Win a Pentax Limited Lens: Raffle Now Live!

Well I have been meaning to post these for a while but forgot and then was recently reminded.
Here is my ultra heavy duty tripod that was built from 2x4s. The main bolts to hold the tray/cross member in place and that also act as hinges for the legs are 1/2 inch bolts. The plywood I used was some scrap 3/4 inch pressure treated. The screws are all 3 inch deck screws. to tighten the legs to keep them from sliding in or out I used some square U-bolts that are sized for 2x4s. The bolt that runs up through the top is a long 3/8 inch coarse thread (3/8x16) one which is the correct size for mounting a tripod head onto. Once the cross member/tray is removed and the u-bolts loosened the legs can be slid up and the legs folded in. Because of the materials used it easily has a safe load capacity of 500 lbs but that was not the goal in construction. To save some money one could go down to 3/8 inch bolts or even 1/4 inch ones but the store didn't have 6 of eather of them and I didn't want to wait so I paid a few dollars more.

It is heavy weighing in at around 60 lbs but rock solid. I use an old manfrotto 3047 head on it and it has no problem supporting the K-3, battery grip, and SMC A* 400mm f/2.8 lens for long astro shots. I spent just under $50 in materials for the tripod and that does not include head which was another $25. If I had to buy plywood for this I would have spent probably another $10 and if I didn't have excess deck screws I that would have added like another 5. The bulk of the expense was in the 6x 1/2 inch bolts, 6x square u-bolts, nuts, washers, and 1x 3/8 bolt.

The full tripod




The top showing the bolt for mounting the head



The tray mounted and showing the top of the leg that slides out




The clamp to hold the leg that slides out made from square u-bolts.

Holy mackeral. That's not a tripod....THIS is a a tripod. "I built this to hold one wheel of my Honda while I worked on it, then I realized it would function fine to hold a few pounds of equipment."

Very nice, Mossy. Thanks for posting it.

The pictures should be good enough that if someone wants they can replicate it.

Totally. One could almost do it with 2x2" and save a little money and weight.

One would save weight but when I went board shopping 2x4s where the cheapest boards for a given length. Going to 2x3 or 2x2 actually cost more than using 2x4s. I think this is a great example of economies of scale in that even thought a 2x2 or 2x3 uses less material the whole lumber industry is optimized for 2x4s so that they end up being cheaper.

With a table saw one could rip the 2x4 into a pair of 2x2 pieces to reduce weight - but the weight is part of the stability I would expect. It would be interesting to know how different the 2x2 version would be.

Given the vertical orientation of the “4 inch” dimension I’d imagine the amount of flex is a bit reduced and the 2x2 will be worse in multiple ways.

You know, you can just buy 2x2's. No need to rip a 2X4. But you are right, you would need to modify the design in order to retain the stability.