This is a quick how-to on making your own portable light stand that’s built on a golf push cart.
The inspiration of my design is based on the original by Peter Nguyen, and a follow-on by Joseph Philbert. Both these solutions were based on the Bag Boy brand of golf push cart and requires drilling a hold to clamp the light stand to the golf cart shaft. There was also a similar solution (sorry, lost the link) using a CaddyTek SuperLite Deluxe Golf Push Cart
My solution is based on last design using the CaddyTek SuperLite Deluxe Golf Push Cart. This cart can be bought from Amazon for a fairly reasonable $80.
Here’s the finished product…
The total cost of parts for this DIY solution — about $170, of course, not including the light, battery, softbox, gear bag, reflector, and water bottle.
My solution uses the Impact Telescopic Collapsible Reflector Holder for the light stand.
The tip is 3/8″, not the usual 5/8″ found on typical light stands. But this seems to work fine with my speedlite adapter and my Einstein strobe. I’ll refer to this reflector holder as a light stand from now on.
Next, you’ll need the Manfrotto 035RL Super Clamp
Connect the two like this…
The Superclamp comes with a little wedge that can be placed in the jaw to clamp onto a flat surface. Make sure that wedge is in place. The above photos show it in place, but it doesn’t come pre-connected to the clamp. Here’s how the wedge looks separated from the clamp.
Before connecting the clamp to the golf cart shaft, stick a strong velcro to the top and bottom of the shaft where you’ll put the clamp. I use the Velcro Brand Industrial Strength Tape-Black
Make sure to tighten as much as you can without bending the shaft. This is what’s going to secure the reflector holder and softbox while they’re swaying in the wind.
Connect the reflector holder to the stud and tighten.
Straighten the post of the light stand. It should be vertical and touching the shaft at the bottom. Adjust the post to be about 6 inches off the floor. Secure the post to the shaft with a long strip of non-adhesive double-sided velcro (non-adhesive so that you can easily remove the light stand.) This will help limit sideway movement of the post and will put less pressure on the clamp.
This is how everything should look connected.
So just to re-cap, here’s the shopping list for this project, with links to Amazon:
- CaddyTek SuperLite Deluxe Golf Push Cart
- Impact Telescopic Collapsible Reflector Holder
- Manfrotto 035RL Super Clamp
- Avenger E600C 5/8-Inch Snap-In Steel Pin for Super Clamp
- Velcro Brand Industrial Strength Tape-Black
I’ll post some future enhancements that you can make to this solution to make it even more useful.
Now go make it!
