I give up--someone help me set up the Cobra Crane II
 

I borrowed a Cobra Crane II from a friend in the hopes of practicing with it with my XL1s. Problem--no idea how to set this thing up. I THINK I know how it's supposed to go, but I cannot get the crane attached to the tripod (a pair of bogen 3086 legs). The hexagontal release plate should screw into the middle "u" shaped piece on the crane, right? I can't seem to work this out. I either get the plate screwed into the crane, and then fail to get the plate secured back on the tripod, or get the plate on the tripod and am unable to get it to screw into the crane. Or am I totally using the wrong screw? Heeeeeeeeeeeelp!

Oh, and tell me how to mount the camera too, though I'm pretty sure I know. Thanks.

I couldn't find any information for you on this, or a support
e-mail address. You might try info@steadytracker.com or
info@promax.com though. Perhaps those go somewhere,
who knows.

Thanks for trying. I got it set up, though I don't know if it was right, being that the crane was slightly off balance to one side.

The head is already on the legs.

Josh,

I had the same problems you were having. My suggestion is to ditch the hexagonal plate and attach the u-plate directly to the head of your tripod. If your tripod head has a detachable plate, buy an extra one of these and attach it more or less permanently to the crane u-plate.

For example, I use a Bogen 3246 Black Professional Tripod with 3066 Fluid Head, which is a very solid tripod/head combo. I then bought an additional Bogen 3158 Mounting Plate for the 3066 head to allow for quick changes with my Cobra Crane. (This amounted to an extra $30 expenditure.)

The exception to the above is if your tripod plate happens to be identical to the hexagonal plate they give you.

They certainly don't make it possible to use this crane with the hardware they give you. You'll need to compensate with parts from a hardware store/Home Depot/Lowe's/DIY/etc.

Also, if mounting an XL1 stripped of all its accessories, with the Cobra Crane extender on, it will require 37.5 pounds of weight to balance the rig. This is a lot of weight to contend with. If you must assemble this rig alone (i.e., without a partner to assist), put the camera end of the crane on a soft padded chair to mount the camera first, then add the weight.

37.5? How come? I had 20 pounds on there, and it seemed okay.

As for replacing the plates and whatnot, remember, I borrowed this.

Do you also have the extender? The 37.5 lb. figure includes the additional leverage exerted by the camera at the length of the extender.

I don't think I have the extender. The crane itself is just one piece of rectangular metal.