Gene J Ducote wrote:
>
> Chris Heapy wrote...
>
> >...my 10" LX200 and noticed a shiney object on the floor. Jeez.., I
> >recognised it as a dome nut off the tripod.
>
> >...All that weight of the superwedge and OTA will inevitably chew the
> >hole up in short order. The only real answer was to drill and ream right
> >though 5/16" and use a SS shaft for the pivot.
>
> >Moral - check your nuts are not loose, and also check for excessive wear
> >in the holes. Prophylactic treatment might be to replace those original
> >screws with 1/4" x 20 tpi bolts having about 5/16" of plain shank (screw
> >in from the outer edge with a washer, and 2 nuts on the inside to lock
> >it in place).
>
> >Chris Heapy
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> LOL--good info--better to check now than when out 'in the field'! Well,
> I did check--tripod did have _one_ of those dome nuts that unscrewed easily
> by hand. Put some Loctite 242 on the bolt threads and snugged the nut with
> a wrench. Your suggestion re: plain shank bolts is good althought it would
> take an awful lot of "hinging" to make a significant contribution to
> wear--don't you think? (just a thought!)
>
> For my own curiosity--just what is a "SS shaft"? (my formal edu is
> financial, not mechanical)
>
> Gene Ducote (Charleston, SC)

Sorry, Stainless Steel. There is an upside to removing the slop in the
worn holes, you know how it's sometimes tricky to get the legs in the
right position to lock them in place with the center knob? - this is
because the pivots are loose in the holes. Mine now swing out into
exactly the right position, there is no side play, and the tripod locks
up more firmly.

Chris
--
*Model Engineer Support Page*
Engineering: http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~chrish/homepage.htm
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