Magiqcam footage

[Ed Liew]

charles,

i was refering to the post not having a "guide" rail so that my top and bottom should always be parallel. sorry if i explain it wrongly.

anyway, my problem with the rig don't seem to be getting any better. it seems that john knowingly send me another faulty gimbal. in his reply, he ask me to fix it myself with some epoxy. well, the original epoxy on the gimbal didn't work as it turn into dust. any suggestion to fixing this problem?

ed

[Ed Liew]

here is the link to some photos of my magiqcam faulty gimbal. http://visualline.7p.com/magiqcam_ne...al_faulty.html
i only notice the problem on the second flying the rig and the screw nearly drop out. lucky for me the rig did not break.

ed

[Charles King]

Boy Ed. You seemed to be very unlucky, man. You've been having problem since day one. I feel for you. The only way I can see fixing that is by redrilling thát hole with a new dimension thread. That also means making the holes larger and everything else to fit the new hole.

That looks like a M5 thread.

[Trevor Crump]

There are such items as 'thread worms' or 'coils, used to renew threads that have been stripped, try engineering places and one should be able to tell you where to find these.

Trevor

[Charles Papert]

Ed:

It's been years since I've operated an EFP, so I don't remember if that particular rig had a guide rail or groove in the post, but none of the current high-end rigs have such a feature. You should be able to adjust the gimbal to balance without having an assistant hold on to the sled.

[Terry Thompson]

Ed,

First of all, thanks for the pictures. They do say a thousand words. I also enjoy reading your posts.

As Trevor said, there are thread repair kits called helicoils (I think that is the correct spelling) that allow you to drill out to the next larger size, tap, and then insert the helicoil that will accept the origonal bolt. I remember having to do this on my 55 VW bug a number of years ago.

I wondering how the bolt strips the thread. Is the stress that great on it? I suppose the collar is aluminum as is mine but your system handles a much heavier sled. If I had to support a heavy weighted system I would probably make the collar from steel and not aluminum.

Here is a web site I found selling helicoil kits.
http://www.jcsonlinetoolshed.com/section.php/342/0
Maybe it can help.

Terry

[Ed Liew]

thanks for the help. will try to source for this helicoils here locally. my only worry is when drilling the hole, the alignment part that is.
will let you guy know what happen.

as for my luck, really not that good. got one camera ccd burn by a laser and now this. really don't give me much confident buying home made stuff from the net again.

charles p, thanks for the help. will try out your advice once the gimbal is fix.

ed

[Ed Liew]

terry,

forgot to answer your questions. sorry. the ring holding the gimbal is made from aluminium. as for the thread strip, its not so much of the stress as it was advertised to be able to fly a 15 or 16lb camera. i guess the manufacturer really "screw up" and thought it would be okay for him to just fix it with some epoxy.

ed

[Trevor Crump]

Just a sugestion, maybe drill and tap 2 new holes 90 deg from the originals...!
I notice a change of bolt from your to mine, ours has a machine bolt with no step in it, maybe you can swing over to this setup, although yours must have diferent bearings.

Trevor

[Terry Thompson]

Ed,

I have to think that John didn't send you a bad gimbal on purpose. I've talked with him a few times and he seem to be on the "up and up". It;s sad that you have had problems with your system in that you are so far away from the U.S..

The suggestion about redrilling 90 degrees from the first set is a good idea if you can get the sleeve off the bearing. It would be harder to get a deep enough hole unless it was milled. See is John will send you another bearing and sleeve and when you receive it send the bad one back.

My machinest showed me some taps and helicoils. The helicoils look like short springs that fit into the hole.

I might consider trying a few helicoils out some of my sleeves to see how they work out. I haven't had any problems with holes stripping out so I don't know if I will need them though.

Terry

[Ed Liew]

hi terry,

maybe he didn't send it on purpose but his earlier reply sure sounded like he know what was wrong with it and what i should do with it. and i doubt he will send me anymore new part. in business, its said to be able to end good is to be able to end the problem fast. anyway, have not heard from him after my last two mail. always stress me out just communicating with him over the past year. i will try the helicoil, if and when i find one here locally. thanks anyway:0)

ed

[Terry Thompson]

Ed,

Can you get many of the parts you might need in Malaysia or do you have to send away for them? I can look around for the helicoils when I look for them for my reg if you would like. I would need to know the bolt thread such as 1/4 x 20.

Terry

[Ed Liew]

should be able to find one over here. just a matter of time. i don't think i'll be using the rig anymore. most probably continue to rent the efp set. anyway, thanks for the offer.

ed