8x10 Deardorf Base Plate Screw Hole too deep

[RawheaD]

I drilled and tapped mine to 3/8 x 16.

Soon you will learn how to spell Deardorff.

It is easier to buy just a 1/4 x 20 stud.

DOH LOL. Deardorff. Deardorff. I got my spellchecker to learn that spelling Making it 3/8 sounds like a really nice & stable solution. I love all these suggestions. Thanks guys. Deardorff.

[E. von Hoegh]

DOH LOL. Deardorff. Deardorff. I got my spellchecker to learn that spelling Making it 3/8 sounds like a really nice & stable solution. I love all these suggestions. Thanks guys. Deardorff.

Deardorff = 2 effs; Linhof = 1 eff. The easiest way to remember this is to get one of each.
As for the tripod, I'd not use a QR of any sort. My V8 is an early FS and did not have a baseplate; when I reglued the bed I added a baseplate, but left the original bushing - I tapped the threads in the baseplate so that a long screw would thread through the baseplate and into the bushing. My tripod has a roughly 5"x7" mounting plate with a 1/4-20 screw, the camera mounts very securely.

Welcome to the club, I've been using mine since the late 1980s and am still utterly happy with it!

[Jonathan Barlow]

Is your V8 an early model with just an insert in the center of the 4-piece wooden base, or does it have the large round cast aluminum plate with the Deardorff name?

Hi, I just got my first Deardorf 8x10 (woohoo) and immediately noticed that the screw hole on the base plate, which has a normal 1/4in female screw, is recessed too far and none of my tripod quick release plates can be used; i.e., the screws just won't reach the female threads at all, not even a single turn's worth.

I've tried many tripods, and the amount of protrusion above the plate surface tends to be more or less uniform, so it seems the base plate / screw hole is the issue. Question: what is a good way around it? Is it pretty easy to get a longer screw from tripod/head manufactures?

I want to use this with my Manfrotto....

Thanks for any advice.

[RawheaD]

Is your V8 an early model with just an insert in the center of the 4-piece wooden base, or does it have the large round cast aluminum plate with the Deardorff name?

Is has the large round plate

[starvingartist]

Just to let everyone know. I contacted Ries Tripod and purchased a new baseplate for my Deardorff 8X10. Thew screw hole is made from stainless steel and is not recessed like the old style. Also, they sold me a new custom camera screw that gives me a full inch of hold down. Definitely better than re-threading the old plate.

[Luis-F-S]

I've re-threaded two of my V8 base plates from 1/4-20 to 3/8-16. My two V5's already had the 3/8" plates. I think the Ries plate is really neat, and since I already have three Ries tripods, the Ries screws reach the DD's base plate with no issues! Great products. L

[Jim Jones]

Burke & James was another maker that recessed some of their tripod screw sockets too deep. Their tripods had a screw that was too long for some modern small cameras. The ASA standard of 1952 recommended 1/4 inch tripod sockets of light cameras to be 0.197 inch deep and heavy cameras 0.375 inch deep. The maximum recommended protrusion of the tripod screw for light cameras was 0.175 inch and for heavy cameras 0.340 inch. The spec sheet doesn't define light or heavy cameras. Perhaps the Deardorff and B&J cameras cited above were made before that ASA standard was published.