Arca Swiss bracket/rail clamp - how to tighten?

[Atul Mohidekar]

Hi,

I thought I should ask before I try to figure out how to fix the following problem:

I have an Arca Swiss bracket/rail clamp that is supposed to securely hold the monorail and prevent it from moving. The bracket looks like this:

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/101376-REG/Arca_Swiss_042130_Extension_Bracket_II_Tripod.html

When I fully tighten the levers to secure the sliding monorail and prevent it from moving, the monorail remains loose. How does one adjust the levers to ensure that the monorail does not slide?

Thanks.


// Atul

[neil poulsen]

I have the Bracket I. I believe you need the type II rails to work with this type II bracket. The type I bracket (like mine) clamps side to side. The type II bracket clamps from underneath the rail.

Not positive about this, since I've never used the type II.

[tgtaylor]

Atul,

Contact Arca Swiss - they can repair it. Several years ago (like 15!) I purchased an Arca z1-sp ball head new from B&H and the ball wouldn't tighten down as it should. It sent it to Arca and they repaired it. For insurance in case it should ever come loose again, I bought the special tool from them to tighten it down but never had to use it. If they say you can use the same tool to repair yours, send me a pm and I'll loan you mine.

Thomas

[Emmanuel BIGLER]

When I fully tighten the levers to secure the sliding monorail and prevent it from moving, the monorail remains loose.

Hi!

Yes, this is an Arca Swiss rail type II.

If you bought the item new, this should not happen of course.
However if you bout it used, then you do not know what happened to the rail during its previous life.
A possible explanation is: at the very beginning of rails type II, Arca Swiss had added a layer of Teflon adhesive tape so that sliding should be even smoother than it is in actual rails.
Sometimes, with ageing, the tape would unglue and users would simply tear it off completely.
Doing so will add a tiny fraction of a millimeter between the bottom of the rail and the top of bracket, hence a tiny amount of unwanted play, and the lever may no longer tighten the rail. As you can see, the total travel of the locking system is very small.
Anyway, send it to an authorised A/S repair technician e.g. Precision Camera Works, ATTN: Bob Watkins 4835 W. Main St. Skokie, IL 60077 (https://www.precisioncameraworks.com/arcaswiss), this is easily fixed.

[Atul Mohidekar]

Thank you, Neil, Thomas and Emmanuel.

The bracket I had used to work fine but over last few months it got worse. It had similar problem few years ago and had sent it to Bob Watkins to get it fixed. This time I thought I should inquire to see whether I could fix it myself (e.g. tighten a couple of screws) before sending it out.

Thomas, I had sent you an email yesterday through this web site.

[tgtaylor]

Thomas, I had sent you an email yesterday through this web site.

Atul - Your email never arrived. Please forward it to me off my website.

Thomas

[Mark Darragh]

As Emmanuel mentioned, the older Type II rails had two thin strips of tape (5mm) on the inner surface. I had the issue with peeling on one of mine and removed the Teflon tape; the result, the rail no longer locked. I replaced the tape with two thin strips of Magic Tape and it has worked well ever since.

The tolerances of AS machining are very fine so you may want to try something similar before you send the rail for repair.

All the best