Thread For Boom Poles!!

natdizzle

natdizzle

Active member
Hey...
Looking to get a Boom Pole but hmmmm they are well over 100 dollars...and some even go for the 700s or 800s....sooo im wondering if anyone knows of any websites, stores or what not that are selling them at a resonable price??

and even some nice shotgun mics??


and if you have made you own Post pics!! instructions or anything...

this is Anything Boom POle THread! :thumbsup:
 
The simplest and cheapest I've ever come across is a painter's pole. They're $10 at any home improvement type store, and they have a plastic threaded part on the end which is easy to machine/whittle down and thread to 5/8" mic thread.
 
natdizzle, I made the ugliest boom pole in the world, but works like hell to me. I got 3 aluminum tubes (1 meter each, I guess) and asked a guy to make the connections for me. If I want only 2 meters, I don´t attach the 3rd tube. Simple like this. I can post a pic for you in a couple of days, ´cause it´s not with me now. Everything was made in 1 day!
 
I've had great results with painter's poles as long as you can isolate the mic with a decent mount.
 
I made mine with a telescoping lightbulb changer and a shotgun mount I ordered from b&h photo. However, I didn't bother to modify the end so the mount could screw on. I came up with a much more elegant, efficient, and time effective solution.

Here's a pic:

lashing.jpg


If I had twine in the house, I would have used that, but I only had that piece of leather (which I also trimmed to be thinner since it was much too wide).
 
NIce, Im definatly gonna hit up Home Depot and Check out those Poles... seem like they are the way to go...
Definalty retro Lashings Virum!
 
I did what many have done:

Painter's pole
Dremel the end to fit a shock mount
Spray painted the pole flat black

Looks very professional! hehe

All for under $40
 
i made mine from stuff i got at home depot.

7ft-14ft paintroller extension (made from some plastic composite so its lighter in weight). i took the handle from a paint roller and took the whole metal piece that goes into it out (looks kind of like a metal bar thats in the shape of a "U" that the roller slides onto). i just got myself a bolt that was a little bigger than the size of the hole the metal "U" shaped bar was in and tapped it with the bolt i bought (since its plastic, there was no need for buying a tap and dye set). then i got a piece of 1/2" hollow pipe about 4" long, drilled a little bigger hole in the top and one smaller so i could mount it to the paintroller handle.

then for my shock mount, i used a 2" PVC "T" shaped adapter and a plug for the bottom of the "T" to make it flat. theres a couple different ways to do this, but i just got a dremmel tool and made some notches on both ends so i could put some rubberbands on there. i just slide the boom mic right on through the rubber bands. you can also make a hole in the top so if your mic has a switch, or you can make a longer mount or shorter depending on the size of your microphone.

for mounting the shockmount to the paint roller, i got a boom mic clip that had threads that went up into it. i drilled another hole (bigger on bottom, then smaller on top) of the hollow 1/2" pipe and mounted the mic clip to it. theni actually broke the "U" shaped clip part (part that actually holds the mic in place) off so all i had was a strip of plastic essentially. i got 2 short small coarse threaded screws, predrilled holes in the mic clip, then mounted in flush to the end cap i put on the bottom of the "T" PVC piece.

now you got yourself a boom setup and the mic clip can be tightened or loosened depending upon how much play you want in your mic adjustment up top. i also ran a corrogated (curly looking) mic cable through the inside of the paintroller tube out through the bottom. easiest way to do this is with some dental floss and a vaccuum cleaner to pull the wire through.

its hard to visualize this without pictures, but hopefully i can get some up soon enough once we get our digital camera.

(and excuse my spelling or not making sense, i just had surgery and i've been on hydrocodone for a few days, so things are kinda weird).
 
I had a boom that was actually an inexpensive telescoping fishing pole. The last (smallest diameter) tubes were removed, and the three that were left gave me a reach of about 12 feet, maybe more. The end of the smallest remaining tube was a perfect fit for a mic mounting adapter that I epoxied in place. Very lightweight and strong. The only problem was that it was only adjustable by removing segments -- it wouldn't lock in intermediate positions. It was, of course, hollow, so if I wanted I could have threaded a mic cable through it.

Dave
 
nice like the ideas...Havent made it to Home depot yet, But i think after that visit ill have my Boom mic...
what about any shotgun mics people have bought and Good value ones???
 
The boom pole I used for my feature was a Home Depot painter's pole, on sale for $6.99 (Canadian).

The shotgun mic I have (and recommend) is an AKG short shotgun that came with a proper shockmount.

of course, the match between shock mount and painter's pole wasn't perfect. So, I slid the shockmount onto the pole, drilled a hole in the side of the shockmount and sunk a drywall screw into the whole thing.

Worked great, total cost of pole $7 (6.99 + 0.01 for the screw!)

Dave
 
Here are a few pics of my "Home Depot Boom"

Here is the detail. The pole is a 6-12ft telescoping fiberglass and aluminum paint stick, I left the oversized thread on the end and used J.B. weld to weld the appropriate thread size screw to the end and used a couple of bolts as spacers. (the weld is rock solid:thumbsup: )
boom3.jpg


Here is is with an azden SGM-1x and shock mount.
boom1.jpg


Here is it in its 6ft state (note that the pole was originaly a hidious yellow color but nothing a nice electrical tape wrap cant handle.)
boom2.jpg


Hope this was helpful. (total cost about 30 bones)
 
as long as you never take that electrical tape off, you wont have any problems! :) thats a residue nightmare waiting to happen!
 
Hey
okay from the post ive gotten the painters pole for the boom,
now rather then build a shock mount, been cool designs on the site, why not buy this one for 30 bucks, i think i might, but will i be able to screw this on the top, im just not sure of the connection...i dont wwanna have to screw through the plastic and through the Pole....


http://cgi.ebay.ca/CAD-GZM-6-Shock-...ryZ29948QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting
theres a bunch on ebay like this

SC1SHOCK.JPG
 
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