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3D Printed Light Weight Clip On Matteboxes


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I posted these matte boxes on Facebook and a lot of people suggested I post them here on the forum so here we go. I've been designing and 3D printed custom parts for DP's and fellow operators for about 2 years now and this is the latest stuff I've come up with. I'm a steadicam operator myself which is where this all started, my current DP wanted more than 2 stages of 6x6 filters so I made a custom matte box to fly on my rig and it's spiralled from there.



These are a lightweight 3D printed 6x6 and 4x5.6 clip-on matte boxes with however many stages you want (3 stages shown in the photos). They comes with whatever back plate diameter you want from anywhere around 80mm all the way to 162mm for your 12x1 zoom.



The base 4x5.6 matte box starts at $400 USD, and the 6x6 matte box starts at $500 USD. Shipping and tax(within Canada) are additional.



- Step-down rings are available as well for $25 each. Buy 4 get the 5th free.


- Each additional stage (over 3) is an additional $30/stage.


- Hard-mattes sets are $100. Only available for the 4x5.6 version currently (LMB-5 hard-mattes fit the 4x5.6 version perfectly if you already have a set laying around)


- An eyebrow is available for the 4x5.6 matte box for $50. (none for the 6x6 yet, it does accept the top flag from the mb-14 however)



Filter trays are not included, the main body of the matte box is safe being made from plastic, but it's safer to use standard metal trays from your existing studio matte box to hold the glass. The goal of this system is to supplement your studio build and be cross compatible so you can have a lightweight matte box for minimal expense. The 4x5.6 takes almost any standard 4x5.6 tray and the 6x6 takes most standard 6x6 trays.



FAQ:



Q: What back plate sizes are available?


A: Essentially anything you want, I've done 162mm for Angenieux 24-290s before no problem, I can go all the way down to 50mm or something you if you really want it for a still lens.



Q: What step-down ring sizes are available.


A: Any size to any size.



Q: How much does it weigh?


A: With a top flag, dry weight of the 3 stage 4x5.6 is 480g. The 6x6 3 stage dry weight is 700g.



Q: What is it printed out of?


A: PLA then painted in matte black finish. I print in PLA to get the best print quality and it has decent strength qualities. I've tested ABS, PETG, Nylon and PC and had issues with dimensional accuracy and warping with everything aside from PLA.



Q: Isn't PLA susceptible to warping in hot environments?


A: Extremely hot ones yes. These would fail the hot car test in most cities mid-summer. But having sold about 4 dozen items made from PLA that are used on set frequently and no one has had any issues with PLA based accessories in over a year. As long as you don't leave it somewhere to get up to 140+ degrees it should be just fine.



You can contact me directly at dmtwood@gmail.com if you're interested and have any questions.



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