Source 4 par lens storage

Does anyone have a super slick method of storage for the unused Source 4 par lenses?  It sems several people tend to divide them amongst the boxes they shipped in.  I am currently using an old two drawer file cabinet with the foam sheets between.  While I like this better than the array of boxes, I am seeking alternate ideas.

We've made custom plywood boxes for ours.  They are 34" by 7 1/2" (inside dimensions) and have six 1 1/2" x 3/4" blocks spaced on each side as dividers to keep the lenses upright.  There is also some foam (1/4") on the sides of the box.  Cut some handles in the ends and you get a nice manageable stackable box for your lenses.  We don't put anything between the lenses, they're not really all that delicate, or expensive.  I think you can fit 75-100 lenses in one of these boxes.

Mat,  I've mulled over your dimensions.  It seems they are incomplete.  I also don't understand how the 1 1/2" x 3/4" blocks serve as dividers.

Inside dimensions 34" (L) x 7 1/2" (W) x 7 1/2" (H).  The height is less important depending on you plan to store the boxes and what your supply of scrap lumber looks like.  For that matter the length could be pretty much anything too.  The outside dimensions will depend on what you build them out of, I think ours are 1/2" plywood.  The blocks are just spaced on the sides to keep the lenses from tipping over.  A 5" or so space will keep the lenses pretty well in order regardless of how many might be in that space.  The lenses stand on edge between the blocks.

Let me know if it's still unclear and I can either draft something up quick or a take a picture.  (I'll be on vacation for a couple of weeks though.) 

Try going to a restaurant supply store, and finding a rolling cart they use for saucer plates. It is plastic, so the glass sits in there pretty well. Our road house here uses one of those and it is pretty slick. Of course, they have a generous stock of S4 Pars, so they can easily fill it up.

The restaurant cart route is an expensive solution, unless you have a LOT of lenses needing storage and constant swapping.  I did a lot of research into these items and they are not available used (generally) and run over $400 for a new one.

Option 2 for me was standard milk crates.  

I used the blue/green styrofoam the lenses came in to line a milk crate (4 actually - 1 ea, for the 4 lens types - VN. NSP, MFL, WFL), with a screwed in 1/2 ply wood divider on the narrow width of the crate to form 2 compartments. The blue/green foam formed the padded walls of ea compartment.  

I saved all the thin white packing foam as dividers between the lenses. 

Each crate holds 48 lenses  

Cheap, quick and dirty.

Steve Bailey

Brooklyn College 

 

 

 

 

I'd worry about someone dropping the entire milk crate.  I use ETC cardboard boxes.

I once had a show come in, where the ME had ordered enough extra lenses to change every S4-PAR.  The shop packed them in a Leko roadcase, the kind with carpet lined 4 across x 3 deep 8"x8" compartments. Lens, foam, lens, foam, lens, bubble wrap, lens...  We only swapped out 12 lenses because we hung an NSP bar where an MFL bar should have been, and vice-versa.  Still don't understand why we needed 500 extra lenses for a one-off when we were only 3 miles from the shop.