What to look for on an old Flyer?

[Neil Hodgkinson]

Hi, I just picked up a Flyer. The PAG batteries plate wiring is hanging out and the video cable looks knackered. The fitting at the bottom has some joints that don’t seem to tighten up too well ether. None of this worries me too much. I’ll be changing it over to V-Mount as this is what I run on and I’m thinking I might just get a whole new base cut out. That and a little wiring and it’ll be up to speed.

 

At a glance it all seems to work fine but the seller’s behaviour was a bit odd and what with me being a new Steadicam owner, this is my first, I thought I'd look for some advice. The arm, the gimbal and the stage for example, I really don’t know enough about to know if it’s all exactly as it should be.

 

I’ve downloaded the manual and will go over it to check it out but dose anyone have any experience of anything failing through age or misuse that I should look out for with an older rig like this?

[Neil Hodgkinson]

Here’s an answer to my own question for anyone who comes here down the line. If you looking at an old Flyer check the bottom assembly. The whole thing is adjustable through a series of pinch joints tightened with alan key socket bolts. The assembly in turn is attached to the bottom of the pole by the same means.

 

On this one they are loose and will not tighten properly. The bolts are pretty mangled from over torqing and this would have been the way to spot the problem strait away on inspection.

 

This is caused I think by the fact that it is fabricated with very tight tolerances and the wear of the metal over time where the parts are adjusted, inevitably without loosening them fully first, has loosened up the joints so they can no longer tighten soundly.

 

I could fix the monitor arm by lengthening the cut to allow the joint to tighten once again but the battery arm is a different matter as it shares it’s joint with the attachment to the bottom of the post, so this can’t be altered without courting disaster.

 

This is bad design and I’ve found a few other people who have had to deal with it. It’s a shame to throw the bottom assembly away, if anyone has come across this and found a solution I’d love to hear about it.

[Francisco Orozco Jr]

Here’s an answer to my own question for anyone who comes here down the line. If you looking at an old Flyer check the bottom assembly. The whole thing is adjustable through a series of pinch joints tightened with alan key socket bolts. The assembly in turn is attached to the bottom of the pole by the same means.

 

On this one they are loose and will not tighten properly. The bolts are pretty mangled from over torqing and this would have been the way to spot the problem strait away on inspection.

 

This is caused I think by the fact that it is fabricated with very tight tolerances and the wear of the metal over time where the parts are adjusted, inevitably without loosening them fully first, has loosened up the joints so they can no longer tighten soundly.

 

I could fix the monitor arm by lengthening the cut to allow the joint to tighten once again but the battery arm is a different matter as it shares it’s joint with the attachment to the bottom of the post, so this can’t be altered without courting disaster.

 

This is bad design and I’ve found a few other people who have had to deal with it. It’s a shame to throw the bottom assembly away, if anyone has come across this and found a solution I’d love to hear about it.

I what I believed to be a similar issue when I had my Flyer (2nd Gen) with black arm. What I discovered was that the original allen wrench had too much flex and wouldn't allow me enough leverage to tighten the battery paddle when two heavier batteries were on it. I ended up pickup up a different allen wrench where it allowed me to use one of the ends on the "T" to tighten it enough. Might help but as others have found it very well could be wear and tear on your specific sled.