Generator Rental

"We're in the communications business right?" Words often heard when communications break down on set and it's somewhat true. "Well, for a bunch of people in the communcations business....", yet another phrase we often hear.
Over the last few weeks, Alyssa Davis, our office manager, and I, have been examining the way we communicate with our customers here at Hammer Lighting & Grip. In respect to  economic conditions of the recent past we've been hobbling along on a 20 year old phone system that was in the building when I bought it. We've all recognized its limitations and have been frustrated by them. We both feel like we'd like for you, our lighting and grip customers, to be able to reach us faster and easier. So, now, 2 1/2 years later we're embarking on the journey to replace our whole phone system. We have partnered with Cincinnati Bell to set up a cutting-edge commucations platform that will help get you to a real person faster when you call for your next lighting rental need. In the coming weeks we'll be making dramatic changes. When you call us for your next generator rental, grip truck, or for one of our camera dollies you'll first hear an auto-attendant. That auto-attendant will allow you to select which of us you'd like to talk to.  Your call will be routed to that person's desk and company mobile phone simutaneously making (317)547-4747 the only number you'll ever need to call. Forget everyone's mobile numbers, forget having to call back, this will be the easiest and fastest way for us to serve you! I'll be further updating here soon as we bring this exciting new system online!

In my mind, the worst thing a lighting rental house could do is stop the ebb and flow of gear. Here at Hammer Lighting & Grip, we are always buying and selling rental equipment. We have already replaced 3 grip trucks and 2 generators in our 11 years in business. This is especially important with HMI's. The technology is so new that we must keep buying and selling HMI's so that we are constantly improving the quality of our inventory. Manufacturers are always making changes to their lights. For example, Kino Flo improved the design on their backplates. They have changed the 4 push pins design into a easier and safer twist lock backplate. This is a great improvement and we will soon be switching all of our heads and backplates to the new design but it will cost us about $300 per light!

Although these improvements can be expensive, we think they are very important to maintaining our top of the line lighting and grip equipment.

Recently at Hammer Lighting and Grip we have had a great opportunity to rent our Grip Trucks, Camera Dollies, Lights and our Generators to a few Independent Films.  Last year we got to work on the movie www.mynameisjerry.com .  It was all filmed in Muncie, In. 

This year we are doing two, yes I said two Independent Films at once!!!  That means the month of April will be busy.  We have BOTH our 3 Ton Truck and our 4Ton Truck out for a full month. We're supplying them with camera dollies and generators too.  Now, this doesn't mean we are out of trucks, dollies, lights and generators.  We have plenty of options to get you the truck package you will need.  We don't want to you to forget about our 1 Ton and our 5 Ton Grip Trucks that are sitting waiting to be loaded up with lots of gear!!

I've spent the last few days working on one of our three generators that we offer for rent. It's an older unit with a long history in our market but, as with all of our gear, we're constantly efforting to bring you the highest quality Lighting and Grip rental equipment in the Midwest. We've given it a bit of a facelift, gone through all of the mechanicals; added a newer, better fuel tank, and performed the usual periodic maintenance. Why? Why would I want to get my hands dirty and play mechanic when I could hire it out? I do it because it gives me an intimate relationship with each and every piece of gear that we own. When it comes to generator rental in the Midwest, we're the ones you can count on!

Did you know that at Hammer Lighting & Grip we can put both of our 60kw (500 Amp) LitePower genernators on one flatbed truck to make a 1000 amp capable power system? Our F550 Flatbed has the capacity and capability to haul both plants and more! The generators are not phase-matched (synchronized) but they sure do make a convenient package! We have generators from 2000 watts (20 amp) to 60,000 watts and with this capability we have an effective 120,000 watts available in one compact package. Call us to see what we can do to power your next job!

So, we're wrapping up the grip truck build on our newest, latest and greatest truck! Hammer Lighting and Grip now has the nicest grip truck that Indianapolis film and video lighting has ever known! Midwest lighting and grip equipment rental will never be the same! This thing is 221 square feet of lighting and grip fun. It's an amazing 1878 cubic feet of 33,000 pound cargo carrying enormity! It's box is 2 feet longer, 6 inches wider and a foot taller than our old 5 ton. Then you say, yes but how well will this fit at my next location? Well, because International used modern technology when designing it, this truck is only 4 inches taller than the old 5 ton grip truck. The box is 2 feet longer but the overall length increased by only a foot and the old truck was a cabover versus the new, more comfortable traditional cab with air-rde. it has a shorter turning radius and is now equipped with a trailer hitch to tow your next generator rental! Tow a trailer behind such a big truck you say? Yes, thanks to the color, widscreen backup camera! It's loaded with every piece of grip equipment you could imagine (our most complete package for only $100 per day more) This is the truck I'd rent if I were a producer. All of the extra interior room leaves more space for add-ons, a camera dolly, or camera dollies, if you'd like (did I mention that there's a lot of room?). I saved the best feature for last too. This truck is lighter to start with than the one that it replaced AND we bumped up the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating to 33,000# from 30,000# for a total gain of over 4,000# of massive grip and electric rental hauling capabilty! This is no wimpy truck! Stay tuned for more details!

As with our 4 ton grip truck (which is now 2 years old) our new 5 ton grip truck will have LED rope lights in all of the underbody boxes. These allow crew persons to quickly find cable, adapters and other small (and usually black) items whether we are setting up in the dark for a beautiful Indiana sunrise or working into the night. All of our trucks come with amazing 12 volt interior and exterior work light setups and large battery banks. We can plug the on-board charger into the generator or shore power to keep the batteries toped off or we can run independently for a fixed period of time without running the truck engine. This furthers our committment to the environment by not unnecessarily idling grip trucks on set.