A LONG time ago at the Detroit Maker Faire, I saw a guy selling an attachment for telescoping pole… this small block which would hold a small digital camera, and there was a lever and string attached that would allow him to take pictures from the top of the pole by pulling the string which would depress the shutter button on the camera…
It basically was a selfie stick, but could reach quite high. I’m sure this guy was a bit ahead of his time for inventing the selfie stick since back then camera phones weren’t really a thing yet… (Yes, a long time ago)
BUT what really interested me was one of the poles he was using to demo his little camera holder was mechanically advantaged self extending, allowing him to very quickly take the pole to it’s maximum length and then quickly bring it down back to him so he could show people the pictures he was taking.
I found this youtube video describing how I think such a pole would work:
The thing is I’ve looked for a pole like this ever since and I’ve never seen anything like it.
Has anyone seen anything like this or maybe know some magic keyword to search for… or at least confirm they’ve seen such a pole and I’m not crazy?
I have seen something that from the out side looked similar but not on the inside. People that do the R2D2 telescope radar thing. Checkout james Bruton on youtube and his r4 build.
Thanks! I think you’re referring to this video here:
I’ve loved watching his opendog videos, I guess I need to go back further and watch some of his older videos I didn’t realize he has so many before opendog.
Specifically I was looking for the a commercial pole I can buy that’s similar to what this guy was using at the maker faire to demonstrate his product. I figured maybe someone here remembers seeing this vendor a number of years ago.
Hi Zimmer62, how about a telescoping flag pole?? Mom had one in her front yard that was 3 untapered sections about 6’ long. Depending on what you want for material for it (tubing) look at ID and OD’s of PVC pipe or thin wall metal tubing and see what fits. Wall thickness will prolly be a concern - depending on how high you want it to go and the weight the extension mech. will need to extend it. Return could be gravity. You can prolly get/make bushings for it to keep it rigid or at least slopping, think OD of inner to ID of outer tubes. Do you recall what the one that you saw used for an actuating mechanism (both up and down)?
Boom overlap - think about an extension boom on bucket trucks and or cranes… Other than wind as a side force would there be any other side force. Would it be extended when vertical or when horizontal and then raised to vertical.
Toadz aka Jim
