Afton Grant

Top right menu option. Been there as long as the mobile site has.

Joshua, you seemed to get quite defensive at my questions. You PM'd me asking why I ask such silly things publicly (my name is Afton, not Aston, btw). The answer is your original post was public. This is a community forum. It's what we do. I was merely asking for clarification. I found your initial post a little unclear so before I responded to it directly I wanted to make sure I had everything straight. This would be to the benefit of the rest of the forum. I apologize, but I don't know you. I don't know if you're a union member or a newbie. I don't know this show. You've worked on it for four seasons. I don't see it to be too outrageous for me to think that perhaps you're not a union member. I guess it just confused me that you were taking such a hard union stance (striking, calling out scabs) after having worked on this non union show for so long. And I'm not being judgmental - we all do non union work here and there. Also, to address your final question, I didn't move your post. Someone else did. But I do agree with where it was filed. It's a legal/business practice discussion. This is where it belongs. Again, my apologies for any confusion.

Just want to clarify, as I'm not familiar with this production. The show is currently non-union. IATSE has come in to try to make it go union. You are non union? And you wish for the show to remain non union?

Yeah, I certainly wouldn't consider going at this myself with a file by any means, but there exist readily available tools that will scratch titanium. $60 was well worth it to know it was done with the right tools by professionals. Also, my machinist seemed much more eager to machine the titanium socket block than he was to machine the hardened steel pin block. I can only guess this had something to do with the heat generated by the CNC process - and the machinist not wanting to remove the hardness from the block. This should be something seriously considered if anybody is going to try this themselves with power tools. Too much heat will permanently soften the steel block, requiring it to undergo the hardening process again.

Victor, I just went to a shop local to me here in CT. I'm sure any shop could do it. Alec, I had a long discussion with the machinist about any weakening that might occur. He assured me there was so little that needed to be taken off, the change in strength would be essentially zero. In fact, if there's concerns about strength, you can equally compromise the male pin if you try to sand it down yourself and it's not done evenly. In both cases, the actual measurable compromise that's occurred is negligible. I vote for modifying the female end, just in case you ever need to use any other arm.

For $60, my local machinist took a couple thousandths off of the female side of the socket block. Sanding down the arm pin will work, but then you're only able to use that specific male socket block with your vest. If you find yourself using a different arm for whatever reason someday, you'll be back at square one (assuming it's Tiffen also). Shaving a little bit off of your male pin is a silly religious tradition anyway.

Thanks for the lovely words, Grayson. Glad you're enjoying your box. I know what you mean, as I had trouble sending it off. I enjoyed just staring at it for probably an inappropriate amount of time. Tom, I'm absolutely still making the boxes. I'm taking a slight break at the moment while I'm on a TV show full time through the beginning of August. It just doesn't leave me with much time to work on anything else. I've got a list of three, and possibly four people that are awaiting a box once I wrap. Each one takes me about a week to make, unless I feel I can batch-make them without any sacrifice in quality. If you, or anybody else reading this, would like to be put on the list just let me know. Happy to do so! And yes, I can ship it to the UK. Thanks very much!

Latest cocobolo box to be completed. This one is going to Grayson Austin. Although the look of cocobolo is spectacular, I'm not sure I want to do many more with this wood. It is extremely dense and forces me to sharpen my blades every 5-10 minutes. It also has some natural oils that can be rather irritating to skin and lungs (the finished boxes are sealed). That said, if anyone would like a box and cocobolo is a must have, let me know. The price might have to be a little more than quoted above. This box, in particular, I'm pleased with the way some of the characteristics of the wood worked out. There were some very pale sapwood parts I was able to use for the sides that contrasted nicely with the front piece. Also, the grain pattern in the base looks like some sort of Japanese painting of volcanoes or something. No additional coloring or manipulation went into those patterns. It's quite a remarkable wood.

Hey "Bo". We use our real names here. Please change yours. Cheers!

Hi Tommy, Yes, that was a design change in this one. Miter joints are always finicky to work, especially on a non-standard angle, and one of the pieces coming in at a slope. I figured I could make a better joint if I did this angled butt joint, and then strengthen it with the dowels.

I wanted to share the latest box out of the shop. Unfortunately, it's not for sale, as Mr. Baldwin has spoken for it. I had never worked with cocobolo before, but I'm in awe at its natural beauty. The wood looks like it's on fire. Even straight from the lumber yard, before it had been planed or finished, the texture is amazing. Being a tropical hardwood, it is extremely dense and rather heavy, but it's tough as nails and should stand up well to abuse - not that you'd want to abuse it. I'm going to have a hard time parting with this one.

So Ron, when you go off-roading, do you have to put those wheels back on your Hummer, or is this a second set?

According to the picture, that's the Gen 2 battery rack.

The boxes are finished with urethane so are fairly well protected from the elements. They're still wood though. I wouldn't leave them outside for the whole rainy season or anything, but the occasional rain shower shouldn't hurt. Funny you mention that, Rich. We are currently remodeling our kitchen.

Got a finished box, ready to ship. Hard maple. $650 + shipping. aftongrant at gmail

Weekly rate is often around 3.5x your day rate. A week is also the longest duration of discount necessary. Never discount your labor rate.

The finished boxes have a clamp mounted on them. This was my last oak one, now owned by Jon Beattie.

