DIY Softbox mount

Thanks to the generosity of Kurbster Photography, I have a 24" softbox to play with. However, he gave it away because he was moving to items that he could use with his hot shoe mounted strobes, meaning I had to figure out a way to mount a hot shoe mounted strobe into his old Bowens Mount softbox. Obviously, there are a number of possible solutions, so the real object was to find the most cost effective one. After a trip to home depot and a purchase of $1.89 in a reinforcing brace and some screws and bolts, some of which I had lying around, I was able to fashion a mount.

The brace I chose was the 8" reinforcing brace. I threaded one 1/4 x 3 1/2 inch carriage bolt through one of the holes. It is held in place by two bolts, and sanwiched between the two bolts are 2 washers and one locking washer. This secures the shaft to hold the coftbox mount in place. The hole in the softbox mount would have fit perfectly with a 5/16 in diameter screw, but I could not get a screw that size to fit through the reinforcing bracket. By designing it this way, the height of the softbox relative to the flash can be adjustable.



The apparatus is attached to the lightstand with a 1/4"x20 bolt, the same size that attaches most hot shoes and tripods. I had some of these laying around.

Lastly, the flash is secured via a hot shoe bracket. The underside is a 1inch 1/4"x 20 screw. I should have purchased washers and a locking washer for this too, as that extra $.50 would have made this lock in to place. The whole item is rather flimsy and it swivels if you move it, but for about $3 I was able to make use of this softbox.