8mm Forum: Projector Stands 2008

This is topic Projector Stands 2008 in forum General Yak at 8mm Forum.

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Posted by Graham Ritchie (Member # 559) on September 22, 2008, 10:16 PM:

I was wondering what everyone uses for there projector? today I dusted of my old stand I made years ago at the time I was looking at buying one but they were expensive and I thought I could make one better, at the time I had access to a welding plant so out of scrap material I built it so it can fold away. Today was a good excuse to put it up and give the Eiki a run at the same time its been sitting around for a few years.

Its got a wide base and is very stable it can easily take the weight of two 16mm projectors I did have a shelf thats attached to the bottom but have lost it. The top part where the Eiki is sitting on can come away everything is bolted and very secure.

One tip if you are using a projector stand is to tie the speaker wires to a nearby table leg "something heavy" its better for someone to do a flying leap than to pull the hole thing over [Eek!]

, and thats even though you are being extra carefull with all this stuff [Wink]

Graham. So what do you use??? [Smile]

[ July 23, 2009, 09:25 PM: Message edited by: Graham Ritchie ]

Posted by Patrick Walsh (Member # 637) on September 23, 2008, 02:13 AM:

VERY GOOD GRAHAM!
AT THE MOMENT MY GS AND ELMO 16CL JUST SIT AN ANY FREE TABLE SPACE AVAILABLE AROUND THE HOUSE.
I BELIEVE THAT COMMERCIAL PROJECTOR STANDS WERE AVAILABLE FOR PROJECTORS EG 16MM PLANT INSTALLED IN A PERMANANT SET UP, I REMEMBER THE ONE AT HIGH SCHOOL WAS ON A STAND WITH ALL THE LIGHT DIMMERS FOR THE CINEMA ON THE SIDE OF IT.
PAT

Posted by Paul Adsett (Member # 25) on September 23, 2008, 08:47 AM:

Hi Graham,
I must say your screening room and film equipment looks incredible.
For my film projection stand I use an old microwave oven stand. It is solid wood, and it has a massive top shelf which is 50 ins high, which is perfect. There is a lower shelf which I use for the Yamaha 10 band graphic equalizer. The whole stand is very heavy and has 4 castor wheels so that it can be moved if necesary. It is perfect for holding up the GS1200, it is very stiff and there is no wobble at all. And, it is quite decorative, so it fits in well with the decor.

Posted by Paul Spinks (Member # 573) on September 23, 2008, 09:41 PM:

I still use my Dad's old projector stand which he bought back in the 1960's probably from Dixons. It's probably the oldest bit of home cinema equipment I use.

Paul.

Posted by Jean-Marc Toussaint (Member # 270) on September 24, 2008, 02:17 AM:

I use a filing cabinet found at Ikea. Found it in the office furniture department so it's really meant to hold heavy weights. It's 1.4 m high, 0.9 m wide and 0.45 m deep. Perfect to hold two projectors side by side. And I can store the machines inside the cabinet.
I have enclosed it more than a year ago inside a sound-proof booth. The 35mm projector sits permanently on top of it and there's still room for either a 16 or super 8 machine.

Posted by Joerg Niggemann (Member # 611) on September 24, 2008, 04:16 AM:

I use a "Karba" stand. Very popular in Germany and made for heavy weights. The company doesn't exist any more, but they can often be found at ebay. Here are some pics:

Karba stand

I found this site when searching for some Karba photos, but it's worth having a closer look...

Joerg

Posted by Graham Ritchie (Member # 559) on September 24, 2008, 04:25 AM:

Thanks for your comments, its always interesting to read what other people use, long before we had a fixed set up the projector stand was a must not just for home use but for film shows put on elsewhere. I do hope the remaining 1000 members of this forum are not using last years "National Geographic" to prop their projectors up [Wink]

I did see this method used once at a film convention [Eek!]

... any more projector stands out there in film land [Smile]

Graham.

Posted by Mal Brake (Member # 14) on September 24, 2008, 08:19 AM:

For the shows we do away from home (doing one tonight for a railway society) we use a large two-tier stand made by Arrow. We bought it brand new from Derann in the mid-seventies for £15. We wanted two but there was only one left with no more available.

One modification made was the fitting of a 4-gang socket to the lower table to minimise the risk of someone tripping over trailing cables.
Mal

[ October 05, 2008, 07:28 AM: Message edited by: Mal Brake ]

Posted by Martin Jones (Member # 1163) on September 24, 2008, 09:29 AM:

Graham Richie's reference to National Geographic used as a projector stand reminds me of the visit I made to repair a TV at the home of my local Member of Parliament. All Members of Parliuament in the UK are issued at regular intervals with transcripts of all proceedings in the House of Commons called "Hansard". which take the form of very expensively bound hard-backed volumes. His TV rested serenely on the top of two piles of these volumes!

