Looking for small yoke

DChang

DChang

Well-known member
I have a led lightpanel that's 7" long but did not come with a yoke mount for a stand. Any idea where I can find or how to go about making a small mount? I've looked at other companies and tried to find a match but few people make a small light panel with a yoke.
 
Pretty easy to build:

Use 1/8" x 2" aluminum flat, preferably without a higher temper rating such as 6061T1. T6 will work, just don't bend it to tight or it might crack. Bend 2 ears to the right width, holding the material in a vice and bending over with a mallet. Cut the ears to length with a hack saw and or shape them to your hearts content. Debur the cut edges with a file or sandpaper. Drill your holes and purchase a baby socket with flange and attach. Paint if you prefer.

This isn't very hard, and the aluminum is cheap, so you can afford to blow a few and get it just right.

Grant
 
Flat yokes are usually made from steel, and I've never seen one that's 2" wide. Usually 1" or less. Steel should be easier to bend a very tight corner without it breaking. Same idea though, just bend it into a U shape, drill out holes on the ends and in the middle. The ends probably need to around 1/4" - 3/8", while the middle should be 1/2" to accommodate the bolt for a TVMP adapter.

If you don't have the means to bend or drill steel that thick, you could bolt or preferably rivet a few segments of aluminum U channel together using some corner brackets to get the right shape.
 
FWIW, aluminum will work really well for this and in the flat bar size that I mentioned. Its only a little bitty panel light. If you were going to use steel, which is harder to cut and work, I'd use 16ga or possibly 14 gauge. It will be slightly more difficult to obtain that the 1/8 aluminum stock as that will come in sheets and need to be sheared.

Grant, who used to own a fab-machine shop - yacht repair biz. Also a steel detailer for industry
 
I use aluminum stock, 1/8 X1 inch. Put on vise and heat bending point with MAP gas available at Home Depot . Similar to propane that plumbers use but has higher temperature. Bends easily without breaking. Drill your holes and spray paint.
 
For something that small, a swivel flash bracket may be a lot simpler to adapt. There's all sorts of odds & ends out there...
 
Norman99 said:
I use aluminum stock, 1/8 X1 inch. Put on vise and heat bending point with MAP gas available at Home Depot . Similar to propane that plumbers use but has higher temperature. Bends easily without breaking. Drill your holes and spray paint.
Click to expand...

With aluminum, heat will reduce the yield, but excess heat will cause cracking. The key here is the most common flat bar material 6061T6 has a high temper and will crack if the bend radius is too tight. In industry, heat is very rarely used when forming aluminum. On a cold day with cold stock, aluminum is sometimes heated before welding, but usually only for thicker stock sizes and temps below 50deg.

Grant
 
Grant, I used to have a machine/fab shop. When bending 6061T6 a little trick is to smoke the bend area with an ox/acetalene torch to cover it with black soot. Gently heat the area till the soot disappears, air cool, this will anneal the aluminum. I have bent 1"x6" 6061T6 to a fairly sharp bend radius using this trick in a brake. It will eventually age harden, I doubt back to the T6 state but it does get harder. The heavy sections require a big rosebud torch, that aluminum really sucks the heat away.

BillWojo
 
Bill,

That's interesting. We used to use the soot trick to gauge how tight a bend radius to use. If the soot flakes off, you're bending too tight. 1"x6" is some substantial flat, I would have thought that would not work in a brake, a roll yes.

What type of machine shop did you have? I was in boat repair, we fabricated custom SS and alum parts. In addition, I was a dealer for Diesel engines, generators (electrical), pumps, steering, thrusters, and on and on.

I decided to get into digital arts so I could reduce the value of my retirement plan.

G
 
Thanks for your help guys. It really is all about where to look and what to look for.

I ended up searching some more once Norman gave me the Wurton bracket suggestion and I came upon a Fostex speaker mount that is closer to the 7" that I was looking for. And for the same price, actually cheaper once you factor in shipping.

All I had to do was look around for some old Arri knobs and a stand mount. Works great. Thanks again.

IMG_20140625_124029.jpg
 
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