I built a tripod, sort of. I used a survey tripod for the legs and adapted it to fit a head. I needed something to hold my jib and didn't want to spend over $1000 just for that one purpose.

Now I need to make a set of spreaders for the thing. I know how I'll do it. But the one part I need, I don't know what to call it to find it.

I need to find metal bars that have a slot down the middle. You know, like what most spreaders have.

Pounding at google for two hours now with no answer get a bit frustrating.

Thanks for any help on this.

I don't know where you would buy such a piece of aluminium because they would be specially manufactured for tripod makers but a cheap solution might be to use some strong cord tied from leg to leg to stop them spreading.

Alan

Spreading isn't the actual problem, strangely enough. The real problem is being able to get the whole thing level quickly. I want to mark off points so that all the legs will be evenly spread.

Cheap isn't really a huge requirement either, just not expensive is the key. I'd buy some spreaders if I knew they'd work with my feet, but I don't wanna waist $200 on a guess from a picture.

My big thing is finding what that type of metal is called.