For a while now, I’ve been using these two Neewer LED light panels (like the one shown above) for some extra lighting around my work table.

I find them particularly handy for getting some side lighting when trying to record video…yep, believe it or not I put a fair amount of effort into that mediocre footage :)

But the mounts they came with had some real limitations.

For one, they only were intended to have one degree of rotational freedom to them (I say ‘intended’ because I would just leave one fastener out of the other bracket to give me my second DOF).

Having both a tip and a tilt allows me to easily aim the light toward whatever it is I’m working on, instead of having to move them around the table.

And the one degree of freedom they do have doesn’t rotation about the center of gravity (CG).

The result is that they don’t stay in place unless very well tightened. Not only would I prefer to not have to crank down on those thumb screws every time I want to adjust the light, but I also suspect it’s not going to lead to a long life in those brass threads.

So I tend to leave them looser than I should, and next thing I know I’m lighting my feet…and I don’t make that kind of content.

But I do make build content, so you know what comes next.

I made myself some new light mounts….surprise!

It has these spherical posts that attach to the mount points on the sides of the light panels. The axis between the centers of these two spherical surfaces will be my axis of rotation for up/down rotation. That axis runs much closer to the CG than the old mounts, that should go a long way in solving the drooping.

Those ball posts sit in conical pockets in the Main Brakcet. The ball two ball-in-socket style joints, connected by the rigid light panel, results in the one degree of freedom I want. The biggest downside is that it’s a plastic on plastic bearing, which isn’t ideal. I applied some silicone oil during assembly just to be safe.