Quick light stand

[Gary Sconce]

I am building 6 light stands for Aftershock Studios feature shoot this spring. Here is the first light stand done:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3605/3337205972_7306bf0e6b.jpg?v=1236485054

The goals are: 1) to be built super cheap... 2) to be sturdy 3) to rise up from 3' to 13' adjustable height of light 4) to have a 4' span on the boom.

As they will be transported in a trailer, they only need to shed the booms and then get stacked.

On this one I lucked out and had an extra mike stand for the adjustable boom arm. Others will just use pins and sliding tubing as will this one's vertical riser.

Just 1/2" and 3/4" electrical conduit and a bicycle seat clamp for the boom lock. The vertical tube is 5' with a 4 1/2' internal tube that can rise. With the 4' addition of the boom vertically raised, it will hit the 13' I need. YAY! :)


I figure they will cost around $15 each less lights. Here is another shot. See the square stock welded directly on the nose of the boom tube. This allows stage C clamps to be used for versatility.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3345/3337205976_71892da97e.jpg?v=0

Notice the square washer on the back of the boom that will hold a counterweight. The tubes will velcro down all the wiring for grip safety on set. One of the stands will have three castors with brake locks on it.

Gary

[Jason Miller]

Hey Gary that looks pretty cool, how much weight can they hold, and do you have any photos of it folded up for transport,

I have been thinking about building a few of these
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=111441&highlight=stand

but yours may be a better option

[Gary Sconce]

I have not loaded them down, but would conservatively guess they can hold any lights that are on the market. If you notice, there is a bracing tube under the cross beam on the boom that supports the fulcrum of the arm. The 45 degree bracing on the legs adds stiffness and support to the legs and the vertical tube. I have soft rubber feet that go on the base legs for floor protection and anti-sliding.

Folding these won't happen. The base and vertical tripod tubes are solid for fast construction and low cost. The arm is removable and then the bases stack in a trailer, nesting in each other.

I will be assembly-line constructing the other 5 today and then will be building soft box frames and attachments when done with that. Don't forget, when welding thinwall zinc covered electrical conduit tubes, use low power, short pops of the MIG and blow the smoke away from you with a fan. Zinc oxide smoke is not good for you. If you blow out a hole in the tube carefully pop away at the edges to close the hole up again to renew structural strength.

As these are cheap, quick and dirty, I am not even grinding the welds for beauty. Strong, fast, cheap and ugly is the thing with these. Hehehe.

Fun, fun, fun!

Gary

[Jason Miller]

Strong, fast, cheap and ugly sounds like any number of myex girlfriends. kidding

[Gary Sconce]

Strong, fast, cheap and ugly sounds like any number of myex girlfriends. kidding
LOL! I am back on the assembly line today to finish the bases for the rest. all of the booms are done. I'll post a pic of the whole group when done.

Then it is on to the Hyperchariot. :)

[Gary Sconce]

Here are all 6 stands. I tested them last night and even heavy lights can be raised up to 13' with counterweights properly placed on the back.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3599/3358593976_18fa9bd168.jpg?v=1237166485

Here is a close up of the pivot at the boom fulcrum. It is simply a bike seat lock cam welded to boom and stand with a large lever welded to the tightening bolt for ease of adjustment.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3558/3358593496_dfa1bb4f6c.jpg?v=0

Sorry about the slight unfocus. Here is the boom arm all painted for on set.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3577/3358593178_7eda650354.jpg?v=0

And finally, here are three of the new Aftershock Studios stands showing the highest, lowest and straight settings. Fun, fun, fun! Matt Sconce and I were thinking of calling them 'crap stands' because they are actually just a bunch of crap welded together... hehehe. But, they will work well and can be used for a large assortment of studio activity, from holding mikes to green screens.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3639/3357776253_ea87425ef5.jpg?v=1237166517

You will see the results of these on the Stricken movie being shot this spring for 2011.

[Gary Sconce]

We did screen tests and an advertising photo shoot for STRICKEN the feature last night. It was the first test of the stands. They worked GREAT. The only problem was that the booms take up a lot of room inside small areas and I saw the need for alternatate heads for the stands that are short and hold the lights and soft boxes near to the top of the stands.

I have focusable Fresnels that weigh around 10# and the booms were fine with 20# balanced.

The addition of 5# to 10# ballast on the back of the boom worked perfectly and the adjustments were smooth. I will probably just cut down two of the six stands for use as key or fill lights with soft boxes and leave the other four as long booms. YAY! :)

[Gary Sconce]

I cut down two of the six stands to be more appropriately used in a smaller setting with soft boxes. The large booms were too big and took up way too much space on smaller set so I removed 2' of boom and 1.5' of stand height and then painted them. Here is a pic of the smaller stand placed next to the Hyperchariot.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3421/3386896640_16e06a7093.jpg?v=1238041511

I am now onto building "ShockLights" (aka Kinoflows on the cheap). I have one ballasted set done and its electronics test well with the light frequencies all matching true sunlight in every way. I have designed stands to be made tomorrow and will have three 3000W units done by Sunday. Two will be on lower stands and one will mount on a tall boom stand.

I am also building a 'Hyper-Gallows' to hang people universally in various sets and settings. It is almost done. Hang... on! Hehehe.

Fun, fun, fun! -Gary