Manfrotto magic arm wont lock!

[Donnie]

This is doing my head in!

My magic arm that was fine when I last used it before Christmas, now wont lock. it's the 143 with the locking lever rather than the variable friction one.

So of course google throws up the following easy fix http://www.dorsiafilms.com/productionblog/2012/1/17/fixing-a-manfrotto-magic-arm.html

However it still wont lock! I see that by adjusting the ends you also adjust a ball bearing which sits in a recess in the central bearing shaft too and think this may have something to do with it? Can anyone help?

 

[blakester]

Paul, does your manfrotto arm have an allen screw at either side of the central joint?
If yes, it is quite easy to adjust the locking mechanism to retention. I carried this out on several manfrotto arms at work. They can lose tension after a period of time.
It is a little trial & error to get it just right. If it is the allen screw, you loosen one side and tighten the other accordingly until correct tension is achieved and the arm can once again lock.
i spoke with a manfrotto rep, he suggested using common silicon grease to clean the locking mechanism, manfrotto charge a fortune for their grease which isn't any better. HTH. Iain

 

[Donnie]

hi Iain, yes it does but ave been trying on and off for an hour plus now and i just cant get it to work, im going to put it in the bin soon

 

[Donnie]

I've done it!!! Yay Good God, I had to walk away from the damn thing or my head was going to explode!!!! I ended up stripping it almost completely and starting from scratch but I methodically put it back together and it's working.

I think that earns me a manfrotto magic arm service technician award or similar!!!

Now to open the Shiraz I was keeping until tomorrow!!

 

[Donnie]

Arrrgh can't get the screw top off the Yellow Tail Shiraz!!!!!!!

























Kidding

 

[StewartR]

Arrrgh can't get the screw top off the Yellow Tail Shiraz!!!!!!!

Brilliant. Really clever.

Kidding

Unnecessary.

Seriously though, what did you do to fix it? (The tripod, I mean.) And did you video the procedure?

 

[Donnie]

didn't video it no, was too frustrated.

I believe the reason I had hassle with it is as Iain alluded to above where it's a bit trial and error to get it just right, but I had loosened the ends of the arms too where the swivels are, not realising that there's a tension mechanism there that helps retain the central spindles the bolt goes through.

So basically i had to get that all set up correctly too but kept getting one tensioned just right and the other one either too much or not enough, resulting in one arm effectively locking to the central boss and the other one not locking :-(