Archer 2 Top Stage locking mechanism

[Christopher Kechichian]

Hey all,

 

So I got my new Archer 2 a couple of weeks back and I'm very happy with it.

 

Two days ago, I was on a shoot with a pretty simple setup (Alexa, Zeiss Ultra Prime, Teradek bolt 300, Arri Wff and an on board battery)

This setup is definitely within the weight range of my rig but something weird happened with the dovetail plate and the locking mechanism.

 

When I mounted the dovetail plate to the camera setup and locked everything on the top stage, I flipped the rig to 90 degrees horizontal to check my drop time and suddenly the dovetail plate slips downwards as if it's not 100% locked.

This happened twice that day so I'm really comfortable with it.

 

Thank god the dovetail plate has two screws on the front and the back for security but what could be the problem?

I checked all the screws and everything is tight.

Here's a photo of the scratch that occurred to the dovetail plate after that accident

 

Any help is much appreciated.

 

Thanks,
Chris

[Aaron King]

This happened to me once as well. Try tightening down the flat head screw on the latch. That did the trick for me and has not happened again since. I do occasionally check the screw from time to time just as a safety measure. I hope this helps you out.

[Chris Van Campen]

http://www.steadicamforum.com/index.php?showtopic=20491

[Lars Erik]

Chris,

 

I had this problem as you can see in the link. The issue with my problem was the big screw that is inside the red circle. It unscrewed itself as the dovetail was locked/unlocked. I used LocTite. Not the one that is permanent. They have a type that can be "unlocked". After this, I haven't had this problem anymore. Many, many days of shooting after that.

[Christopher Kechichian]

Thanks guys for the answers.

I tightened the flat head screw on the latch and it worked for me, it was a bit loose.

[Jameson Johnson]

I posted in the previous thread as well. I contacted Tiffen and they sent me two shims of different thickness. I started with the thinner of the two and it did the trick. The lock has been much more firm now and hasn't unlocked one time since. I've had the sled loaded down pretty well too, not a problem at all.