XCS Extendable Mid Arm Swivel , New Product

[JamesSainthill]

WOW!

 

Looks great Greg.

[Jens Piotrowski SOC]

Greg, thx, looks very interesting.

 

What about the extra stress to the arm section, mainly the first. Looks like the lever will introduce more stress for sure? Any thoughts?

[RonBaldwin]

I only have one question...it's regarding your hardwood floors, I will pm you

 

Ron

[GregBubb]

Stresses are understood and parts engineered to specification. The additional stress that is added on the interchangeable arm posts and mating swivel connection points are understood with current camera/sled weights and arm limitations. That is one reason why these are all very high tolerance ground posts and mating connection points in the swivel.

It is critically important to lock both screws and make sure you have the interchangeable posts fully captured at both ends.

The bearings we use are also tolerance for the weight applied. The connections points to the arm are the same.

I have flown a 3D rig on the 6” post in excess of this weight. 75 lbs. this is more than any arm can hold up.

 

Greg

[Jens Piotrowski SOC]

Copy that!

[Andrew Jansen]

Loving mine....! Greg is a genius...

[Thomas Schnaidt]

There is still the factor of being able to reach with our hands and arms isn't there? I use my Klassen vest drop down arm to get into that no mans land (in my Pro vest) between low hi mode and hi low mode and my reach still isn't quite as much as the Pro Arm's. Not sure why I feel the need to chime in with that, but operator reach vs Steadicam arm range remains an enduring limit of operating. There is a jerry hill low handle to address this isn't there?

 

Tom

[Shawn Wang]

There is still the factor of being able to reach with our hands and arms isn't there? I use my Klassen vest drop down arm to get into that no mans land (in my Pro vest) between low hi mode and hi low mode and my reach still isn't quite as much as the Pro Arm's. Not sure why I feel the need to chime in with that, but operator reach vs Steadicam arm range remains an enduring limit of operating. There is a jerry hill low handle to address this isn't there?

 

Tom

 

well this product is intended for maximum arm performance (at mid point), and it enables you to have this performance at all boom range. if I am correct

 

for example if you are shooting at high mode, booming down to approximatly 15% left to the bottom of your arm, then the arm performs less ideally compare to it at midpoint (resting position)

 

this swivel solves this issue by adding a post inbetween 2 arm sections, and offset one section.

 

so at same camera height , you still have maximum arm performance (shock absorbing).

[Stew Cantrell]

I'm curious why the posts aren't solid, like the arm posts that he sells. Is there a reason?

[Jess Haas SOC]

They are a larger diameter and i believe stainless steel so they dont need to be in order to be strong and stiff enough.

[Jens Piotrowski SOC]

Greg over-engineers everything in a good way. I'm sure it's more than sufficient.

[Erwin Landau]

Had a chance to make some pictures while doing some testing/comparing.

 

Enjoy:

 

https://www.facebook.com/erwin.landau.5/media_set?set=a.1464615738558.61964.1328436018&type=3

[GregBubb]

Based on shear strength and flexing the interchangeable tubes don't need to be solid. I keep the weight down as far as I can safely can go and still ensure the shear strength of the product with no bending.

 

To add my two cents on low mode and arm length, I try to clearly indicate that in low mode your physical arm length is the limiting factor to being able to push down the mechanical arms full length while using the medium or long post in the swivel. I am assuming most operators operate with their hand on the gimbal here. I cover this on the XCS web page in more detail.

 

Achieving the additional low mode height you benefit from while using the Mid Arm Swivel (MAS), while not having to push down on ones mechanical arm keeps the sled away from your body, mainly your legs and still allows the full up down boom range for possible lower starting or end heights, already mentioned above.

 

But this is only one of the flexible options it offers me. I think in the end shots achieved by other operators tell the story and they may have different requirements in everyday use of the MAS. Most of the time for me it's not the high low extremes. There are a few ways to achieve the different performance characteristics that the MAS achieves. But no other method I have seen can achieve all its capabilities without changing the sled center post length, gimbal handle or adding an extreme low/high bracket which changes the sled dynamics. To me it's all about sled performance, flexibility, speed, safety.

 

Walters drop down socket block may solve a different issue for some with another manufacturers product but it sounds like when added to your vest, you will be adding another 3" plus in height to your arm post to bring the height back up to where it started. 3" of drop down is a rough estimate going off memory from 4 weeks ago.

 

I am not here to sell a product, I am just clarifying what this product can and does do based on using it for many years.

 

Greg

[Mike McGowan SOC]

You had me at 'higher' and 'lower'... Ordering one now.