DIY sand bags?

I have 30 or so bags that I sewed from a heavy canvas tarp I found at a surplus store. Filled them up with playground sand from a certain big box home store...

Just like the ones you rent from WFW, P.S., or Panavision here in Toronto.

G.
 
ZazaCast said:
I bought a bunch of these (from a different vendor) and filled them with a small grind stone but you can fill them with anything. They are inexpensive and work great. I also have a bunch of ankle weights.
http://cgi.ebay.com/2x-STUDIO-SAND-...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item27aef4a762
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Wow, I just bought a lot of ten of those. I was skeptical, but I figured at that price they were worth the risk. Glad to hear they work okay.

What kind of stones did you use?


And FYI, Dan Selakovich's Killer Camera Rigs book has a couple of good, simple patterns for sandbags.
 
Actually, the lot of 10 I got was only 55 bucks. So that works out to $5.50 a bag. Sorry I didn't clarify that in my post.

The DJ ones are 6 for a hundred, so that's over 16 bucks a bag. Still a good deal though.

And I had to troll e-bay for a while, and be willing to buy ten.
 
Those sandbags that ZaZa posted are similar to some we have in the shop in AZ. They've worked alright over the past several years but they area little disposable, depending on how you treat them, we've had some of them that have torn through the canvas with the steel plate that runs along the top where the handle is and made a kinda dangerous situation. But for cheap sandbags, they do great.
 
Jim Brennan said:
Actually, the lot of 10 I got was only 55 bucks. So that works out to $5.50 a bag. Sorry I didn't clarify that in my post.

The DJ ones are 6 for a hundred, so that's over 16 bucks a bag. Still a good deal though.

And I had to troll e-bay for a while, and be willing to buy ten.
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Why would you NOT want to get 10? More sandbags at your disposal is better than less... I just got another set of 10 to match the ones I got for xmas and I tell you it feels good to not have to worry about something as simple as a sandbag.

i did the DIY thing and made 5 of them using Rock Salt as filler, but the amount of work that went into them... I consider $70 for a set of 10 is awesome.
 
Yep. At first I was going to put the sand in baggies first. But with the double zip I thought I would live dangerously and pour the sand in. It seems very tight.

My only (minor) problem was when I yanked one of the handles pretty hard and some of the stitching for the handle pulled. So I might throw some rivets through to make sure that doesn't happen at a bad time.

Some of the best money I ever spent.
 
Lowe's carries sand bags for about 50 cents apiece in the concrete supplies section. They're the kind you see holding down construction signs, etc. and they tie with a supplied string around the top. The best (if you're looking for cheap) thing you'll find.
 
warped bros. said:
Lowe's carries sand bags for about 50 cents apiece in the concrete supplies section. They're the kind you see holding down construction signs, etc. and they tie with a supplied string around the top. The best (if you're looking for cheap) thing you'll find.
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Yeah... No.

The reason they use the cordura bags with the strap is the MULTIPLE times you use and move these bags. They can take abuse. Remember just because it's cheap doesn't make it viable in a production environment.
 
The leg weights Cassius mentioned are really far superior to sand bags.

The 20lbs pair (10lbs each bag) is made out of a nylon 600 material which is treated with chemicals to help repel water from the surface, each bag holds 5 little 2lbs bags that contain graduated ferrous content(?) in a sealed waterproof/dustproof heavy duty vinyl bag. Each bag also has two independent Velcro straps.

I have been using them for over 2 years now, sold off all the sand as it was dirty and messy, this offers a much cleaner environment and avoids the mud bags on rain days :)
 
I got a bunch here: http://www.2dreammaker.com/
Search "sandbags".

The 18lb. ones are about $12.00 each (I think I got them cheaper from their eBay store?).
I filled them with a smal gind of marble chips from Home Depot. They zip & a velcro flap closes over the top.
No mess at all.
 
Well duh. If someone is looking for a "cheap" -- anything, they're not looking for something just as good as the real thing for a fraction of the cost. They're probably wanting something to get them through a one or two day shoot. I have several of the real ones and know their purpose but also know that for "cheap" the bags I mentioned would do great, my friend...

Rodney V. Smith said:
Yeah... No.

The reason they use the cordura bags with the strap is the MULTIPLE times you use and move these bags. They can take abuse. Remember just because it's cheap doesn't make it viable in a production environment.
Click to expand...
 
warped bros. said:
Well duh. If someone is looking for a "cheap" -- anything, they're not looking for something just as good as the real thing for a fraction of the cost. They're probably wanting something to get them through a one or two day shoot. I have several of the real ones and know their purpose but also know that for "cheap" the bags I mentioned would do great, my friend...
Click to expand...

There's no need to be offensive. For most sanbags are an investment and it's a purchase that shouldn't be taken lightly. The aim here is to steer people right and bring cheap is not the best way when it comes to safety.
 
Sorry. Didn't intend to sound offensive. But I'm trying to help out somebody who maybe doesn't have $5 per bag to hold some sand for a few days. Dead weight is dead weight and as long as it's enough it'll hold down a C-stand and an extra or two. Just kidding, RS.
 
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