And I have two versions of the stand mentioned by Mal; one completely folding and one with screw on legs.

Martin

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on September 24, 2008, 09:52 AM:

As a sign of what a good sport my wife is, my two machines usually sit at the far end of the dining room table and "have dinner" with us quite often. I project through the dining room, through an archway, across the living room and on a screen that hangs from hooks in the front bay window and hides quite nicely behind the curtains when it's rolled up. This gives me almost the entire depth of the house as my throw distance. I've recently installed speakers in the corners of the window and am going to wire them to an amp at the far end of the dining room.

When I take my show on the road I use a small folding table maybe two feet by three we bought last year. It has a white polyethylene table top and is adjustable in height. It is big enough to hold two S8 projectors plus supporting stuff and quite sturdy too. My worry (…beyond it just plain collapsing, of course) was that with two machines operating it would flex enough to vibrate the beam and blur the image, but even when one machine is operating and the other rewinding the picture is steady as a rock. The nice thing is it folds flat so it’s easier to find room for it in the car.

I think it's this one:

http://www.competitiveedgeproducts.com/detail.aspx?ID=25

Posted by Claus Harding (Member # 702) on September 24, 2008, 01:06 PM:

For me, "old faithful" here has done the job for 31 years now, from my first Eumig 807 up to my Eiki Xenon 3500.

Portable, and yet sturdy enough that as long as you are at least a bit careful with the projectors, it gives a good solid base.

For some reason I have not seen any of these stands on EBay or elsewhere; I have thought about having a second one for the long-play unit, but no luck so far.

I like the Karba tables mentioned.

Claus.

Posted by David Pannell (Member # 300) on September 25, 2008, 05:14 AM:

My projector stand is similar to Claus Harding's. Mine also has an adjustable foot to accommodate any uneven floor. The only immediate visible difference is that the second shelf is much higher on mine - above the scissor hinge. This means it is suitable for standing another projector on, without the beam being of such an angle to cause focussing problems between the top and bottom of the picture.

Whilst the lower shelf is too high to accommodate a projector of the type with reels fore and aft, it happily accommodates machines of the older school, (of which I have several), which have the feed and take-up spools both to the front of the machine.

Also it is very handy for a slide projector - for showing those glorious 35mm transparencies!

Posted by Douglas Meltzer (Member # 28) on September 25, 2008, 08:58 AM:

I use the Welt Safe-Lock Project-O-Stand. Da-Lite now makes their own version.

Doug

Posted by James E. Stubbs (Member # 817) on October 05, 2008, 12:05 AM:

A bit to my wife's chagrin, I use her colapable dinner trays. Works perfectly for my ST1200HD placed on top of it's case with a towel on top to protect the case and keep it level. I used to put it away all the time. It's been out and set up now for about 6 months and my wife doesn't seem to mind since it's tucked neatly next to her grandmother's organ. It looks nice and makes me happy to see it sitting there. It's nice to be able to pull down the 5x7' screen and pop on a film anytime.

The Eiki or the Telex is another story. Since I don't have a zoom lense for either, in order to fill up the whole scree I have to put in way back in the kitchen on top of a bunch of phone books.... If I end up keeping my current house past next spring I'm going to move a wall upstairs and create a nice home cinema. Even got permission from the wife to put a "projection booth" in the adjoining bedroom... Somday soon after I complete the 1000 other projects..... [Razz]

Cheers,

Posted by Graham Ritchie (Member # 559) on July 23, 2009, 09:23 PM:

Michael
I have brought back this past topic on projector stands which also includes information from other forum members as well.

If you buy a couple of lenghts of heavy gauge steel tubing and know someone that can bend and weld to your requirements that might be the best way, the rest can be DIY, is easy a bit of wood some screws and wood glue. I have never come across a projector stand that in my view is any good, also most are to low and do not have a wide enough base to be stable enough, years ago I had access to welding gear etc so just made my own. The one in the pictures above can take two 16mm projectors no problem, the wooden bench is bolted to the frame and the hole thing can be folded away.

Graham.

PS Just a thought [Roll Eyes]

is that when you use a stand it does pay to tie the speaker/mains wires etc to the nearest table leg or something thats heavy. The reason is no matter how carefull you are with laying out the wiring there is always the slight chance of someone triping over ,its better for them to go flying than to pull the hole thing over [Wink]

Posted by Michael O'Regan (Member # 938) on July 24, 2009, 01:21 PM:

Well, it would appear that Claus and David use similar to myself, so I'm in good company.
[Smile]

-Mike

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