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Got away with one.. the vixen mount went over!


Fozzie

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Received a sickening phone call from the wife tonight.. "I'm on my home, need anything?" I said.. "no we're fine, I've picked up you tripod that fell over by the way".. "excuse me!?!?!?!?!?!?!"

 

Bit of back story, I'd left my vixen GP out in the back garden as the clear skies were forecast until Tuesday, however to save space I'd closed her up a bit, stood the legs up a bit straighter so to speak, in the corner... the vixen is mounted on my homemade tripod and accessories tray, which in I'd left my 32mm TV plossl, the 17mm Delos, 2 SLV's, a Barlow and a 7mm LV..

Now night I'd tweaked the legs to get the mount spot on level, which it was, and in very nicely PA'd too... HOWEVER  it appears as though i didn't tighten the north leg up enough, and with the heat of the day the extending section has "retracted" sending the mount a*#e over t#t..

This is not a phone message I wanted to get or even contemplate the consequences of.

 

Now the good news.. the home made ep tray held all of the ep's in place so none went skittling about on the floor, I've checked this over and we're all good.. it appears the counterweight took the hit, follwed by one of the legs.. the connectors, motors, clutches, and attitude bolts all seem tonhave got away stock free..

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I'm lucky, lucky boy so it appears!

The damage to the wood tripod is easily delt with, bit of sanding and teak oil will sort it out..

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Going to leave it running for 30 mins, make sure nothing drops off!

Just wanted to share the near miss.. should probably think about always packing up properly in future.. and double check I've tightened all the bolts correctly too..

Could have been so much worse.

Ta

fozzie 

 

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11 minutes ago, Fozzie said:

Just wanted to share the near miss.. should probably think about always packing up properly in future.. and double check I've tightened all the bolts correctly too..

Could have been so much worse.

..........just glad its not. You wont make the same mistake twice, and others can/will learn, yet its so easy to do?
I lifted the kitchen chair one night only to wince as the 15x70's slid off, restrained fortunately by the neck strap which I had placed around the seat back!
Also when my  Telrad was in use, not only  wast it held in place by the set/lock screws, on a 3M equipped  base plate, I employed extra tie-wraps  to be sure, same with the finder scope, you know, belt & braces policy. 

As for the phone call, Ouch! not something you really want  to hear at the end of your day.
I remember not long back, Mrs Charic  trying to tell me there was an issue with my new Helios Apollo 15x70's, which I laughed off, what does she know?
Apparently she did know! 

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Horrid thing to happen, but glad everything survived largely intact. It’s a lesson to all of us to check things when temperatures change. Something tightly done up can get quite loose as things cool down, or heat up as in this instance.

I once nearly dropped a C925 when it loosened in the clamp, only an end stop saved the day!

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Just been looking over the mount in the cold light of day, again the GP looks to be unscathed apart from a new scuff on the counterweight.. the piller section is a bit loose, but nothing a tightening up shouldnt cure..

The tripod however is a little bit worse off.. on inspection this morningit looked to have buckled the spreader bar, however on inspection it had snapped and warped on of the fixing brackets so I've drilled a new one, and we are now back to nice and level..

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The main area if damage to the legs is as the photo above, impacted a render wall, giving it a chewed look.. plus its deposited loads of render fragments in the wood...

So I've removed all the fragments and loose wood fibres, and sanded the area to blend in the defects..

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There are a few other minor surface scratches that have hardly needed anything doing to them, a quick rub over with fine grit.

I've then teak oiled the sanded areas heavily and allowed them to dry tacky, before teak oiling the entire tripod to blend.. not too bad a result..

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I've also just tightened everything up, check for broken metal fixings etc and all seems well...

In a better mood than I was last night now..

Ta

fozzie 

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