DIY Photography repairs (I tightened up my sloppy tripod for $0.69 USD)

[Christopher Walrath]

I almost spent $150.00 necessary dollars on rather unnecessary equipment.

My tripod, a Promaster 6400 bought in 2000, for the past couple of years has had a loose shaft. It would move/jiggle at the top of the tripod where the shaft, to which the head is mounted, comes through. This tripod has a mast cover that turns to the left to loosen and allow the shaft to move up and down freely and turns to the right to secure it in position as opposed to turning the locking screw.

I took off the shaft cover and spied a bushing the stayed on the shaft when the cover was removed. The top of the shaft is bevelled so that when you tighten the cover, the bevel pushes the bushing up and in to clamp down on the shaft thus preventing all movement, at least in theory. Well, it seems only the lower edge that was in contact with the bevelled inner surface of the cover was all that was clamping on the shaft, prevent vertical movement, but doing little to stabilize lateral movement of the head.

I got some self-adhering automotive thermostat paper from Manlove Auto Parts where I work (p/n MG30). I cut a piece to fit around the outside of the bushing in length and width. I peeled a couple of layers from the outside of this new bushing until it fit inside the end of the cover and when I tightened it up this time, ROCK SOLID. Simple stuff like this can keep your photography going when things look bleak. Share your DIY repairs.

[Maris]

I too try to do my own photographic equipment repairs and succeed reasonably often.

There is however and old saying that was drummed into me when I was a studio junior: "Instead of paying a repair shop $75 any camera can be adjusted with a butter knife. Repair shops generally charge $200 to fix any camera that has been adjusted with a butter knife."

[tlsid]

hey chrstopher thanks for the info. i got one of those too and now i know how to repair it without breaking the screw in it again.

[Ian Grant]

My cheapo tripod, less than $20/£10 broke while out in the landscape, the plastic head was threaded to fit the column, this loosened and finally came apart. An emergency repair jamming it back with card was enough to allow me to continue.

A few drops of super-glue and its better than new.

Ian

[MurrayMinchin]

My wooden Zone VI tripod has led a hard life.

The first things to break were the black plastic knobs for adjusting leg length. The wood of the legs would swell so much while being dragged through the bush in the pouring rain that the knobs would lock up tight. The only solution at hand was to bash them loose with a rock, which isn't so good for things made of plastic. I've since replaced them with bash-proof metal wing nuts and have also applied a better waterproof coating on the legs.

It also came with a half inch thick piece of whiz-bang, waterproof, will last a lifetime, specially heat and pressure treated plywood made with an ultra modern poly-something-or-other-glue. It was the platform at the top of the tripods legs that the pan and tilt head was attached to. After about fifteen years of being hauled around in the bush during our Monsoons and being lashed to the deck of a sea kayak for six months, it finally delaminated. Today the tripod sports a quarter inch thick piece of aluminum where the wood used to be and is rock solid!

Murray

[richard ide]

Murray,
Comparing your little bit of rain to the real monsoon rains is stretching it.
Try 10 inches per hour. That is real dampness.

Regards

[MurrayMinchin]

Yup, I know Richard, but when it rains/drizzles for weeks on end between September and December before the snow starts flying, it can feel down right Monsoonal! (The ferns growing in the moss in the branches of the trees are a hint to the moistness here).

Murray

[copake_ham]

Yup, I know Richard, but when it rains/drizzles for weeks on end between September and December before the snow starts flying, it can feel down right Monsoonal! (The ferns growing in the moss in the branches of the trees are a hint to the moistness here).

Murray

Murray,

When I saw on another thread that you were about 1000 miles (or was it kilometers and 600+ miles) north of Vancouver, on the BC coast I had to wonder - where exactly are you?

I'd love to look at my atlas and realize I "know" some guy "way up there".

[MurrayMinchin]

Hi George,

It's about 1000 miles by road from Kitimat to Vancouver, but only about 500 by air. The Coast Mountain Range that runs the length of BC would be a tad expensive to put a road through! We have to drive 500 miles east-ish to Prince George before the road turns south. We're a hop skip and a jump below Alaska's panhandle, across from the Queen Charlotte Islands, if that helps

Murray

[copake_ham]

Hi George,

It's about 1000 miles by road from Kitimat to Vancouver, but only about 500 by air. The Coast Mountain Range that runs the length of BC would be a tad expensive to put a road through! We have to drive 500 miles east-ish to Prince George before the road turns south. We're a hop skip and a jump below Alaska's panhandle, across from the Queen Charlotte Islands, if that helps

Murray

Got it!

I think you're up where those, I think they call them "ghost bears", live? Kind of white "black bears"?

Anyway, I've always wanted to get up to the Queen Charlotte Islands etc. Hopefully I'll get to retire before I get frail and have a chance to see all the places I'd like to see!