Projector Weights & Mounting Rigs

[Corpus]

Greetings~

I am in the process of building a custom rig to mount my projector ( the one found on vj kung fu ). I have ordered the clamp, grip, swivel pin, and mounting plate & they will be arriving this Friday.

As a secondary set up option I am scoping out tri pod stands with a 5/8th pin to use in place of the clamp when I don't have an option to clamp onto something. I mainly need the stand to mount the projector in my home studio for practice but I can also see practicality in a tri pod stand while out gigging at future venues.

From what I've seen so far most of these 'lighting/grip" stands that are reasonably inexpensive do not hold much weight. As it stands with the combined weight of the mounting rig and my current projector the entire rig weights 12lbs.

I am writing this evening to get a feel for the average/common weight for professional VJ's projector. I am currently barrowing/using an Optoma HD20 which weights 6.5lbs and is 1700 lumes, but plan on buying a more powerful projector in the future, which im guessing will be much heavier. I would like to purchase a tri pod stand that can hold up the weight of any future projector I purchase.

Thanks & I look forward to a responds,

Corpus

[stickygreen]

I have the same VJ Kung Fu mounts and my projectors are 35lbs. They are probably a bit to heavy for the swivel pin, but it works...

With that in mind you may want to consider getting a stand that can hold about 50lbs of weight, that way, you can get a larger projector, or even multiple smaller ones clamped to a cross bar.

Check Matthews grip equipment for tri pod stands that work with baby grip pin mounts.

[mattsdp]

There are lots of different types of Grip & Rigging equipment for different uses. "Baby" sized mounting is just the start. There is also "Junior" sized sized gear too. "Junior" is the next step up in size, and can handle larger loads.

Check out these sites for tons options:

http://www.cinemagadgets.com/
http://www.filmtools.com/
http://www.modernstudio.com

Message me back if you need further help.

[sleepytom]

Personally I dislike the VJ Kungfu solution. It's too flimsy and hard to use.

My variation of the concept is better, stronger and safer.

<instructions>
Arri / Manfrotto part numbers are
LC.4469.A (16mm spigot truss clamp)
LF.8010.A (baby wall plate with swivel)

you then need a bit of 10-12mm plywood - cut to size and drill in correct place for the projector mounts Paint the plywood black for a professional look!

Attach the swivel plate to the ply (i use Tnuts same size as the projector threads so all the bolts are the same!) Try and mount the plate near the center of balance (though where that is depends which lens is in the projector its not a massive issue but the better balanced it is the easier it is to fly)
Attach the truss clamp to the spigot and your done!

if you get a manfrotto super clamp as well then you can mount the projector to things which are not standard 50mm truss - the superclamp is great you can attach it to most things (edges of tables and RSJs are my favorites) an additional bonus is that the spigot will fit directly into the top of a manfrotto windup stand making a very stable and fairly low cost way of getting the projectors up high for outdoor events.
</instructions>

[PCProject]

Something that is worth a mention here when building D.I.Y. bits like this is NEVER to use metal screws into wood instead ALWAYS use a coach bolt and nut though a purpose drilled hole for the fitting.
Trusting anything carrying a load to a very thin screw thread is at some point going to contribute to equipment failure.
2p/2cents

[devonmiles]

I use selflock clamps on mine. much easier to fasten
http://www.ebay.de/itm/Traversensche...item2a17041065

[sleepytom]

Originally Posted by PCProject

Something that is worth a mention here when building D.I.Y. bits like this is NEVER to use metal screws into wood instead ALWAYS use a coach bolt and nut though a purpose drilled hole for the fitting.
Trusting anything carrying a load to a very thin screw thread is at some point going to contribute to equipment failure.
2p/2cents

Yes wood screws have no part in mounts like these.

T-Nuts are the best solution - they allow you to embed a machine screw thread into a hole in sheet ply.


A coach bolt secured through the wood is as strong as a T-nut, it's just not as neat.