mouting 9' rolls to ceiling

[ron_hiner]

I have a studio space where I want to more or less permanently hang 4 or 5 9' rolls of paper from the ceiling. It's only a 8' ceiling, so I want the paper to sit as close to the ceiling as possible, yet still unroll easily.

Has any come up with an attractive way to do this? I'm thinking about 10' lengths of PVC pipe hanging from a hook at each end. But I don't know if PVC is rigid enough to hold straight with the paper. The paper I use (Savage) has a cardboard core. But I'm sure someone here has been down this path before.

Any help is appreciated.

Ron

[Michael Fontana]

>if PVC is rigid enough to hold straight with the paper<

in my experiences, it's not, unless the PVC is made stronger, by some means, as internal core, structure, etc.
This is for sure for the larger paper rolls..

Don't forget to add a sort of "brake" at the roll's position, to keep the paper straight.

[Matthew Blais]

Try curtain rod brackets and metal poles, or wood. Mount in a row on ceiling for each roll of paper.
There is a system out there for multiple rolls, the name escapes me though

[Ken Doo]

Rolleasy. see, www.phototechinc.com

Much more expensive than a "do-it-yourself" application----and worth every penny.

I've used a Rolleasy system for years to hold seamless rolls of paper in my studio from the ceiling. Also ideal to hang muslin/canvas backdrops. Well made/engineered and good customer service. I opted for the hand-crank system---didn't see a need for the electric motor option.

ken

[Eric Hiss]

Hi,
I've got a 6 roller that's motorized in my studio plus 3 more that I made myself, including one that's 20 feet long. I bought the 6 roller unit from amvona, but don't buy from their website, buy from ebay as you can get them much cheaper. I've seen them go for like $100 (plus $200 for shipping). The ones I made myself, I did with aluminum tube I bought at a aluminum scrap yard for like $10 per 12 foot tube - You can buy the bogen chains and tube mounts from bhphotovideo or other places and i think even Amvona sells a cheap knock off and use these on your aluminum tubes to hold the ends and roll the paper up and down. Bogen also makes a mount that holds the tube ends which you'll need or again from Amvona. You can do this yourself easily if you get the right parts.

Here's a link to the bogen stuff at B&H so you can see some of the bits I was talking about. You'll need the hooks and the expandable paper drive (just use that with the alum tube inside the paper core to keep it stiff).

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?shs=bogen+backdrop&ci=0&sb=ps&pn=1&sq=desc&InitialSearch=yes&O=RootPage.jsp&A=search&Q=*&bhs=t

[Ray West]

An alternative source of suitable tube and fittings may be from a supplier to tv aerial fitters.

Best wishes,

Ray

[ron_hiner]

Ken and Eric and Ray... Where were you guys in June? ;-) Thanks for the replies nonetheless.

My setup went up 3 weeks ago... Here is what I did...

I bought some bogen Manfrotto hooks and their 'expand' rollers, along with 4 rolls of 9' paper from B&H. (All free shipping for NAPP members - free shipping matters on 9' paper!)

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/5171-REG/Bogen_Manfrotto_2920B_Expan_Background_Paper_Drive .html
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/227525-REG/Bogen_Manfrotto_059WM_Single_Background_Hook_.html

It's pretty much infinently expandable.. I have two rolls up now, and I have two more that are going up this week. I can keep hanging rolls of paper for about $110 per roll as long as I have space on the ceiling. ($20 for the hooks, $50 for the rollers, and $40 for the paper = $110)

The 9' rolls of paper (savage) do sag in the middle and because of the that, the rollers don't work quite as well as I'd like... but otherwise, this system works great. The sag is not enough to not recommend this system elsewhere to those with a low ceiling.

The rollers have an unnecessarily long chain (for me and my 8 foot ceiling anyway), but it is trivial to shorten. It's plastic and you can pop the links open and remove the extra footage.

If the sag becomes a problem -- which it might in humid weather -- there is an aluminum tube for non-cored papers availalble too. I don't need that yet.

[Georg Baumann]

Come on.... show us a pic of your finished installation.

[Georg Baumann]

Stupid me... LOL.... now I understood, it is for backgrounds.... somehow I was thinking it is for prints.... hehehehe