Thursday, November 01, 2007

What's in My Toolbag?

I was recently asked what kinds of things I keep in my kit. Here's the thing, I'm really pretty disorganized. My stuff is stored largely along the "my desk is a mess but don't touch it because I know where everything is" line. Every Dolly Grip has his own little bag of tricks and mine is kept (thrown) in a crate fastened to the top of the wedge bucket. Mostly, it's the standard stuff: extra crescent wrench, large channel locks, shims, a flashing battery powered beacon light (which serves no other purpose except that it's cool and amuses me), a wisk broom, that orange mold-release spray that Chapman sends out which is MUCH better than Pledge for track. There are a few extra things I always take with me though: daisy chain webbing and caribeaners for camera safety when on a crane or tilted straight down over an actor, extra Chapman bolts (the same ones that come in the camera offsets). I find it helpful to always keep a couple of these around for rigging off the dolly or combining offsets etc., extra 3/8 camera bolts, hammer, castle nut wrench, small (2") deep throat c-clamps. You never really know what you're going to need at any given time and sometimes you have to improvise quickly, so I find it helpful to have a variety of the things that seem to pop up most frequently at hand. What's in YOUR bag?

6 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:37 AM

    My Toolkit off the top of my head:

    channel locks
    allen kits sets (Imp & Metric)
    nice t handled allen kit for Chapman Wheel changing
    loctite
    mini wedges
    luan roll up ramps (3/4") - no damage to soft wheels getting on to dance floor
    plywood spacers for using "dolly boards"
    spares: dolly tape (1/4" paper dayglo colours), chalk and holder, grease pencils (for Fisher 10 boom arm)
    Baby powder
    Mould release spray
    shower caps (rain covers for dolly seats)
    daisy chains and carabiners (mostly for a sling spreader for sticks in wonky places)
    deep throat c clamps (mounting Pee Wee leveling head on top of ladder)
    multi coloured marking bean bags
    Pee Wee low bracket (mini enterprise?)
    two lasers (red & green)
    2 x mini mathelinis & one mini grip head (all for laser mounting)

    all this get stored in a sheet metal bin that at the bottom of my Pee Wee parts cart. Fisher roll up ramps, pledge and cleaning brushes hang off the hook on the side.

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  2. Azurgrip is a bit more organized than I am (much to the exasperation of the grips I work with). But he has a good list of everything a dolly grip should have with him.

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  3. Anonymous2:23 PM

    helps to be anal but the guys hate me for it

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  4. Dr. Bisson12:07 PM

    nobody mentionned a measuring tape and a small ball level... it's natural thing to have for an experienced dolly grip but not for rookies...

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  5. hello, i'm a key grip in Portugal, what do you use on those castle screws on Fisher 11? Or Ronford Slider?
    we dont have ane good tool, here ...
    what do you recomend?

    rfa1979@gmail.com

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