There are still some people that have expressed interest in these front boxes, so I’d like to keep making them for those that want them. Since they take so long to make, I thought I’d make them to order. And since I’m making them to order, I thought it might be nice if you were able to pick the wood you wanted. The standard box, I would make out of hard maple. It’s a nice wood. It’s strong. It’s pretty. I’m happy to work with other woods, if you wish. Woods vary greatly in price, however, so the boxes would have to as well. Hard Maple (standard): $650 Cherry: $650 Oak: $660 Walnut: $680 for $100%, $660 mixed with maple Genuine Mahogany: $750 for $100%, $680 mixed with maple Cocobolo: $900 for 100%, $850 mixed with maple Padouk: $850 for 100%, $800 mixed with maple This is the illustrated look of a box that is mixed with maple: Here are some pictures of the construction process on the most recent maple box. It’s almost entirely done with hand tools. The only time a power tool is used is to rough cut the initial pieces from the stock lumber, and a power planer takes them down close to their necessary thickness. Hand tools do all the finishing dimensioning. No sanding of the surfaces. I do use sandpaper to ease over interior edges that can’t be reached with a handplane. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1znzCBr4p2i7tHLWOUIhcLRs8R-I_-zTi5TxmL0ulW2w/edit?usp=sharing So if anyone is interested, please let me know. Let me know what you’d like in terms of wood. If you’re serious about ordering one, I’ll put you on the list. It’ll have to be first come first served. These do take a while to make. If I get really efficient with the process, I think I can turn out one a week. I won’t take any payment until your box is finished, however. Thanks for everybody’s feedback so far. It’s greatly appreciated. Cheers, Afton

This used to happen to me too. Never really knew why. Sometimes it was fixed by turning off and on a bunch of times. Sometimes it was fixed by pressing the brightness up and down randomly. Sorry I can't give you anything definite.

It's a trick you might get away with once in a while in a pinch, but it wouldn't be recommended to do as common practice. It's not just your arm that has a weight limit. The rest of your rig is designed to carry only a certain amount of weight and if that limit is exceeded repeatedly, you could likely see failures in the gimbal, post, stage, or elsewhere - some potentially catastrophic.

I got to play with the level for a couple days when I was filling in for Ron when he was hungover. It's simply great. It does exactly what it should in the manner in which it should (even better, really). As long as HD is the signal standard, and it's safe to say it will be for a while, it is the only level you will need to buy since it works independent of any monitor (HD or SD). I'm in as soon as we finish this goddamn kitchen remodel.

Mike, I'm more than happy to include my paypal statements and email correspondences if you want.

I'll address just the accusation against me since the rest, well.... I took 9 months to pay for my monitor, that's your accusation? I seemed to remember things slightly differently so I looked through my records just to make sure. Fall of 2011 - Paid in full for your Gen 1 monitor. It was received shortly thereafter. January 29, 2013 - Preordered the Gen 2 monitor and digital level. Paid 50% of the upgrade price. Cinegear 2013 (June) - Received Gen 2 monitor. No level. June 25, 2013 - Paid balance of upgrade to the monitor. November, 2013 - Received digital level. November 5, 2013 - Paid balance of digital level January 26, 2014 - Paid "keep" fee to be able to hang on to my Gen 1 monitor. So that's the timeline of payments. Everything was paid in full on or very near the time of final delivery - much of it being partially paid for long before delivery. I did hang on to my Gen 1 monitor rather than immediately turning it in, but you and I agreed to that while the firmware of the Gen 2 was getting its bugs worked out and brought up to spec. Not sure where the 9 months came from.

If being a moderator precludes me from stating my personal opinion about things, then I hereby resign my position as moderator. It's not something I campaigned for in the first place, and it's much more important for me to naturally join in with the discussions on the forums than to have the power to hide spam posts from time to time. My former displeasure with your monitor has little to do with my present comments. There is a track record with your company of taking people's money and not delivering a product - either not delivering it entirely, taking an extremely long time to deliver, or delivering it in a state that is less than what was originally advertised. I can't, in good conscience, stand by and silently watch you advertise new developments and products while knowing there are current customers that have given you their hard earned money for a product that has not been delivered. One hundred happy customers doesn't matter to me if there is one customer whose order you have taken without delivering a product. I consider my all my fellow Steadicam operators, new and old, to be friends. Even ones I haven't even met. They're like brothers and sisters to me. They have opened up their homes to me, mentored me, made me laugh, and made me a better operator and person. This is why I feel the need to speak up. I've said all along, I understand delays. Two week preorder, fine. One month, ok. But some of these cases are going on for months and months and months. And when a customer finally has had enough and wants a simple refund for something that hasn't even been delivered yet, they are denied. I'm sure you have the intention to deliver. You'd like to, but you run into delays. But how long is someone supposed to wait while you have their money? If I was the only one to have this complaint, I assure you I would remain silent. Jens too, I'm sure. But we're not the only ones. There are too many to ignore, and too many for me to just sit silent without attempting to at least warn a new customer about the potential problems with buying from your company. Assure us that every preorder you have currently taken will 100% be fulfilled in a reasonable timeframe. If you can't 100% guarantee a delivery date, you can at least guarantee a simple refund process should things push beyond that timeframe. These are the most basic, simple tenants of running a small business and establishing customer loyalty. Assure us all of these things, and I assure you you won't hear another peep from me. Is it too much to ask? 90% of my gear is made by a small business so to say I don't support such businesses is amusing. All these manufacturers have my loyal support and I'd happily sing their praises to anyone willing to listen. Treat your customers as they do theirs, and I'll sing your praises as well.

I totally agree, Rich. I'd love a show of hands to know just how many people have given this company money, and then another show of hands how many of them have actually received what they've paid for. It's borderline criminal.