Help finding a part

rG-tom · 13 Apr 2011 at 10:13

Hey guys,

My google skills are weak this morning.

Basically, I'm looking for somewhere I can buy clamps that are used when making telescopic poles, ie lightstands etc, to clamp a smaller tube into position as it slides out of a larger tube.

essentiall it's 2 attached circular pieces of nylon with screws that tighten the circle so that it cllamps around the tube, that reduces in size on the 2nd one so that it clamps the smaller one.

usually the larger side has a normal bolt done up to be permanently clamped, and the smaller side has a thumb screw that you do up when the pole is at the right position:

That's what they look like

Any ideas? I need a variety of sizes to make my own telescopic pole, ie 28-26, 26-24, 24-22, 22-20 reducers.

Cheers

Tom

PS if anyone has an insight into how the twist lock poles work i'd be even more interested, but I can't actually modify the poles as i dont have the tooling so if it requires intervention from that end then im stuck.

Cheers

Tom.

rG-tom · 13 Apr 2011 at 10:48

ive seen that but they aren't metric

Also it looks like it screws into the pole instead of just tightening the sheath, which is no good as i dont want to damage the pole (carbon fibre)

rG-tom · 13 Apr 2011 at 11:10

it's for a camera rig, 4x1m carbon fibre poles with a 4kg camera at the end so the clamps need to be fairly substantial! Cheers for your help though.

rG-tom · 13 Apr 2011 at 11:34

Greebo said:
Perhaps just price up one made for you?

http://brodexbms.co.uk/telescopic_poles/?gclid=CKru16GjmagCFQRP4QodqT9LCw

I have sent a few RFQs out for them to be made and I'm waiting on replies, but at the moment the only off the shelf ones I can find are 5x the price that i can get the material for (minus connectors)

rG-tom · 13 Apr 2011 at 11:47

Greebo said:
Any help?

http://www.windowcleancentre.co.uk/productdetails.aspx?ProductID=105&SectionID=13

nearly! it'd be interesting to see how it actual works ie does it rely on compressing the metal to hold the smaller tube? If so, that just isn't going to happen with carbon fibre.

Also the sizes aren't quite there

Cheers for everyones help so far though

rG-tom · 13 Apr 2011 at 11:49

kae2 said:
Ahh, I just cheated and used a fishing pole... the sales assistant did look at me strangely when I bought it though as I only wanted the large diameter end sections, lol.

http://www.windowcleaningsupplies.net/prod_show.asp?prodid=640

best I can find

Edit:

More towards the bottom of this page:

http://www.johnhewitt.com/brushes.htm

second link looks spot on!

Out of interest with the fishing pole, is it possible to get them in carbon fibre ~5m lengths with the smallest OD being ~20mm? Almost all the sites i can find dont really list the diameters of the poles.

rG-tom · 13 Apr 2011 at 11:50

Greebo said:
Any reason apart from weight it needs to be carbon fibre?

Just you can buy an aluminimum extending pole from the website I linked all made for £27.45.

at 4-5m long with a 4-5kg weight on the end, aluminium bows a lot, carbon fibre far less so.

rG-tom · 13 Apr 2011 at 12:28

AHarvey said:
You making a car rig?

Yes, I've already got the parts for close shots but need the pole to get further away:

rG-tom · 13 Apr 2011 at 13:49

no deadline it's all the idea stage atm, how busted are the stands generally?

PS do you have msn?

Cheers

Tom.

rG-tom · 13 Apr 2011 at 13:55

added

rG-tom · 13 Apr 2011 at 23:08

i may be doing a group buy aharvey will let you know if i do