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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Red Arm repair help?

I Bloom

I Bloom

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Two of my three Red arms are no longer holding their position... people like to adjust them without unlocking them unfortunately.

The problem is basically that the inner arm, between the handle and the out arm is now rotating freely.

I'll probably pick up some new ones pretty soon but I took on of them apart and I couldn't find any broken parts. I'm wondering if anyone can enlighten me on the finer points of magic arm repair... or if I'm just SOL.

IBloom
 
OK, so we aren't the only ones.
 
Yeah, the crew on the last film my camera was rented for did exactly the same thing. After five weeks of not bothering to unlock it when they wanted to move it round it eventually died the day before the end of the shoot.

My solution was to charge the production company for a new one.
 
I had the same thing happen. We disassembled it to have a look at the inside- there are two metal pins which provide the tension, and if their edges get stripped, that seems to be the end of it.

It might be possible to have a new pin(s) milled for the arm. We ended up just buying a new one.

I'm very attentive to loosening the Arm before adjusting it now. But I have to say, this is my least favorite piece of Red gear.
 
It's time to revive this old thread.

A few days ago I got a RED arm back from a rental and one of the pins/studs inside the arm was completely gone!? Not sure who ate it. Needless to say - the arm was done...

Anyway - I'm in touch with a guy who can make new pins/studs for the RED arms. I will post more in a few weeks when I've talked to him about the possibility to make them for a decent amount of money. If so - then I will post the price for replacement pins if you want to replace them yourself or I can give you a price for a refurbished arm with new pins/studs and a re-grease of the arm. Shouldn't be too expensive. The refurbished shouldn't be more than 50-60 USD and the pins alone about 25 USD (+s/h).

Here's basically what needs to be replaced:

redarmpin.jpg
 
Interested. I also have a broken atachement screw.
 
IAN SUN said:
Interested. I also have a broken atachement screw.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure it's possible to have those replaced. Contacting Noga for a replacement for that might be a better option. I can try e-mailing them and ask for replacement parts.
 
Looks like I can have new pins created from titanium for an affordable price. What would you guys be willing to pay to have the pins upgraded/replaced? Just trying to figure out if it's worth the time doing this. I'm not looking to get rich off of this but I also don't want to be throwing money out the window.
 
There is a way to repair it. There is a catch. First remove the safety ring that prevents the bowl to get out, than find a spring that has same thickness the upper safety ring has.
Replace it and the thing works like new.
So forget the pins above. That is not the problem.
 
I need one repaired as well. $25 sounds great for the pins.
 
Tony Lorentzen said:
It's time to revive this old thread.

A few days ago I got a RED arm back from a rental and one of the pins/studs inside the arm was completely gone!? Not sure who ate it. Needless to say - the arm was

Here's basically what needs to be replaced:

redarmpin.jpg
Click to expand...

what's the diameter/length/angle? - I make lots of stainless quarter inch (and others) for my housings maybe I could help

Aleksandar Colancevski said:
There is a way to repair it. There is a catch. First remove the safety ring that prevents the bowl to get out, than find a spring that has same thickness the upper safety ring has.
Replace it and the thing works like new.
So forget the pins above. That is not the problem.
Click to expand...

What size spring ? I have lots of those as well. Surprisingly, they are kind of a pain to find proper size and fairly expensive ($1-3 in low quantities - pennies if you order thousands )
 
Aleksander is correct, I have repaired many noga and red arms, and the real problem is that the groove that holds the ring that keeps the ball joints at the end in place wears out, and the ball joint is able to move further away from the center, making it seem like the pin is the problem.

You can try to replace the ring with a thicker one, but more overtightening will probably cause the groove to wear out more. This is the most common and fatal failure of these arms.

The best thing to do is to replace it and keep the old one for parts in case of another type of failure.

Tim
 
I had one break so I took it apart to see what the problem was. I came to the conclusion that the inner ring in the picture below is supposed to have grooves. You can see in the picture that the grooves have been flattened so it can't stick in position. Not sure if my conclusion is correct, but that is what I came up with....


 
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