Broke my 501 See Picture
 

http://droptodesign.com/test/brokenb.jpg

Yep, talk about a rough one, I found this out setting up for a wedding. I did just switch the handle to the left.

I'm wondering if this is something I can fix myself, It looks like that part of the tripod is just one single piece?

Any one ever took a head apart?

Hey Steven, it looks like you beat someone with it ;-)
Sorry but man I don't think it's something that can be fixed. I believe it's a cast part and welding it could be problematic. You might try a metal shop or body shop and see what if anything they could do.
Hey next time smack the guy with the tripod legs ;-O
Don

See this: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=70707

Well, Don, what I was thinking is that Bogen can send me a part and together we can take it apart. I was ONE of those kids who always took radios and other electronic equipment apart. I'm going to call them and hope for the best, this would be a good excuse to go with a new 503, ;]

Oh by the way, I found out this thing was broke an hour before the ceremony, fun fun fun. And Don, if only I had broke it hitting someone, but I just picked up the tripod and was moving it, and all the sudden, the arm went to flying down the pavement.

Some of the epoxy glues formulated for metal might help - not sure but worth a try.

yep, took things apart but until I was about 12 never did get too many back together ;-) (at least so they would work)

Bogen might very well sell you the part but you might find it's less money overall to go with a new head. I once went to order something from them and by the time all was said and done it was just about the cost of a new whole thing so...

Seriously though, I wonder how it got broken in the first place.
Oh well, one of lifes little mysteries.

Don

Thanks Don, If I had to guess, I think it got broken while loading all my gear into my truck. Even though this tripod is in a padded case, the pad is not very thick. When we do weddings, we typically carry about 4 tripods or so, so I'm sure it was broken when I loaded my gear.

And yeah, if the part is going to be half the price of a 503, I'll just get another head and sell this one for parts.

It appears that the ol'e 501 has been discontinued, atleast from the BH site. Hmm. I wonder if that new fangled 503 is worth the extra 80 bucks?

I am dealing with Bogen right now with a tripod that, well got crunched. I was about to just write it off and found this page on Bogen's site:

http://www.bogenimaging.us/Jahia/sit...873058.worker2

To give you an idea on replacement. The tripod was a 745b and they will give me a new model (745xb) for 157.30. New at B&H it is 213.95. You can also upgrade so they will give you a credit if you wanted to upgrade to the 503hdv. I think I am going to upgrade the Bogen to a Gitzo carbon fiber.

Hope this helps!

Well, I called Bogen, they were very helpful. After shipping the whole part will cost about 30 bucks. They said I can fix this myself. I'll post again if I can't get humpty dumpty back together. Thanks again for the input.

The patient is fine
 

It took about 20 minutes or so to do the repair, and I did have one of those 'hmm, wonder where this goes' moments, but the tripod appears to be fixed fine. Kudos to the guys at Bogen, they got my part to me by true 2nd day air.