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

Christopher Walrath · Jan 11, 2008

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 · Jan 12, 2008

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 · Jan 12, 2008

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 · Jan 12, 2008

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 · Jan 12, 2008

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 · Jan 12, 2008

Monsoons?

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 · Jan 12, 2008

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 · Jan 12, 2008

MurrayMinchin said:
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 · Jan 12, 2008

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 · Jan 12, 2008

MurrayMinchin said:
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!

MattKing · Jan 12, 2008

George:

It may help to look at a map of Alaska. Kitimat isn't far south of the most southerly portion of the Alaska panhandle, although it is at the end of an inlet, so a bit east.

You are probably thinking of the "spirit bears".

I would love to see Kitimat (and visit Murray, of course .

Matt

copake_ham · Jan 13, 2008

MattKing said:
George:

It may help to look at a map of Alaska. Kitimat isn't far south of the most southerly portion of the Alaska panhandle, although it is at the end of an inlet, so a bit east.

You are probably thinking of the "spirit bears".

I would love to see Kitimat (and visit Murray, of course .

Matt

Matt,

Yes, perhaps, "spirit bears" is more commonplace. After the last post, I did google "ghost bears" and only found one "hit" that described them - and there were a bunch of "prior" hits for characters in computer games that use that term.

I think I got the term "ghost bears" some years ago from either "Natural History" magazine article - or one in "Canadian Geographic".

I guess "spirit bears" is a cooler and more PC way of describing an in-bred grouping of black bears wherein the recessive "white fur" gene has become prevalent.

And this now also reminds me of back in "the Sixties" when they changed the name of my Catholic school and parish from Holy Ghost to Holy Spirit!

http://www.bcspiritbear.ca/more_about_spirit_bear.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kermode_bear

MurrayMinchin · Jan 13, 2008

Talk about a thread straying from its intended route!

Up here we call them Kermode (Kir-moe-dee) bears; the original name coming from one of the many First Nation Peoples languages on the north coast. My theory on this (gleaned from watching too many nature programs on TV, reading too many short magazine articles and pondering it all while walking my letter carrier route) is that they are a genetic hold-over from the last ice age.

There are islands on BC's outer coast that weren't glaciated during the last ice age, as evidenced by bones found in caves. This leads me to believe that black bears, being omnivorous could have made a go of it, and if your coat was white, well, that would be beneficial to your survival in a snowy environment. As an aside, we had snow on the ground here for six months last winter and there's no talk of another ice age here, yet

Anyways, no bears in BC could be "in-bred" as they are much too promiscuous, too prone to exploring new environments, and too inquisitive to shackle themselves to one area or island. Sounds like fun, eh?

Murray

copake_ham · Jan 13, 2008

"Up here we call them Kermode (Kir-moe-dee) bears; the original name coming from one of the many First Nation Peoples languages on the north coast."

Hmmm...

According to the BC gov't link I posted:

"It is named after Frank Kermode, former director of the Royal B.C. Museum in Victoria."

But yes. we have strayed far afield from camera quick fixes - let's return this thread to it's originally scheduled topic!

MurrayMinchin · Jan 13, 2008

copake_ham said:
According to the BC gov't link I posted:

"It is named after Frank Kermode..."

Well slap my ass and call me Judy, George! And all this time I thought it was a Native language derived name as there are so many place names up here that begin with the letter "K". There's Kitimat, Kitamaat, Kitwanga, Kitsalas, Kitlope, and a host of others...

Still, the bears aren't "in-bred".

Murray

copake_ham · Jan 14, 2008

MurrayMinchin said:
Well slap my ass and call me Judy, George! And all this time I thought it was a Native language derived name as there are so many place names up here that begin with the letter "K". There's Kitimat, Kitamaat, Kitwanga, Kitsalas, Kitlope, and a host of others...

Still, the bears aren't "in-bred".

Murray

Murray,

I did finally get out the road atlas to locate Kitimat. Wow! that is one heck of a roundabout way you have to drive to go South!

Someday, I love to get up that way - particularly to visit the Queen Charlotte Islands.

Too many places to visit, too little time to do so.

Bandicoot · Jan 14, 2008

copake_ham said:
"It is named after Frank Kermode, former director of the Royal B.C. Museum in Victoria."

Is that the Frank Kermode of textual analysis fame?

Peter

copake_ham · Jan 14, 2008

Bandicoot said:
Is that the Frank Kermode of textual analysis fame?

Peter

Peter,

Not that I have any particular knowledge - but they appear to be two different people. Only references I could find to the Canadian Frank Kermode are with the connection to his position at the Royal BC Museum and the lending his name to the bears.

Your Kermode "googles" with many references to that felow's long academic career and work etc.

Ian Grant · Jan 14, 2008

Bringing the thread back on topic

I repaired my 5x4 Wista with the heel of a shoe about 20 years ago, it fell of my tripod while I was carrying it and hit the road, big-time, it split apart on one corner, panic stricken I tapped it back into place with a shoe heel. I still need to glue the little bit of wood back into the corner but it's worked perfectly without it for 20 years and must be cosmetic.

Needless to say the quick release tripd mount was consigned to landfill.

Ian

Christopher Walrath · Jan 14, 2008

And Ian saves the thread!!!!!! Now, back to those Alaskan Curmudgeon bears . . .

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