Make a Duo-Staged Tripod!!

by gjanelle in Circuits > Cameras

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Make a Duo-Staged Tripod!!

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Tripods for your camera can be so expensive so this is going to show you how you can make your own double staged tripod out of old cds!

1st pic: finished product camera on top stage
2nd pic: finished product camera on bottom stage

(sorry for the bad quality in some pics, had to be taken with my phone since camera was dead or in pic itself)








Gather the Materials

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Materials:
your camera
old cds (2)
thick wire (i used led free soldering wire)
pipe (should be the same diameter as a penny or a little bigger)
tape (i used shiny silver but any tape will work fine)
decrative paper (optional)
crazy glue

Tools:
scissors
wire cutters
files (one bigger file would work just as well as small thin ones as shown in the picture)
pliers (i recommend a few pliers of different sizes)

Cover the Cds (optional)

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This step is optional. Personally i like to cover my cd when using them for projects so that you dont see what the cd actually is, you only see the the shiny silver side and the decrative side. First trace the cd onto a peice of paper twice. Then cut them both out. The peices of paper should be bigger than the actual cd. Glue the paper to the cd first before you cut the excess off so that you dont cut off too much. Once the paper is glued to the cd cut off the remanding paper. 

1st pic: front of cd
2nd pic: tracing the cd

TIP: cut the circle in the center of the paper after it is already glued so that u dont make it too big.

*ONLY CUT A CIRCLE IN ONE OF THE CDS!*

Making the Legs

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First u need to determine how sturdy your wire is. mine is pretty soft and week so i had to double it. this step is following what i had to do. skip the first part if your wire is sturdy enough. Next cut 6 pieces of wire all the same lenght. they can be as long or as short you want them to be. Having multiple pliers of different sizes is very useful for this step. put the wires into 3 piles, 2 wires in each. next twist 1 pile of wires pieces together so that its all swirly like. do that with the other 2 piles.

1st pic: after twisted
2nd pic: before

Make the Base

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making the base is pretty easy as long as you take your time and have the rite tools. doing this can get frustrating but it just takes time. first put your camera up against the pipe to determine how long you need your pipe to be. you want to add about a centemeter more to the length of the pipe so that there is still room to press the button to take the picture. mark where you want to cut the pipe. after you measure, cut the pipe. after the pipe is cute, file the edges so that there are no sharp parts. i had a copper pipe, but i covered it with silver tape to make it look better. after the pipe is cut, gather together your three legs. stick all three legs into the pipe so you can see them through the other side. stick the other end of the legs through the cd and pull the cd up to the pipe. crazy glue the pipe to the cd. now you have made the base

1st pic: (bad quality, SORRY) legs in pipe
2nd pic: finished result of this step (its upside down, sorry)

******you'll notice in the pic that my pipe is not cut or covered yet, i recommend cutting and covering it first before you add the first stage (cd) and the legs because it made it difficult for me later on. (my dad wasnt home so i didnt have a pipe cutter yet lol)

Make It Sturdy

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first bend the legs out a little so that the cd or the pipe do not slide down. second wrap a peice of wire around the legs one or two tiems under the cd. next flip it upside down so the underside is showing. cut off 3 smaller pieces of wire. wrap one piece of smaller wire around the leg and twist it like you did the legs. after its twisted, position it up to the cd and bend it so that it lays flat onto the cd so that you can tape it so keep its place.

1st pic: wrapping the wire (sorry i dont have the pipe on but you should)
2nd pic: beginning the twist
3rd pic: finished underside
4th pic: testing the sturdyness

Adding the Top Stage

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This step for some people is the finishing step because the next step is optional. All you do for this step is glue the second disk ontop with your krazy glue. You dont have to add any extra legs on the bottom to make it sturdy because there is no tube in the center and the weight is focused on the center as apposed to just one side like the bottom stage.

1st pic: front view of stages
2nd pic: the whole thing
3rd pic: camera on top
4th pic: camera on bottom

Finishing/Decorating It Up (Optional)

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This step is optional. I cut out stripes and added them onto the stages. This is only because i had to cover the bottom stage with pink bc i spilt krazy glue on the purple. i put purple stripes on the pink for the bottom stage and put pink strips on the purple for the top stage. this was a last minute choice but it worked out good. oh well. now its done so thats okay:)  hope you liked my instructable, commentt!

1st pic: finished tripod with camera on top
2nd pic: finished tripod with camera on bottom
3rd pic: finished tripod without stripes