Building your own overhead Rail System

I was wondering if anyone has every built their own overhead rail

system? I'm not looking to build much of anything really, all I

want to do is have one rail and one light support for One main light

(or softbox). I don't need to spend $600 or $1000 on a 4 rail and 4

support system that is offered by BandH, calumet and amvona.com.

Any ideas? or solutions? Thanks,

if you look at pocket door hardware, you'll see a trolly and rail system you could start with. how you're going to support the lights so they stay where you put them, I have no clue.

Do any of the manufacturer offer expansion kits?

A recent "View Camera" magazine had an article on Timothy Greenfield-Sanders. It

showed him in studio with a Rail system that didn't look so complex.

 

Basically it looked like a rail running down each side of the shooting area. Then he had a

couple of crossbars that were long enough to comfortably hang over the side rails with

room to spare. It looked like they could be moved very easily.

 

Then you would need stand tops that clamp on the crossbar.

Paul, this may be cheaper than you intended, but it's what I'm using in my beginner "studio" (read living room) and it works pretty well for low to medium weight applications. I screwed two heavy-duty decorative hooks horizontally into the flat vertical portion of my crown-molding. Hung between these two hooks is 1/8" clear vinyl coated stranded cable with loops on each end. This set up will support a 9' roll of Savage background paper - which isn't light btw. You could also attach softboxes by their loops to this setup. I also use fabrics occasionally and to suspend these I have an aluminum shower curtain rod with one 3/8" hole drilled into the top of each end - a 1/4" carabiner goes through each hole and the small end of the carabiner hangs onto the wire. The curtain rod setup is nice becuase you can take it down to swap fabrics or whatever without having to take down the wire system. The limiting factor in my design are the hooks in the wall, but if you have a more commercial space to work in, then you could get alot more heavy duty - the two hooks left in the molding when I'm done is about all my wife can tolerate ;) Actually, she is a great sport.