Modern Studio Camera Stand

[Harold_4074]

Disconnect the cable at the arm and slowly pull the HEAVY lead weight out the bottom while the finger killer is still sideways on the floor.

Excellent point, well taken.

And if the counterweight is lead (more modern ones use steel, which cuts into the range of vertical travel) check to see how the cable is attached. My Deardorff bi-post stand has two lead weights, and one of them spontaneously detached itself from the cable while the stand was upright. Fortunately, no one's fingers were underneath, but investigation showed that the weights were hung by 1/4" lag eyes (meant for wood, not lead) and a previous owner had tried to "correct" the looseness with epoxy (or, possibly, Duco cement).

I took out both lag eyes and installed brass threaded inserts for 3/8-16 eyebolts; this gives me the bearing strength of a 1/2" wood-style thread in the lead, which should be a decent margin of safety.

And by the way: when turning the stand upright again, keep fingers and other fragile objects away from the cable. It would be pretty easy to semi-amputate something by putting it between a small cable and rigid object, with that big weight hanging down.

[Tin Can]

Disconnect the cable at the arm and slowly pull the HEAVY lead weight out the bottom while the finger killer is still sideways on the floor.

Excellent point, well taken.

And if the counterweight is lead (more modern ones use steel, which cuts into the range of vertical travel) check to see how the cable is attached. My Deardorff bi-post stand has two lead weights, and one of them spontaneously detached itself from the cable while the stand was upright. Fortunately, no one's fingers were underneath, but investigation showed that the weights were hung by 1/4" lag eyes (meant for wood, not lead) and a previous owner had tried to "correct" the looseness with epoxy (or, possibly, Duco cement).

I took out both lag eyes and installed brass threaded inserts for 3/8-16 eyebolts; this gives me the bearing strength of a 1/2" wood-style thread in the lead, which should be a decent margin of safety.

And by the way: when turning the stand upright again, keep fingers and other fragile objects away from the cable. It would be pretty easy to semi-amputate something by putting it between a small cable and rigid object, with that big weight hanging down.

Harold,

My Bi-Post was made the same way, but i left the OE 'mistake' alone and I think about it every time I move the stand/camera. My lag screws looked 'OK' but that was a poor OE choice. Maybe next winter I will do what you did.

My 10X10 FOTAR nearly removed the hand of a foolish young man dismantling it for me at the camera store i bought it from. It could have been real bad, but 3 of us somehow got his hand loose. Thin aircraft cable with real heavy weight on it.

They were the experts and it was still inside their store. During reassembly I learned a bit.

[Harold_4074]

Given that this thread is actually about modern studio stands, the lead weight issues may be only marginally relevant. However, given the prices of new stands suitable for an 8x10, there is a pretty good chance that someone will be bringing home an older used stand, and even a steel weight may be weakly attached.

Therefore, when transporting a stand, the safest mode is undoubtedly with the column lying horizontally and the weight removed.

The LEAST SAFE way would be standing vertically in the bed of a pickup truck, with the carriage lowered and the weight suspended high up in the column. Lightly loaded pickups usually ride roughly, and the impact loads on the cable will do nothing any good.

Presumably, the middle course would be to raise the carriage until the weight bottoms out (not always possible) and stand it up in that position. (It might look strange going down the road, but remember that the counterweight weighs considerably more than the carriage [I]sans[I] camera, so it is actually relatively stable in that configuration.)

Remember that even if the assembly arrives intact, it may have been weakened by mis-handling. After all, 50% of the weights on my bi-post stand hadn't fallen off by themselves before the stand was put into service. Given that the stand will elevate the camera higher than my head, I wouldn't like to experimentally determine whether or not one weight is enough to hold up both the carriage and camera...

(Randy's comment about the OEM lag eyes surprised me, as I had always assumed the original attachment to have been a 1/4-20 tapped hole which later stripped out, possibly due to vertical transportation as described above or to over-tightening of a locknut on the eyebolt shank.)

[cuypers1807]

Randy, Thanks for the info. Due to my ceiling height, 8 ft would probably be as high as I could go. For what I shoot 6 ft. still may be reasonable.
Going to search for local sales for a while before I consider something new.