Dumpster Diving Project

smoke665 · Mar 21, 2018

Okay I'll admit it, I've done a little dumpster diving in my life. Heck most of the furnishings in my college apartment came from selective shopping on the street. LOL My wife usually won't let me do it anymore, but I found a prize I couldn't pass up last fall. In the RV Park dumpster was a large telescope with stand, and a couple of aluminum tubing arms from an RV awning. There was some other good stuff, but the DW caught me on the second trip.

The telescope was trash (I saved the glass for something in the future, just don't know what yet), but the tripod was pretty sturdy. I have clear boxes loaded with all kinds of bits and pieces waiting for me to find a use for them.

Anyhow, I dug it out of the corner of the shop this morning, started putting pieces together and voila. For about the price of a cup of coffee, I now have a heavy duty combination light stand/boom. It adjusts up, down, tilts, rotates, and extends. The weight is not ideal, and I'll likely change it to attach horizontal to the end of the arm. Now if the wind will settle down so I can spray a coat of paint, I'll be done.

Side view -

2018-03-21_02-48-15 by William Raber, on Flickr

Arm clamp/support

2018-03-21_02-47-43 by William Raber, on Flickr

adamhiram · Mar 21, 2018

That’s funny, I was just in the market for a boom arm but didn’t really want to spend the money for something I’m not sure I’ll use all that often. Looks pretty good!

Gary A. · Mar 21, 2018

With some major league rubber bands, you can dual purpose it to a shooter.

Gary A. · Mar 21, 2018

You know what they say: one man's trash ... is still trash... :cool-48:

smoke665 · Mar 21, 2018

adamhiram said:
That’s funny, I was just in the market for a boom arm but didn’t really want to spend the money for something I’m not sure I’ll use all that often. Looks pretty good!

What prompted me to build it was the other day I pulled out my "store bought" boom and attached to my "store bought" stand which promptly fell over. I have several weight bags, which solved the problem, but I thought there is surely something better for studio use. I haven't decided if it needs casters yet. Think I have some in my project boxes.

smoke665 · Mar 21, 2018

Gary A. said:
You know what they say: one man's trash ... is still trash..

That's okay Gary, I know you want one. Come visit and I'll let you use it LOL

Gary A. · Mar 21, 2018

smoke665 said:
Gary A. said:

You know what they say: one man's trash ... is still trash..

Click to expand...

That's okay Gary, I know you want one. Come visit and I'll let you use it LOL

LOL ... I'm on my way.