Any idea how to build something like this?

[furnone]

Carpet tack strips?

 

[jymbee]

Some back of the envelope numbers on a simple pegboard vacuum system:

The suction of Shop-vac's is rated in inches of water lift, quick Googling tells me that a 16-gallon has 52 inches of lift, which is equivalent to 1.9 PSI. So if you had an opening of 10 square inches that would be 19 pounds of force. That would be horizontal force, the amount of vertical force would be determined by the amount of friction, but intuitively it seems that the vertical force would be at least equal to the horizontal force, so you could hold 19 pounds of material. A higher friction surface would be helpful -- like the rough side of pegboard.

Box-store pegboard has 9/32" holes on 1" centers. The area of a 9/32" hole is just about exactly 1/16 square inches, so 10 square inches of opening is 160 square inches of pegboard -- or a 16X10 area. So far, so good.

Looking at it the other way, if you had a 6x6 foot quilt that weighed 20 pounds, how much suction would you need? A 6x6 foot square is 5184 square inches, pegboard of that size has 324 square inches of opening. To generate 20 pounds of force only requires 0.06 PSI of vacuum, or 1.7 inches of water lift. That doesn't sound that bad either.

I think you're going to find that the key is controlling air leakage, the less flow the higher the suction. You might run into a problem that the quilt is too permeable to form a good seal. You also need to cover the parts of the table that aren't covered by the quilt. My thought is to use pieces of Tyvek, which will seal and should provide a background that is unobjectionable for photos.

I think the handling would be easiest if the table had a way of pivoting, so you can lay everything out flat, then turn on the vacuum and flip the table vertical for the shoot.

A 4x8 sheet of pegboard is about $15, it seems like you could experiment and get an idea of whether it's going to work rather cheaply.

From a business perspective the nice thing about solving hard problems is that they're hard, you can charge a premium for solving them.

Interesting input from a technical point of view-- thanks! Had not fully considered the permeability of the fabric as a factor, but certainly something to consider. And a pivoting platform of some kind was our thinking as well.
Your comment re. solving hard problems thereby justifying premium price is EXACTLY our thinking as well.

A number of responders have suggested, quite logically, that a vertical system would be a better choice. As I explained elsewhere here, yes we do shoot vertically for smaller items and yes it would work well for larger items but there are a number of challenges with this approach. Not the least of which is the distance needed between camera & subject for the camera/lens combination we'd like to use. Also limited locations which would make a vertical approach feasible, and one of the other drawbacks is that a vertical system makes it quite difficult to access the automated head the camera is mounted on, make camera access media cards & batteries, etc. etc. We do use remote triggers and can control camera functions with another remote system with HDMI out to a large touch screen.

Most craftspeople are very concerned with how their material is handled as well hence my desire to come up with a system that both makes our task easier while being able to assure clients that great care will be taken with their items. We're meeting with some quilters next month to get some input from them and that would be a good opportunity to get an idea of how much these things typically weigh in order to factor that into any potential solution.

 

[jymbee]

Have you tried magnets?
Actually looks like a good excuse to build a pole barn with 18' ceiling.

I don't believe quilts are magnetic (KIDDING ) HOWEVER the pole barn with an 18' ceiling is a EXCELLENT idea! Do I have your permission to tell my wife that this would all your idea?? :laughing:
Of course there would be considerable transportability challenges involved as well with the pole barn approach...

 

[jymbee]

Carpet tack strips?

Having just ripped out a large carpet with tack strips my concern is that they would most certainly damage the material.

 

[/pine]

Off the wall idea (no pun intended)...

If a big enough mirror (8'x10') was available...could a good enough photo be captured from a reflection?

 

[MitchellB]

I'm not sure how far away from the subject the camera needs to be, but I'd consider two A-frame ladders with a homemade wooden catwalk laid between then that you can lay across with your camera and the subject laying flat on the floor. Any lighting can be easily directed down as well. Or mount the camera temperately on the catwalk and control remotely if possible.

 

[PJSprog]

My Wife is a quilter, and usually enlists me to help with the photography once her works are finished, so I know this pain. Her grandmother had a small quilt hanger in the hallway of her house, and now that it's our house we kept it there to display the small seasonal quilted wall hangings she makes.

It looks similar to this (not ours, but a pic from the internet):


Perhaps you could make one large enough for your needs. Yes, this type of clamp does cover some of the border area along the top, but it's really the only decent way to hang a quilt without damaging it ... other than having your monkey-armed husband stand there and hold it up (ask me how I know this ).

Short of that, laying them flat and photographing from above is really the best option, if you have the space.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Don't hang the subject, hang the photographer.

Rig a 20' jib pole on your front loader, get into a boatswain's chair, lay the quilt flat on the ground and hang over it to take your pictures. The jib pole would also be handy for pruning the upper branches of trees, cleaning 2nd floor gutters, etc.

 

[jymbee]

Off the wall idea (no pun intended)...

If a big enough mirror (8'x10') was available...could a good enough photo be captured from a reflection?

Ah-- outside that proverbial box thinking for sure. That actually does conjures up some interesting possibilities. Some limitations at the same time of course but a quick search finds large mirrors for things such as dance studios to be not all that expensive. Have to give this some more thought. My guess is that quality wouldn't be affected much at all and at the same time, distance to subject issues might also be mitigated somewhat.

 

[jymbee]

Don't hang the subject, hang the photographer.

Rig a 20' jib pole on your front loader, get into a boatswain's chair, lay the quilt flat on the ground and hang over it to take your pictures. The jib pole would also be handy for pruning the upper branches of trees, cleaning 2nd floor gutters, etc.

Hang the photographer?!?

Ah, now I get it. A solution that only a fellow tractor owner could envision. Gotta' love it!