Cian Clarke

Thanks Francisco - this is a huge help, and lighter than I'd thought, which makes my life a little easier. I've since found some fishing weights that I can tap a screw hole into, so I'll start by trying that. Should this approach fail, I'll just buy a(nother) used Merlin! Agree re: the dovetail, seems the most important machined piece here. When I originally bought the used Merlin, there was a dovetail for sale in the used section on B&H for a much more reasonable price. Alas, this has since sold so that plan fell apart quickly, haha

Thanks for the reply Lisa - indeed, I had found all the parts on B&H, but by the time I'd bought enough weights I'd have the price of a used complete Merlin 2 on eBay! I agree re: the dovetail though, the $80 is a small investment versus any (..further!) falls to my rig! Also - hello, fellow Bostonian here! Well - adoptive, moved from Ireland ~4 years ago.

Hi Folks, I'm the proud new owner of a Steadicam Merlin - or at least, part of one. I had originally intended on buying a no-brand steadicam, since the Merlin was way out of my price range, but when I saw a partial Merlin come up on eBay for low $, even though it was missing loads of parts I thought I'd be clever and try and jury-rig a solution. I'm missing the counterbalance weights, and the dovetail plate. I've since discovered that replacement counterweights are ~$25 each, and it looks like my 60D & 17-40mm rig will take at least 3 to balance, so buying the set would cost more than a used Merlin. I was going to try to make some by tapping a 1/2" fine screw thread into some raw lead instead. (other ideas welcome!) And now, my ask.. -Does anybody know the weights of the "Start", "Mid", "Finish" weights? Looks like I need the equivalent of 1, 2 and 2 of each respectively according to the cookbook. -Does anybody have any ideas for jury-rigging a dovetail? Is the forward-back, side-to-side movement adjusters that the dovetail depends on so important that I should just buy a legit one? -Does anybody have any spare weights or a dovetail they'd be willing to sell me?! -..should I just give up on my Merlin endeavour (I'm only $30 in so far), and buy a crappy Neweer stabiliser to start? :D Thanks for any help!