The Flashlight Mount
You could just wrap the flashlight in armature wire, but it would be nice to be able to remove it and use it for normal flashlight-type purposes.
Find a pill bottle, or some other stiff plastic tube that is a pretty good fit for the body of the flashlight.
Make the cuts shown below to allow room for the head of the flashlight. The vertical cut (as pictured below) allows the plastic to expand to accommodate the head, the horizontal cuts match the length of the head of the flashlight. A thick rubber band around the head assembly will keep the flashlight in place.
The armature wire wire will loop through this piece to attach it to the boom. Two holes are drilled for this purpose. The hand drill is not a requirement, any drill should suffice.
It starts to come together!
Building the Boom Arm
Cut a length of wire about twice the length of the boom you want to end up with. The wire is looped through the pill bottle, crimped to hold the bottle rigidly, and then twisted together to form the boom.
Here is a close-up of the crimped wire (below). The wire is quite soft, but still requires a pair of pliers to crimp sharply. After the crimp, the wire can be twisted by hand until you near the end.
With the boom wire twisted, it’s time to slide the tubing over it. Almost done!
File Under: How-To, DIY, Make, Hardware, Photography, Macro, Lighting
January 9th, 2008 at 6:33 pm |
Hi Sam,
That’s a good idea. I’ve got an LED ring light project that I’d like to get to one of these days, which I think would also give cool results.
Maybe I’ll go see if anyone still has discount xmas LED strings…};^)
January 9th, 2008 at 2:24 pm |
Very nice idea. I might try to incorporate some of your ideas into my project. Right now I’m trying to wire 2 disposable camera flashes into the on-board camera flash for a twin-light setup on a Canon A570 with a 10+ macro conversion lens. If this works, I’ll have a “cheap” macro camera for $200, start to finish.
June 7th, 2006 at 9:44 pm |
Thanks, Phillip. And thanks too for ‘tits and bits.’ I hadn’t heard that one before…};^)
June 7th, 2006 at 9:34 pm |
Real neat thinking under your creative hat.Hat’s off to you
June 7th, 2006 at 9:28 pm |
Wow!this is some real good DIY stuff, that to with tits and bits.Congrats.Will use the idea.
June 7th, 2006 at 8:29 pm |
Awesome work…I have a summer ahead of me that I’m sure will need some more projects, so this goes on the list! Sure beats the handheld flashlight method I’m currently using.
June 7th, 2006 at 11:53 am |
Bookmarked for a later date.
I always love seeing DIY photography projects. I can’t wait to see if anyone does some mods to this.
Good stuff.