Premium Members Mikko Wilson Posted June 12, 2006 Author Premium Members Report Share Posted June 12, 2006 Hi Lars. You are probabaly one of the closest Archers to me when I'm at home in Finland. The maxing test sounds interesting. The G-50 should hold more than the sled can balance apparently, not sure what the actual physical limit on the sled is. Goodluck with the 535! Keep us posted. The tilthead is prety darn cool (thoguh my rig doesn't have it), I agree that it's usefull in down low. The 2nd battery however is something that I've spoke to otheres about too. Rick Lewis in the UK just bought an Archer too and he's getting a plate made up for a 2nd battery to mount under the rods in front to help balance heavier cameras (and keep a shorter post). Chris Fawcett has also talked about this with me. Both have taped batteries on there on occasion and report that it works well. I plan to probably get a plate made up sometime in the future too along with upgrade the sled to 24v myself. Apparently there's also lots of room and relativly easy access into the base to making the connections. There's certainly a lot of cabling in there - heck, FIVE video lines! :) I'd fergotten about Antlers underneath. Perhaps a plate that slides onto the rods (either way round) and has a Battery mount on one side and a standard dovetail on the other. Hmmm... - Mikko Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard James Lewis Posted June 12, 2006 Report Share Posted June 12, 2006 If anyone may be interested, Brian at Bees Engineering here in the UK (the place that is making mine) may be persuaded to make up a few more, depending demand. I could post some pictures when it arrives...? Rick :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Mikko Wilson Posted June 12, 2006 Author Premium Members Report Share Posted June 12, 2006 I could post some pictures when it arrives...? Rick :) That would be appriciated Rick. Thanks. - Mikko Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Janetzke Posted June 13, 2006 Report Share Posted June 13, 2006 Hey Mikko, It was a pleasure working with you and hangin out at NAB. Glad to hear you are in love with that Rig. You look good in it buddy. Fly Safe!!! Tom Janetzke Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurt Warner Posted June 17, 2006 Report Share Posted June 17, 2006 Hello fellow Archer owners I also took delivery of my Archer in early Feb and I've been working it hard ever since. I can see the need for more weight on the lower end of the rig when flying the larger video cameras with wireless units, prompters and other crap that ends up in the rig. I've been mounting my Modulus on the back of the monitor with velcro to add some weight and also keep all the cabling in one place. I've had great results with it. Also Lars made the point about Antlers in Low Mode and that option would be great and a shorter post option would be nice. Richard does your new bracket mount on the rods and if so can the bracket center slide forward of the post to add wieght to the front ? I know it all bepends on how far your battery is extended aft but can you give me an idea of its movement For and Aft? I've been thinking about a mount so be flexable to handel a few needs. My thought was to remove the 2 screws on the monitor yoke and fab a bracket to drop down and then turn 90 degrees aft and attach to the 2 knobs on the battery section. This bracet could use 2- 15mm rods and be the standard seperation so as the use stock matte box mounts and brackets. The 90 degree platform would limit the amount of DB and other tweeks if the Antlers / Weight needs adjustment between shots. I know this would add more weight than just a simple rod bracket but I'd help to shorten the post a bit because of more weight on the lower. Mikko, Lars and Richard what are your thoughts. I'm not a fabricator just an operator with an idea. P.S - Mikko , Congrats on your Rig ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Mikko Wilson Posted June 18, 2006 Author Premium Members Report Share Posted June 18, 2006 Thanks Kurt! And that's a prety interesting idea you have there. basically rods that run back from an attachment below the monitor? Hmm.. My buddy had this cool idea for a quick trick if you need it. It's called the "Reed-Switch". Dead easy, just pull the battery mount&rods all the way out and push them back in from the front. This puts the battery forward of the rod mount on the back of the base. Neat trick for strange balance situations, thoguh it does shoot DB to hell. It could work well with Rick's up and coming 2nd battery mount too. I also have a special bracket in the works myself at the moment, stay tuned for details... - Mikko Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Alec Jarnagin SOC Posted June 19, 2006 Moderators Report Share Posted June 19, 2006 Hey guys, It seems to me that you are getting into some useful info down the line for Archer owners. I was thinking of changing the title and possibly the location of this thread (to sleds). Thoughts??