Georgi Stand with Trackball
After posting some pictures in the Plover Discord channel end of August which even got featured by Mirabai on the Plover Blog and Germ himself reminding me of it when ordering my second Georgi, here’s my write-up at last with a few more pictures and the part list.
This stand is an evolution of my Stenomod stand with an additional cheese plate to mount the trackball as well as a 3D-printed case for the Georgi. As with the Stenomod stand, it didn’t involve any custom crafting or anything. Just putting all the pieces together.
Again, I ordered the parts on amazon.de but was able to find them or similar versions on the amazon.com:
- 1 x EXMAX 360 Degree Swivel Mini Tripod Ball Head with 1/4” Screw Thread Base… 2 Pack Black (you’ll need two ball heads and this a set of two)
- 4 x SmallRig Multi-function Mounting Plate Cheese Plate with 1/4” and 3/8” Connections for Sony F970…
- 1 x Rollei Compact Traveler Star S1 (DIGI 3400) - Compact Tripod, Height 125 cm, with Ball Head, Aluminium… (pretty much any tripod will do)
- 2 x Quick Release Thumb Screw Tripod L Type Bracket Stand 1/4 Male to 1/4 Female Screw Adapter… 2 Pack (You’ll need three screws in total and the one I linked is a pack of two so you’ll need two packs. That’s not exactly the ones I got but they have a similar length. Mine are SmallRig 1/4” Kamera Montage Thumbscrew mit Rändelkopf from amazon.de.)
- 1 x SMALLRIG Removable Counterweight 100g (to mount the trackball a bit higher)
- 1 x EZ Pass/I-Pass/SunPass Adhesive Strips (to mount the trackball to the cheese plate in a flexible way)
- 1 x Kensington Orbit Trackball Mouse with Scroll Ring (K72337US) (Germ recommended the ELECOM Huge trackball to me which I’ll try out in the future)
In addition, you’ll need two small bolts and nuts to fix the Georgi on the cheese plates which I didn’t order online.
Since the official Georgi case is currently out of stock, a 3D-printed one is a very nice alternative. The case that I use was designed by SashaK on Discord and can be found on Tingiverse. I went for the “deeper” version. There’s also a “deepest” version available now which might be interesting as well. Since I don’t own a 3D printer, I used a German printing service and went for ABS plastic. As you might see on the pictures, the housing for the ports didn’t turn out completely straight so PLA might be a better choice. Consider leaving a tip for Sasha if you enjoy the case!
I have a Georgi Rev1 and Germ mentioned that Rev3 might get bigger mounting holes but you might have to wait a few months for them to be available. Until then, the small existing holes were good enough for me. SashaK, the designer of the 3D-printed case, was brave enough to drill an additional hole into the center of the Georgi to mount a 1/4 to 3/8 adapter (pictures taken from Discord):
Here’s a picture of the middle section without the cheese plate for the trackball, showing the weight that I use to mount the trackball in a comfortable hight relative to the Georgi:
What I really like about the stand is the flexibility. The tripod, cheese plates, and ball heads allow almost any angle and orientation. My current setting is quite boring but things like this are also possible:
Enjoy building your own Georgi mount and let me know if you have any questions.