Russell Fogle
Well-known member
I'm loving the new camera but do not have any idea of when my bottom plate from the base production pack or my Arri 19mm bottom plate will show up. My only glass is the massive Cooke 18-100 13lb lens that requires support, so I had to come up with something to be able to shoot for now.
So I thought I would share what I whipped up as a temporary fix with $20.11 & 2.5 hours of my time. Also once my plates do arrive I'll keep this one as a backup if the need ever arises.
This isn't for everyone... So if your thinking of doing it please do it at your own risk to yourself & your gear. You can also have any fabrication shop whip this together in no time.
I couldn't find any metric size rod in either stainless or aluminum on hand in my area... The closest fit that I found was one particular 3/4" stock. I found that different materials in 3/4 vary slightly. The best thing to do is take the universal mount (if you have one or similar) with you as your guide for rod fit.
The only fit that I found locally was 3/4" x .050 (wall thickness) aluminum tubing. I was going to put solid 5/8" rod inside of the tubing to make it stronger (being concerned about the thin wall thickness) but later found that the tubing alone was plenty sturdy for my needs. The strength is increased when putting on the universal mount & follow focus.
For the plate I went with 4" wide x 1/2" thick by 12" long. If you have two Universal mounts they work perfectly to hold the tubing perfectly perpendicular as a jig for welding.
The 4" plate I ground the edges as you see in the photos to get the deck height closer to the height of the universal mount. I figured out how far I needed the rods to extend for my particular configuration and welded the rods to the plate. The longer the rods are welded back along the plate the stronger obviously it will be. Make sure that you level the plate that you are about to weld. I made the level on the plate match that of the universal mounts, because I know the universal mounts are true. It's hard to have everything perfectly level once you put the heavy ground clamp on the jig. As you weld, the heat will draw the materials together and tweak things. So lock the plate into the correct position with four small tack welds to begin with. Once you check that nothing has moved then seam up the edges. If your tolerances are off then it's easy to break the tacks and redo it. Don't do to much at once because (if you are working with aluminum) it's easy to warp things.
My tripod head was too wide to fit within the rods so I welded on another 1/2" plate underneath to bring the bottom far enough out where there weren't any clearance issues with the rods.
I knew (thanks to someone else's post with the exact same configuration) exactly where my center of balance was for my particular lens & camera.
So based on this I drilled & threaded holes to place my tripod quick release plate right where that center balance is. Finally I used a piece of office paper to make a simple template of the bottom of my camera and where the mounting threads are. Finally I drilled holes to allow allen bolts to pass through and bolt the camera onto the plate. Again when I did this I kept in mind where the center balance for my camera setup was. In my case it's right around the front of the Camera's PL mount.
And here you have it a temporary fix until my real bottom plates show up. As you can see I'm also waiting on smaller ET rods to show up for the top of the camera. I could cut these rods down from the production pack for the top but I'll keep these as spares once my shorter ETs show up.
I have a Arri MB-14 matte box (Frick'n Huge!) but the tolerances are so tight that it doesn't fit on these homemade rods... Even after some sanding. Don't push your luck... Aluminum can easily tweak and you'll find yourself with something jammed on the rod. I have a basic adjustable French flag that will have to do for now for lens flares... No filtration for now.
Last note... I was concerned about this heavy configuration maxing out my Sachtler 18P head but to my delight it's well balanced seems effortlessly smooth and I have plenty of drag left to apply if I need it.
See attached photos.
I hope this helps out others who are in the same boat and need their rod support now. She may not be pretty but she does work...
Cheers!
So I thought I would share what I whipped up as a temporary fix with $20.11 & 2.5 hours of my time. Also once my plates do arrive I'll keep this one as a backup if the need ever arises.
This isn't for everyone... So if your thinking of doing it please do it at your own risk to yourself & your gear. You can also have any fabrication shop whip this together in no time.
I couldn't find any metric size rod in either stainless or aluminum on hand in my area... The closest fit that I found was one particular 3/4" stock. I found that different materials in 3/4 vary slightly. The best thing to do is take the universal mount (if you have one or similar) with you as your guide for rod fit.
The only fit that I found locally was 3/4" x .050 (wall thickness) aluminum tubing. I was going to put solid 5/8" rod inside of the tubing to make it stronger (being concerned about the thin wall thickness) but later found that the tubing alone was plenty sturdy for my needs. The strength is increased when putting on the universal mount & follow focus.
For the plate I went with 4" wide x 1/2" thick by 12" long. If you have two Universal mounts they work perfectly to hold the tubing perfectly perpendicular as a jig for welding.
The 4" plate I ground the edges as you see in the photos to get the deck height closer to the height of the universal mount. I figured out how far I needed the rods to extend for my particular configuration and welded the rods to the plate. The longer the rods are welded back along the plate the stronger obviously it will be. Make sure that you level the plate that you are about to weld. I made the level on the plate match that of the universal mounts, because I know the universal mounts are true. It's hard to have everything perfectly level once you put the heavy ground clamp on the jig. As you weld, the heat will draw the materials together and tweak things. So lock the plate into the correct position with four small tack welds to begin with. Once you check that nothing has moved then seam up the edges. If your tolerances are off then it's easy to break the tacks and redo it. Don't do to much at once because (if you are working with aluminum) it's easy to warp things.
My tripod head was too wide to fit within the rods so I welded on another 1/2" plate underneath to bring the bottom far enough out where there weren't any clearance issues with the rods.
I knew (thanks to someone else's post with the exact same configuration) exactly where my center of balance was for my particular lens & camera.
So based on this I drilled & threaded holes to place my tripod quick release plate right where that center balance is. Finally I used a piece of office paper to make a simple template of the bottom of my camera and where the mounting threads are. Finally I drilled holes to allow allen bolts to pass through and bolt the camera onto the plate. Again when I did this I kept in mind where the center balance for my camera setup was. In my case it's right around the front of the Camera's PL mount.
And here you have it a temporary fix until my real bottom plates show up. As you can see I'm also waiting on smaller ET rods to show up for the top of the camera. I could cut these rods down from the production pack for the top but I'll keep these as spares once my shorter ETs show up.
I have a Arri MB-14 matte box (Frick'n Huge!) but the tolerances are so tight that it doesn't fit on these homemade rods... Even after some sanding. Don't push your luck... Aluminum can easily tweak and you'll find yourself with something jammed on the rod. I have a basic adjustable French flag that will have to do for now for lens flares... No filtration for now.
Last note... I was concerned about this heavy configuration maxing out my Sachtler 18P head but to my delight it's well balanced seems effortlessly smooth and I have plenty of drag left to apply if I need it.
See attached photos.
I hope this helps out others who are in the same boat and need their rod support now. She may not be pretty but she does work...
Cheers!