adamhiram
No longer a newbie, moving up!
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2015
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I have a 3d printer that I use for designing and making custom parts and tools, as well as some toys for my kid. However it wasn’t until recently that I started looking into specialized uses for photography. Please note that while I often design my own objects, I did not design the items discussed here.
One of the first soft boxes I got was a Glow 31” square soft box designed for use with a speed light. It sets up relatively quickly and is extremely compact for travel or storage, and for just $21, you really can’t go wrong. It mounts on a Godox/Flashpoint S-type bracket, but it is not Bowens mount; rather it uses the bracket more like a speed ring. That’s fine for a speed light, but introduces a challenge when working with bigger lights with a more standard Bowens mount.
Technically speaking, some lights like the AD400Pro can be mounted in an S-type bracket, but that requires replacing 4 tiny screws and is not very practical. The solution I initially went with was to pickup a metal Godox speed ring to insert into the soft box. It worked, but the ring was a little too small and thin and never really fit well.
But a few weeks ago, another photographer shared his design for a 3d printable speed ring with Bowens mount that addressed those issues. After printing and testing it, the fit is much better, it seems to hold up well, and it only used about $1.30 in material. The only catch is I used PLA, which is a type of plastic that is easy to work with, but doesn’t handle high temperatures very well. So far I haven’t had any issues, and my modeling lights are all LED, but I would not be surprised to find it warped after heavy use. Only time will tell.
20220630-DSC_6363a by adamhiram, on Flickr
One of the first soft boxes I got was a Glow 31” square soft box designed for use with a speed light. It sets up relatively quickly and is extremely compact for travel or storage, and for just $21, you really can’t go wrong. It mounts on a Godox/Flashpoint S-type bracket, but it is not Bowens mount; rather it uses the bracket more like a speed ring. That’s fine for a speed light, but introduces a challenge when working with bigger lights with a more standard Bowens mount.
Technically speaking, some lights like the AD400Pro can be mounted in an S-type bracket, but that requires replacing 4 tiny screws and is not very practical. The solution I initially went with was to pickup a metal Godox speed ring to insert into the soft box. It worked, but the ring was a little too small and thin and never really fit well.
But a few weeks ago, another photographer shared his design for a 3d printable speed ring with Bowens mount that addressed those issues. After printing and testing it, the fit is much better, it seems to hold up well, and it only used about $1.30 in material. The only catch is I used PLA, which is a type of plastic that is easy to work with, but doesn’t handle high temperatures very well. So far I haven’t had any issues, and my modeling lights are all LED, but I would not be surprised to find it warped after heavy use. Only time will tell.
20220630-DSC_6363a by adamhiram, on Flickr
![[No title]](/data/xfmg/thumbnail/40/40286-86401b94de8b01bea8bb4ea154aaea0a.jpg?1619739408)
