Panic - Anyone in Kalispell / Whiteifsh MT area? Need a tripod.

[David Moffitt]

I'm on a shoot for a lower budget local client (before you give me hell about spares lol) and I had my trusty Miller Compass fail - a plastic piece inside the upper stage CF leg sheared off and the leg completely falls out now - not helpful. I still have to shoot through Sunday evening and am wondering if there are any local filmmakers who I could rent a set of sticks from - doesn't have to be fancy or super high end, in an ideal world it would take 501PLong or 504 plates but my rig's on a dovetail so it doesn't really matter (only helps for our pre-rigged slider but meh, I'll make do).

EDIT: needs to support a 22lb (max, usually more like 17) rig.

Total long shot, but if someone sees this, please call me 585-732-0909 any time 24/7 - I'll gladly pay up to $500 if that sounds fair, otherwise I'm looking at (praying for) a retailer who can Priority Overnight Saturday me a new set of sticks (which from my estimation will be $300 in shipping alone), or the same shipping plus $150-250 from a rental house (if they'll even do Saturday delivery for a 3-day rental on a new client, couldn't blame them for saying no).

 

[Mark Phelan]

As an alternative suggestion if you cannot find a replacement tripod, what about going to Home Depot and getting some hose clamps, the threaded kind you could slip over the offending sections and clamp it down to keep them in place. That would lock off the joint enough to allow you to continue to limp along with the tripod until you can send it in to be fixed. Just a thought.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Fernco-1-1-2-in-x-1-1-2-in-DWV-Flexible-PVC-Coupling-P1056-150/100058870

or

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-1-3-4-in-Stainless-Steel-Clamp-6720595/202309386

or

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-Turn-Key-2-1-2-in-x-4-1-2-in-Dryer-Vent-Clamps-5Y0649B/203493342

 

[David Moffitt]

Hmm, worth a shot, thanks!