BOOM-BOX / ON-SET BOX
Offered as kit of six box faces with openings and guide holes or fully fitted and finished to a
high standard. 5 available
Following a request from an AMPS member looking for a decent on set box for boom-ops I am
pre-fabricating 12 kits for boom / onset boxes. I have orders for 7 of the 12 immediately so 5
kits remain unsold. I got bored with stand-by chippies not making the boxes as promised so I
thought I would offer this.
The box carcass is 50 x 33 x 33 cm (plus 4 cm Height in rubber feet and 35mm Depth in
handle when made up). Weighs 9.5 Kgs./21 lbs. fully fitted. Solid strong construction. Boom
hole on top, a 20 x 23cm opening in front face and pre-drilled, counter-sunk guide holes for
wood screws when in kit form.
Base is Heavy Duty waterproof exterior ply to make it base heavy and for strength, the rest in
18mm. MDF
IF you want me to makeup your box, it will take me about a day to make-up, fit, fill, sand,
paint and install all the bits and pieces plus the time and petrol it takes to potter about
shopping for the various fittings etc.
I fit a 55 mm PVC drain pipe to keep the boom upright, secured and cemented with joiners top
and bottom, so a 60 mm opening on top, a recessed tube end cap fitting at the bottom,
secured with the same 4 cm rubber door stops I use for feet and foam damped around top and
bottom of the tube. The small amount of travel this allows reduces the effect of wind gusts
and so chances of falling over outside. One centred tube only for ease/cost of fabrication also
for strength when box is stood on and the wind on two booms would be roughly squared not
doubled. A centred single tube makes for stability when outdoors in wind.
Storage: 23 x 20 cm. opening sawed out of the front face of the box to allow stowage inside. I
would have to find and price some little boxes if/as desired ( for moleskin, scissors, batteries,
phone etc.) I fitted a spare segmented Portabrace bag front piece into mine, mounted on
Velcro again. This leaves plenty of room for a sweatshirt or whatever.
Finish: 2 coats pale grey paint inside and 3 coats non-oil based black exterior waterproof paint
outside. Strong handle as seen in aluminium, washers inside to spread the load.
4 feet on base (4cm high in total - rubber doorstops on top of 2 mm felt).
I place four felt feet on one of the long sides as well as the rubber feet on the base so you can
use it on its side to get 33 cm height (instead of 54 cm height in upright position), screwed in
and screw heads re-covered with felt caps securely glued in place, so no scratches to floors
indoors or to the box itself when used that way.
The interior Light fitting is an Osram 3 LED unit with a touch sensitive switch on a pivoting LED
tube, the base plate is fixed on Velcro so you can change it's placement inside as you like , the
light unit itself slips off it's base plate easily to replace batteries (3 x AAA).
TBC: Some sort of flap to the opening - not a hinged door, probably black rubber matting to
cover opening, screwed to one side and Velcro fixing on the other. I have to source yet (NOT
the leather flap shown in the pictures).
Finally a fitting screwed to the back for a re-usable cable tie so you can secure a cable or two
on the outside of the box without putting wet/dirty cables inside the box itself and a grey tape
stripe at the top with your name and phone number printed on in case you've left it behind!
Price-wise: I made mine using mostly bits I had lying about at home and off-cuts in the bin at
the carpentry shop. So I have yet to exactly price all the parts for those that are being fully
made-up, but I estimate with all the above fittings and finished as seen at between £275-300
(no VAT) excluding shipping. You will pay for my time, labour, paint and so on but the parts
are at my cost price!
OR
Make it yourself from the kit: Just £30 for the kit of six fabricated box faces, ready to make
up, plus the foam to damp tube movement at the top tube opening and to snugly fit the hole
drilled on the top face and round the base bung in the tube end cap. (Use a 55mm drainpipe
tube and tube joiner at top, end cap at bottom with a recess, cement together, all standard
plumbers shop stuff). The rest of the bits are easily found in B & Q , Homebase , etc. You will
need some filler, sandpaper, (or a power sander preferably), a drill, screwdriver, wood screws,
paint and brushes, a handle and some feet in order to do it yourself, really not hard to do once
you have the wooden parts cut for you. Could be done in a day and cost you half as much.
Let me know if you want me to make one up, or just want a kit.
Martin Seeley A.M.P.S.
martin.seeley@me.com martin.seeley@mac.com martin.seeley@o2.co.uk
http://web.me.com/martin.seeley/MSHOME!/Welcome.html
Telephone: 07973 417140