Painter's pole boom

W

wsimpson

Member
I am thinking of making a DIY boom pole and shock mount. I have the standard Home Depot painter's pole (actually it is a window cleaner pole that is a little longer and a little lighter with the same threads) and saw these devices on old forum threads.

Here is what looks like a decent shock mount - at least as good as I could make with PVC pipe.
http://www.tensimount.com/tensimount.htm

Then I saw this threaded adaptor that will connect a painter's pole thread with a 1/2" pipe thread.
http://buddipole.stores.yahoo.net/centeead.html

The big question - is a 1/2" pipe thread the same as a standard microphone clip thread? Can I connect a tensimount to the window cleaner pole with this adaptor? I am sure I should really get a real boom pole and shock mount, but there will be time for that later. I need to go cheap and somewhat effective before I go professional.
 
Hey this stuff looks pretty good for the price point. It won't be as good as a carbon pole but to begin its fine. There are different kinds of painter poles. Some are fiberglas and some are aluminum and some are both. I have a 7 foot fiberglass pole that has a aluminum center post and its quieter than an all aluminum pole. I have a couple of smaller poles that fit different mics. I have a large rycote blimp and covers that fits my long shotgun mike a sennhiser 416t. Its pretty heavy so the large pole is fine for outside work. I rent a good carbon pole when I need it and thats great but until I can afford a good carbon pole these cheap ones work pretty well.

There are several different poles to choose from at McClindons Hardware stores. There not all in the same area. They have them all over the place. Took me an hour to find about 7 different types of poles that can be used.

I'll check it out tomorrow to see if it is but I know the rycote is a 3/8ths corse but I believe the mike end is bigger. We'll see.

I'm going to pick up one of the little babies just to play with.
 
If you already have a cold shoe shockmount you could do what I did:


003-4.jpg


As far as the thread differences go, it seems like they leave the bottom open to fan out in case of it being off sized. I might be looking at the picture wrong.
 
Any ideas on this part?

The big question - is a 1/2" pipe thread the same as a standard microphone clip thread? Can I connect a tensimount to the window cleaner pole with this adaptor?
 
As far as I remember (and I may be completely wrong), the microphone thread uses a tighter pitch, so although it's the same size, you can't screw them together without damaging the thread.

I've done what Sheeep has shown -- sacrificing a cheaper part to make an adapter.

BTW: Large fishing stores has a selection of extremely lightweight but durable fibreglass poles for DIY fishpole-builders.
 
I was considering trying this with a rode video mic, I never really got around to it. What I had working was a light bulb changing pole with the light bulb grabber around the mic, the holder worked as a mini shock mount. It was a little messy, but worked!
 
The infamous Harbor Freight has a very lightweight 4 section fluted aluminum extension pole with a plastic lightbulb changer on the end. Their part # 91786 - $19.99
http://search.harborfreight.com/cpisearch/web/search.do?keyword=bulb+changer&Submit=Go

(I scored one with a broken changer for $2.)

Tore out the plastic lbc and set in a standard 3/8 x 16 stove bolt with JB Weld. Definitely not as good as K-Tek carbon, but goes to 12'9" and weighs 30 oz. - pretty much in line with pro gear. Most of the poles I've seen @ Home Depot etc are way heavier than this and weight is pretty much everything when you're high porting all day.

I thought about trying one of the DIY PVC mounts but opted not to trust my mics to any of the plans I'd seen, so went with the K-tek kssm mount on the end - it works great.

http://www.trewaudio.com/store/product.php?productid=326&cat=0&page=1
 
You might want to go the light bulb changer route

You might want to go the light bulb changer route

When I made my DIY shock mount zeppelin:

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=67815&highlight=shock+mount+zeppelin

I incorporated this tutorial to make the boom pole:

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=55325&highlight=boom+pole

It ended up working out great! You can modify the bulb changer to accept whatever thread your mic holder is: 1/2", 3/8", etc., depending on the bolt you use.

Hope this helps :smile:
 
wsimpson said:
The big question - is a 1/2" pipe thread the same as a standard microphone clip thread? Can I connect a tensimount to the window cleaner pole with this adaptor?
Click to expand...

That adapter won't do you any good. There are two common sizes for mics and neither is 1/2". One is a 3/8"-16 and the other is a 5/8"-27.
 
Thanks, I went and bought a 1/2" bolt and discovered it didn't fit. Good to know the actual thread sizes now, thanks! Any ideas on using any sort of adaptors to go from pipe thread to either 3/8"-16 or 5/8"-27? I can remove the threads from the pole end and force a mic clip on it, but I would prefer to avoid that if at all possible.

I managed to use a dremel tool (first time ever) to make a cheap little shock mount. It is fairly ugly, but will likely do the trick until my tensimount comes.
 
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