Gitzo Spikes

[William Whitaker]

Does anyone know of a way to adapt spiked feet to a Gitzo G1548 MkII? This one has the plastic feet which are not removable. They're a bit "bouncy" on hard surfaces which I find annoying. Otherwise it's a great tripod. If it were possible to replace that last leg section with one with a convertible foot, that would be such an improvement!

TIA

[DuncanD]

I consulted Gitzo (Manfrotto) service regarding the same problem. They had no solution to offer but agreed with my suggestion to trim the rubber insert flat and then thread it for the spike foot. I was assured that the rubber insert runs up into the leg a fair distance and is glued strongly enough to hold the spike. But I have not yet tried it myself.

[vinny]

Here was a tutorial and product offered for the 1325 a few years ago, i don't recall the source. You heat up the lower leg and grab the feet with pliers to pull them out then replace with the spiked inserts they were selling. I'd just drill/tap the feet as they are instead.

[David R Munson]

I'm trying to work out something like this for myself right now. There are 3/8" to 5/8" bushings for adapting microphone mounts, but so far I have not been able to ascertain what kind is actually threaded all the way up the inside. I dropped $6/ea on some Gitzo adapters but when they arrived only had about 3mm of 3/8" threads on the inside. Otherwise they would have been just about perfect, hardly needing any work to insert into the leg of my G220. If I figure out something that works well, I'll let people here know.

[DuncanD]

The heating method will work, with care, on a metal Gitzo leg. Don't try it on carbon (as my tripod is). That is why I investigated the idea of drilling and tapping for 1/4 -20 thread to simply screw in the spikes. According to Gizto service, the specs indicate that the rubber tripod foot should extend more than 1.5cm up into the leg. That sounds like enough to hold the spike thread, especially with a tiny bit of loktite or epoxy (I am told the latter was invented for rubber). But not yet having tried this, I can't vouch for the method.

[swilf]

The thread seems to be old, and you might have already solved the problem, but anyway. The easy way of mounting spikes is to use microphone bushings and brass plumbing fittings, as described here:
http://staswilf.com/blog/2013/06/10/modding-of-gitzo-1325/

[John Kasaian]

and here I thought this thread was about a Gypsy bartender who was known for slipping mickeys into drinks :rolleyes:

[David R Munson]

I'd like to note that I never ended up making this modification to my Gitzo because I couldn't find good microphone bushings. Everything I could find (including some at B&H listed under the part number in that tutorial) have only very short 3/8" threads on the inside. As in about 1/8" worth. If anyone finds a good source for appropriate bushings that are threaded internally the whole way, please post the info here!

[JW Dewdney]

garden stakes and gaffer's tape.

[swilf]

Everything I could find (including some at B&H listed under the part number in that tutorial) have only very short 3/8" threads on the inside.

The strangest thing is that these bushings have long threads on the inside, going all the way through the bushings, at least 1/2", and spikes are held in place firmly. They differ from the image on B&H website. I have checked my order history: the part number is the same. Maybe the image is wrong; maybe B&H personnel mistaken this item for something else. My bushings strongly resemble these ones:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/286147-REG/AKG_KM217_3_8_Female_to_5_8.html

Found an image of Gitzo G-1145 on another website:
http://www.photovillage.com/product.php?productid=2624&cat=0&page=1&js=n
They look just like mine. Maybe it is better to contact B&H staff directly.

[Arne Croell]

Here was a tutorial and product offered for the 1325 a few years ago, i don't recall the source. You heat up the lower leg and grab the feet with pliers to pull them out then replace with the spiked inserts they were selling. I'd just drill/tap the feet as they are instead.
I know this is a little late, but for completion, those spike feet were made by Markins, a Korean company, but are no longer available. The instructions are found here: http://www.nikonians.org/html/resources/non-nikon_articles/markins_guides/Installation_of_Markins_Titanium_Spikes.pdf
I exchanged my original Gitzo feet with the Markins years ago, although I used a heat gun instead of a torch. Worked fine, and the feet are still working, too.