Under tripod floor protection

I am in somewhat urgent need of protecting both my 8x10 from a slipping tripod.... and the beautiful hardwood floor below it from the spiked metal feet on the tripod legs. I would have preferred to have used my Benbo but it will not go quite high enough.
I do not have time to order in the folding doo-hickey for under-the-tripod-feet that Fred Picker first marketed those many years ago, that I believe is still sold in the US. However I do have access to a wood working area to fabricate something similar, should anyone have one that they could measure and send me a simple plan (with measurements, pretty please)

Ken

Alls I did, was cut out three round pieces of plywood 3" and drilled a small hole to fit the spikes and put some rubber snubbers on the bottom of the wood circles, cost me about $3 and works very good to protect my floors.

Dave

Dave Parker said:

Alls I did, was cut out three round pieces of plywood 3" and drilled a small hole to fit the spikes and put some rubber snubbers on the bottom of the wood circles, cost me about $3 and works very good to protect my floors.

Dave

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Thanks for that idea Dave, but I do not have "spreaders" or means of preventing the legs from self spreading under the mass on top... though I as last resort may have to resort to "tieing" the legs as I have had to on a couple of occasions.

Ken

Go to any decent hardware store, or even a Target/WalMart/WhatEver and get a set of the plastic/rubber/carpet thingies that go under furniture legs.

Go to a carpet place and get a scrap of carpet and cut it to 4 feet square. Usually they will give it to you for free. Punch a hole in one end for a bit of cord to tie it with when it is rolled up. Works great, we do it all the time. Easy to move around, you get to choose the spread depending on height, and offers a small bit of protection if you drop something while working on a hard floor.

What about an equilateral triangle of plywood with two 3"x1" wood blocks in each corner to stop the legs spreading? Put either 3 rubber casters or rubber door-stops underneath, depending on whether you want it to slide around or not.

Good luck, Bob.

KenS said:

Thanks for that idea Dave, but I do not have "spreaders" or means of preventing the legs from self spreading under the mass on top... though I as last resort may have to resort to "tieing" the legs as I have had to on a couple of occasions.

Ken

Click to expand...

Hi Ken,

I had a tripod like that a while back, I just cut three pieces of cord(cloths line) and tied between each leg about 6 inches up and it prevented them from spreading, not pretty, but was quick and easy and worked just fine.

Dave

Set the legs & duct tape them to the angle you need.
Crutch tips on the spikes.

Dave Parker said:

Hi Ken,

I had a tripod like that a while back, I just cut three pieces of cord(cloths line) and tied between each leg about 6 inches up and it prevented them from spreading, not pretty, but was quick and easy and worked just fine.

Dave

Click to expand...

Cloths line is a good idea; or three ends of keychain, hold together in the center with a keyring and attached on the legs with keyrings.
When the tripod is folded together for transport, put a rubber ring around, I use an piece of an inner tyre (for cars), this is verry strong.

This is an old cinéma trick.
Get three tennisballs and cut a cross in it, large enough to put in the spikes so they will be coverd. The balls should not fall off when you lift up the tripod to move it.
We used it to put it on the ends of the light stands to.

Good luck,
Philippe

Cane or crutch tips are the usual answer. You can usually find them at a well stocked pharmacy. Another possibilty is the rubber cups sometimes used to protect floors from furnitutre. Yet another is the rubber cups used to protect walls from doorknobs. I found a dolly used for TV camera tripods, and it's great with the instrument tripod I use with the 8X10, but it is a bit big and inconvenient to haul about.