I have had a home studio flash setup for more than 10 years. We originally mostly used it for pet and product photography, but having good lightning is always nice when you want to take good pictures. We have been very glad to have it, even though it is massively outdated by now.
The other day, I tried to adjust it in a direction that it was not made to be adjusted in, so it refused. I simply thought this was because it is so old and probably just stuck, so I tried a bit harder. This time it broke, and I realized my mistake. I tried tilting it sideways, when it can only tilt in one direction and rotate.
Right when it happened, I had hopped that it was only the stand that had broken and that I could replace that instead of the flash itself. They are substantially cheaper to replace. Alas, it was the flash itself that was broken and it was a part that was built into the flash itself!
After a day of desperation, and looking at new flashes, I thought of trying to create a strap-on mount, to simply fasten the flash on, that could maybe replace the broken part.
Yes, I use tinkercad.. I know that some places it is even described as a software for kids, but honestly, I like it and as long as it can do what I want it to do, it works fine for me
So the basic idea was to make a ring around the flash, with a new tap on it, that could be fastened onto the stand. As the flash it slightly conical in shape, I chose to add screws to tighten it onto the rear area of the flash. To do this, i created 3 squares where a nut could fin into the inner part and a hole for a bolt to go through it from the other side.
I also had to create an indentation right above the mounting tap, in order to fit the cable outlet through. This actually took a few prints to get right, mostly because I was too lazy to measure it!
In the end, I managed to get it fixed onto the flash and after 3 prints and a few days of frustration, the flash is back in business!
Leave a Reply