canford 631 would be easiest mounted on a mic stand.

Only place I found adapters at anything like sensible price... AliExpress.

While looking I found just about every combination of metric to imperial/camera.

However buying a metre of 1/4 studding would save using adapters, albeit far more flexible for camera movement.

Edited March 14, 2023 by sunray

[sunray]

I once had to suspend a device from a bar but designed to be screwed to a vertical surface, (last minute thing) for that I used a piece of 2*1" wood and half coupler with bolt horizontal.

Edited March 14, 2023 by sunray

[dosxuk]

I would be very wary of using 10mm (or thinner) threaded rod for suspension in this way - not because of any concerns over strength or it failing, but because the amount of flex when you move your camera, or anything else attached to the truss, will result in wobble. Will probably be fine for a locked off wide angle camera though.

Sadly I've had to use a set up involving multiple cameras suspended like this and it was a nightmare to film with - we ended up using a load of steel wire with gripples to tension the whole drop and keep it steady, something that was far from pretty but was quick and easy to add on. Doing it from scratch again, we'd either have used proper drop bars from the likes of unicol or doughty, or gone with much thicker rod - probably M16+.

[sunray]

2 hours ago, dosxuk said:

I would be very wary of using 10mm (or thinner) threaded rod for suspension in this way - not because of any concerns over strength or it failing, but because the amount of flex when you move your camera, or anything else attached to the truss, will result in wobble. Will probably be fine for a locked off wide angle camera though.

Sadly I've had to use a set up involving multiple cameras suspended like this and it was a nightmare to film with - we ended up using a load of steel wire with gripples to tension the whole drop and keep it steady, something that was far from pretty but was quick and easy to add on. Doing it from scratch again, we'd either have used proper drop bars from the likes of unicol or doughty, or gone with much thicker rod - probably M16+.

Yes the point I hinted at, another option could be a 1/4 stud sleeved with a tube such as 20mm conduit.

[Dave m]

Take a look at

https://www.cameragrip.com/camera-clamps-mounting-brackets/
 

I have used magic arms a lot, you could use a short scaff pole with either a superclamp or coupler/scaff/tube clamp

[the kid]

What is the camera ? We got some HKvision a while ago, I purchased optional straight drops rather than the L pipe they come with. adding a clamp or getting a fabricator to weld an extension on would be an option

[techiejay2]

Thanks everybody for your replies.  I had a look into the various options suggested here, and since it'll be hanging over people's heads and in quite a noisy environment, I opted for the Doughty modular system - a clamp, an adjustable drop pole and a single stirrup on the end, then couplers attached to the cameras.

For those asking, they're Datavideo PTC-150s, meaning their screw threads are all in US/Imperial sizes, so next headache is finding the right bolt, but thanks all for your help, I really appreciate it.

[dosxuk]

1 hour ago, techiejay2 said:

For those asking, they're Datavideo PTC-150s, meaning their screw threads are all in US/Imperial sizes, so next headache is finding the right bolt, but thanks all for your help, I really appreciate it.

I believe the three holes for the stock ceiling mount are M3 and the tripod mount is a standard camera thread - 1/4 20 UNC. Both sizes are readily available in the UK.