HELP broken manfrotto (1 Viewer)

[GrumpyBuzzard]

Hi folks

I recently bought a velbon carbon tripod that had a Manfrotto MVH500AH attached to it. It's an ok head but as I needed it for large binoculars I've acquired the beefier manfrotto 502. I've taken heads off a tripod once before and thought this would be straight forward affair but unfortunately not.

Tried unscrewing it and noted it was slipping so tightened the screw that controls panning motion and cracked the aluminium casting inside. I'm beat on what to do next. Have tried many different ways of holding it securely to get the aluminium piece off with no joy. It's not glued on to my knowledge.

Hope the pictures help.

 

[Sc0tty]

Hi folks

I recently bought a velbon carbon tripod that had a Manfrotto MVH500AH attached to it. It's an ok head but as I needed it for large binoculars I've acquired the beefier manfrotto 502. I've taken heads off a tripod once before and thought this would be straight forward affair but unfortunately not.

Tried unscrewing it and noted it was slipping so tightened the screw that controls panning motion and cracked the aluminium casting inside. I'm beat on what to do next. Have tried many different ways of holding it securely to get the aluminium piece off with no joy. It's not glued on to my knowledge.

Hope the pictures help.

I assume you removed the 3 grub screws before removing the head?

All I can suggest now is to get some mole grips on it

 

[Saxatilis]

Hi folks

I recently bought a velbon carbon tripod that had a Manfrotto MVH500AH attached to it. It's an ok head but as I needed it for large binoculars I've acquired the beefier manfrotto 502. I've taken heads off a tripod once before and thought this would be straight forward affair but unfortunately not.

Tried unscrewing it and noted it was slipping so tightened the screw that controls panning motion and cracked the aluminium casting inside. I'm beat on what to do next. Have tried many different ways of holding it securely to get the aluminium piece off with no joy. It's not glued on to my knowledge.

Hope the pictures help.

Hi, a couple of years ago I had a problem partially similar to yours, with a Velbon FHD-71Q fluid head and the top plastic plate of the column of my Velbon GEO N630 (which is also an excellent tripod) that I could no longer unscrew: one Allen screw was stripped. Since they didn't ship the replacement from Japan to Italy (I was looking for the upper half of the column as spare part, the one with the plate) I simply went to a good local hardware store. He managed to pass the blade of a hacksaw between the base of the head and the column plate, sawing off one of the two Allen screws used in this one to fix the head: I had managed to unscrew the other one before. But in your case the space seems even narrower or absent. I immediately replaced the Allen screw cut off with one with a new one and since then I have been more careful not to over-tighten the two screws. Now I mounted a Manfrotto 701HDV head on it, whose base diameter is more in line with the diameter of the GEO N630's attachment plate (the FHD 71Q's, more massive, exceeded it) and I think that it's also a more balanced setup. Good luck!

 

[GrumpyBuzzard]

Really appreciate that, indicates either was over tightened or an issue with velbon design

 

[GrumpyBuzzard]

I assume you removed the 3 grub screws before removing the head?

All I can suggest now is to get some mole grips on it

There are only 2 on this tripod and yes both removed. I have one of those rubber grip tools, suppose best bet might be to ask either local camera shop or machine shop last resort.

 

[jmepler]

A strap wrench or a pipe wrench should easily remove that, unless the threads are damaged due to the crack.

Are you sure that you are turning it in the right direction?

 

[GrumpyBuzzard]

I have this exact tool, Im going to leave it in hot press overnight. I did this once with a stuck on filter plus left it outside over night. A few cycles of expansion and contraction worked. A tip others might find helpful hopeful it can work again.

I'm turning counter clockwise, assuming Manfrotto heads work this way.

 

[GrumpyBuzzard]

Anyone own a Velbon carbon tripod? Can shed any light on this issue I've went back to it after leaving it.

I may leave with local camera shop.

In alternative I may sell the entire thing. It still works fine. But is a little scratchy feeling.

 

[4John]

Anyone own a Velbon carbon tripod? Can shed any light on this issue I've went back to it after leaving it.

I may leave with local camera shop.

In alternative I may sell the entire thing. It still works fine. But is a little scratchy feeling.

Grumpy Buzzard

Previous advice on this forum for stuck heads that has worked for me has been a sharp tap (emphasis on sharp) with a hammer on the end of the pan bar with the pan locked, but that would mean reassembling the head, and I am not sure the cracked aluminium inner ring is up to it. Worth a try.

Assuming the strap wrench didn't work have you tried a "proper" self clamping pipe wrench like Stilsons ? Not cheap to buy if you don't own one. Your local tool hire shop may be cheaper.

 

[GrumpyBuzzard]

Thanks for input but the issue is i can't get much purchase on the thing due to how thin the gripping surfaces are. This is coupled with the main issue which is i can't stop the aluminium part of the head from turning.

I have tried knipex pliers on the barrel/tripod post part but again it's getting the other part to sit still.

 

[4John]

OK. Understood. You could make two parallel vertical cuts very carefully either side of the centre almost all the way through to the top plate of the legs and then insert a wide blade screw drive into the cuts to break the pieces off. It's analogous to what plumbers do to remove a used olive from a copper pipe without damaging the pipe if that helps. That would leave you with two parallel faces you could hold in a vice while twisting the legs. Would that work ?

If that doesn't work I would progressively cut pieces off the head until whatever was left unscrewed.

 

[BirderNL]

Once had a stuck head. No movement whatsoever...
Read somewhere that it could be helpful to put it for a couple of hours in the refrigerator/freezer (yes, really).
It helped, the (cold) head came loose without any problem....
Guess the cold " shrunk" the metal and loosened it up a bit.

 

[GrumpyBuzzard]

Yes I've sort of tried but its awkward. I successfully got a stuck filter off a scope once that I was freaking out about. Left it out overnight in garage few days and lo, it worked itself loose.