Sanford & Sons Junk Yard

Great save, Lloyd. I always find it to be very gratifying work to repair an apparatus that was made well.

Quality tripods are very expensive, and from what I've seen, the old ones are best because they can be repaired, and they're actually worth repairing. There aren't a lot of options for repairing a section of graphite (or other) reinforced tubing. Epoxy may rejoin the break, but won't restore the full strength.

Many of the supporting structures on the newest gear is some high-tech material molded into a channel, not even tubular. Channel sections are fairly delicate no matter what they're made of.

Did you make a plug to run down the leg to bump the dent out?

You done good. Pistol grip head, is that used for sports photography?

Wes

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photography?

Yes on #1. A delrin plug, slightly tapered at the business end, and slotted 4-locations to clear the anti-rotation ribs inside the tube.

It took longer to make the tool than to fix the dent.

#2... eh... I dunno. I have a cheaper tripod with a conventional pan/tilt head. You know the kind; has a long knobbed handle you unscrew to loosen/tighten it. This one seems to have the principle advantage of instantaneous unlocking/movement/re-locking. I immediately liked it, and appreciated its worth. But I don't know if it's targeted toward a specific type of work.

LLoyd

When I first saw one of these they were pushing them for use with video cameras. Interestingly it was on a Bogen tripod and at the time I thought the head was Bogen too. May explain why I couldn't find that head in a Bogen catalog a few years later. Either wasn't Bogen or they discontinued it.

I think Manfrotto makes this type of head. B&H photo carries them.

Wes

I think he was bragging. (not about the tripod save, we know he can do it) ;)

Wes

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Yes, that is a Manfrotto head; a fairly old one. The tripod alone is pretty affordable. Slip on that pistol-grip head, and it becomes a "professional" item.

I guess anyone in the biz could afford one; they're only in the $400 range ON a Bogen tripod... but that's way past the snapshot experience of my son.

LLoyd

SNIP

Nice work! I have a similar old Bogen tripod that someone gave me. It is complete (no head, though) except that one of the clamps that you use to adjust the legs is missing. Looks like it would be not all that hard to make one, though the original was from a casting. Would be a simple pattern to make, that would much simplify the fabrication. I have no casting capability right now, though I do have a small electric furnaace that could easily melt enough aluminum. May be an excuse for some low grade casting experiments. Or maybe I gotta find a casting buddy near by who is already set up. Consider me inspired...

What part of the world do you live in ? There's hobbycasters scattered all over the place ... If you're anywhere near west Tennessee I might be interested .

Thanks, Terry. I know there are a number of folks around here that do hobby casting, though none of them well enough to invite myself over....

I appreciate the offer, but West Tennessee is a drive from here, I'm in NE Mass-A-chew-sets, about 30 miles N of Boston. Would love to see Tennessee, though.

We have a pretty active model engineers club that meets not far from here, I have a friend that is a member and regular at the meetings. This might enough motivation to get me out the join, like I have been planning to for quite a while.

Gotta make me a pattern, I suppose.

Thanks, AL

AL A fired this volley in news:gjbuap$vi8$1 @news.motzarella.org:

Al... when you have a hammer....

Those toggle levers are so durned simple, it would be less than an hour's work to fabricate one from a slab of aluminum.

I know the casting part has allure... but time is so - damned - precious!

LLoyd

So it would appear ... did you know you can melt small amounts of aluminum in a flowerpot with a handheld propane torch ? A melt of 8 oz wouldn't be all that difficult , and would quite likely handle your clamp part . Google flower pot foundry ...

melting alumimum is easy- making a mold that works and getting a usable casting is where the challenge is.

My second "real" casting (not counting the 20+ ingots I poured from scrap) is a lost-foam adapter plate that bolts to my rotary table and has a "spindle nose" threaded 1.5"X 8 tpi to mount my lathe chucks . It's not perfect , but it's damn sure usable . Molded thursday , poured friday , and finished the machining sunday evening .

They are REALLY nice under a spotting scope and for just the reason you mentioned.

BobH

Bogen supplies spare parts on old tripods. Given that Manfrotto (sp?) makes Bogen's tripods as well as those of others, one can often get a repair part for a non-bogen tripod from Bogen, if one can find the matching model in Bogen's catalog. I have done this.

Joe Gwinn

Lloyd, Not sure if this is the same as yours, but I am missing the whole locking collar. It is sort of a sleeve with two different sized bores, (one for the larger tube, and one for the smaller telescoping tube) and it has wingnut type screws to tighten the collars. They could likely be fabricated without castings, the casting part would make it a bit easier from a machining standpoint.

I agree 100% on the time thing. It does seem to get harder to find any "extra" these days.

You are likely right Joe. This is a common Bogen/manfrotto tripod, I can't recall the model right now, but it is not one of the very high-end or exotic models.

But aren't we missing the whole point here? Why would I BUY a twenty dollar part when I can spend easily two hundred dollars worth on my time to make one on the thousands of dollars worth of machines I have in my garage? ;)

-Al