Saturday, August 18, 2007

Upgrading the grid

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I just added about 20 pounds of steel to my grid, in the form of extension pipes attached by galvanized elbows. Now I can hang lights a good deal lower than I could before, and farther off the edges of the set. I've been wanting to get some way of putting those edge lights way off in the backfield. You can also see my "early americana" plastic window drapes....

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I also whipped up a quick prototype Gobo/flag holder. This is about as simple as it gets - just a corner clamp (used for gluing picture frames together or making mitered cuts), a piece of 3/16" aluminum armature wire, and a small el-cheapo clamp. And I'm sure I could do without the corner clam (either clamp actually) if I bent the wire around the pipe sufficiently and taped the hell out of it!

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I hope you can make out in this pic, the kind of corner clamp I have isn't deep enough to get a good solid grip on my 3/4" OD pipe - it only reaches the midpoint. Not secure at all! One slight nudge and it pops off, ruining the entire shot as well as my day.

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Once again, gaffer tape to the rescue!!! I'd like to see it pop off now!!!

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Here's a detail shot of the other end. Look closely - I've hammered the end of the armature wire flat so it can nestle nicely into the clamp and hold a piece of cardboard or thin plywood or whatever material I end up making gobos from. I'll need to experiment - some materials might tend to warp under the intense heat from my new lights.

7 comments:

Tennessee Reid said...

Dude,

Loving the conversions you are creating!

You are getting some cool ass gobo projecting action and inspiring many to start Bodgering !!

Keep it up!

Looking forward to more 'light' on the subject...

sorry should have resisted that...

Darkmatters said...

Thanks Ten!! Hey, I'm glad you went for the cheap pun - that way I'm not the only one!! ;)

Shelley Noble said...

Really clever stuff, Mike. Light into Darkarts, cool.

Shelley Noble said...

Wait for it...

Well hung!

Darkmatters said...

.... and the punning goes on......

UbaTuber said...

Its really cool to see you getting your space together!
I know I'll be referring to these posts before long, thanks for all the info (I need me some gobo BAAAD)....

Darkmatters said...

Got gobo?

Ok, something tells me that one won't catch on.

Hey, for more info check out this nifty thread:

Lighting Control.... Gobos, Scrims Dots and Cookie Cutters - any advice?. More great stuff than you can shake a blip at! ;)