It’s Just Cool: Cheeseboroughs
By Dan Kitchen
A few months ago a coworker held up the item pictured above and said, “This is called a cheeseborough.” I didn’t believe him, nor could I see any particular use for the tool. Later, I found out he wasn’t making up the term, and that all a cheeseborough does is clamp onto 1-1/4″ to 1-1/2″ pipe. And a few days ago I found out what makes this odd tool so cool.
Last week some guys were prepping for an outdoor event, and I got to see ‘em put up an aluminum truss structure, made of tubing around 1-1/4″ to 1-1/2″ in diameter. I found out that with a cheeseborough and some pipe, you can hold almost anything. I saw cheeseboroughs used to hold ceilings, large fabric headers, plasma screens, and just about anything else that could be clamped down with it.
This week I did a little research. I haven’t found out why they’re called cheeseboroughs, but I did find out they’re also called less cool names, like pipe coupler or scaffold clamp. I found out they come in dozens of styles — some are rigid, some swivel, some can be bolted onto, some can have rope tied off. Just about any permutation seems to exist out there.
I also learned they aren’t too cheap. If they weren’t so expensive, I’d be trying to come up with projects for ‘em all the time.
Scaffold Clamps [Rosco]
Couplers [The Light Source]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
March 24th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
At my last job we used a lot of speed rail to set up 48-96 Camera systems for motion Capture. When I started I didn’t believe that these things were called cheeseboroughs either. After working there for a few years it’s now impossible not to call them CheeseBurgers. They are just so bad ass though. I did want to still want to make all of my furniture with speed rail.
March 24th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
We use a TON of these in the theatre world. If you think the standard version is cool, you should check them out here:
http://www.doughty-engineering.co.uk/shop/7/57/index.htm
The Doughty people make equipment for the film world, and its all shiny and billet aluminum. Just the coolest hardware you can get.
March 26th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
David beat me to it, but yeah, we use these all the time in stage theater to hold all kinds of things, but especially when hanging extra pipes to the ceiling grid for lighting and scenery/backdrop work. Very useful.
March 29th, 2008 at 12:11 am
There is or was an actual brand name, spelling: Cheseboro, but alternate spellings are cheeseboro, chesebro, or cheeseborough. I’ve discovered that they use them here in Australia in the film biz too, so I already feel at home. (Although strangely enough they never call a beadboard holder a platypus, only an onky bonk)
http://books.google.com.au/books?id=tS-et2ODufEC&pg=PA40&lpg=PA40&dq=platypus+beadboard+holder&source=web&ots=sPjAlrmm49&sig=XZlVAfRCmz1m_azYBd2a5HgDeLI&hl=en
April 11th, 2008 at 4:07 pm
The ones I met up with when road shows came to the theater I worked in in the 80’s were vaguely cheese-burger shaped, that is, rounded & flat, with the ability to clamp pipe in parallel or perpendicular. It looks like tech (as always) has continued to evolve wonderful tools.
April 19th, 2008 at 11:59 am
It would be nice to see a photo gallery of interesting stuff to do with these. I have a balcony to build…!
July 16th, 2009 at 4:03 am
[...] Toolmonger » Blog Archive » It’s Just Cool: Cheeseboroughs A few months ago a coworker held up the item pictured above and said, “This is called a cheeseborough.” I didn’t believe him, nor could I see any particular use for the tool. Later, I found out he wasn’t making up the term, and that all a cheeseborough does is clamp onto 1-1/4″ to 1-1/2″ pipe. And a few days ago I found out what makes this odd tool so cool. [...]