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Mikko Wilson Posted June 19, 2006 Author Premium Members Report Share Posted June 19, 2006 Sure Alec, How about: "My new Archer & Balancing ideas/discussion" ? :) - Mikko Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Lars Erik Posted June 19, 2006 Premium Members Report Share Posted June 19, 2006 Hey Kurt and Mikko. I think Kurt has an interesting idea that needs to be looked at. Personally I was thinking of something that could slide onto the battery rods. On the bottom you'd have the short dovetail for antlers, and on top, as Mikko pointed out earlier, you'd have a extra battery mount for 24v. This seems a quicker way of getting antlers and a second battery on. You just slide the gadget onto the rods and use a hand turnable screw to fasten it. I'm not sure if the rods are meant to be put under so much stress though. :blink: And those who don't have Hytron 120's, might have to replace the rods with longer ones, so one can get the antlers straight under the post. Kurt and Mikko: Kurt's gadget will have to be quite long though, if it's to be attached to the monitor yoke. Since there's no place to attach antlers between the lowest point of the sled and the battery rods, one would have to attach antlers under the battery rods. So in that sense the device needs to go about 18cm straight down from the monitor yoke, and then turn 90 degrees and go another 16,5 cm so the antlers are straight under the post. Am I correct in this assumption guys, or am I way off? And won't this ruin your line of sight to the monitor in low mode? Kurt: about the long post thingy. I have Hytron 120's. If I remember correctly, you also have them? Anyway, I've added 2 pieces of 1/2 kg to the both sides of the monitor yoke, and 1 piece of 1 kg just by the bubble. I've used 3M dual lock velcro. They never fail. Don't need extra tape or nothing. And I've found this to be a quite successfull way of getting SD/HD and 16mm into DB quite fast. In the past I had just 2 pieces of 1 kg on both sides of the monitor yoke, with no weights by the bubble. But I found that this added too much weight to the sides of the rig, making it very difficult to get it into DB. Now, as I said, it's doesn't take a very long time to get it into DB. By doing this, I've added about 3.7 kg of extra weight on the bottom of the rig, (as opposed to using Hytron 50's) letting me keep the rig quite short, even with heavier cams. Have you tried this? If so, did you like it? BTW, doing my maxing this Friday. Will post pics and thoughts that day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurt Warner Posted June 20, 2006 Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 Lars I like your solution for the weights on the yoke. That will work alot better for me since I'm getting a light haze and some bleed through from my Modulus when I attach it to the back of the LCD. As far as the rail set-up I'll have to take some photos of the sled and photoshop some rails and mounts and run it past you guys to see what you think. I haven't purchased a set or Antlers yet so I don't have a idea on the shaft size to make sure it will be able to mount / pass between the battery rails. I'll post the photo soon as I add the rails. PS: My batteries are IDX s10's ( just under 2 lb each) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Lars Erik Posted June 20, 2006 Premium Members Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 Hey guys, I just did some testing with antlers in low mode. Works very well, I just bought some extra screws and bolts and some "squeezers" (lack of English knowledge). I used this with a dovetail and placed them on the rods. Pretty ok to get it into DB. So I think a custom made mount will work great here. Would add some pictures, but I have no clue how to add them. When I want to add an image, the forum tells me to write the URL which the pictures are based. Dude, I'm an operator not a freakin' computer geek. Ok, ok, I'm not very good with computers. Can anyone tell me how to add an image? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Mikko Wilson Posted June 20, 2006 Author Premium Members Report Share Posted June 20, 2006 Below the message box when posting, there is an "Add attacment" box, upload yoru pics there. - Mikko Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Lars Erik Posted June 21, 2006 Premium Members Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 Hey Mikko, I'm sorry, but I can't see the box you're talking a about. Weird. I'll just e-mail you some photos. LE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Mikko Wilson Posted June 21, 2006 Author Premium Members Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 Oh, maybe you need to be a sustaining memeber to attach images. You need to host the images somewhere then link to them with the image tool. If you have a website you can put them there, or you can use a free service like imageshack.com, or I can host them for you to if you can't find something else, just e-mail them to me. (Or you could pay up and become sustaining like all the cool people :P ) - Mikko Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Members Lars Erik Posted June 21, 2006 Premium Members Report Share Posted June 21, 2006 Ok. Just paid and can now add images. Sorry guys, I would haver paid sooner, but I thought you only paid if you were selling something. Sorry about the picture. I kinda look drugged, but I am not. And I really hate being taken a picture of. So I usually try and hide when the cameraes are around me. I just feel like a stupid hobbit or something when someone is taking my picture. BTW, the handgrip isn't representative. I just had my wife take the picture without much thought. Just needed to show you guys the set-up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.