Repairing a lose Bogen 3265 grip action ball head
Monday 27th July, 2009
Photo and captions provided by chaplovejoy on Flickr. Please click on picture to be taken to Flickr for more info, bigger pix, and chaplovejoy's photo stream Sunday I found myself in the garage ready to attempt the repair of Bogen / Manfrotto 3265 grip action ball head. I had just read a posting on the web about a guy who had repaired his with a couple of washers, said it took him 15 minutes. So I figured, "what have a got to lose?" My tripod head had become so unstable, it was time to do something.
I grabbed the appropriate allen wrench and started removing the screws. Once they were removed I gently pried the two halves apart and... BOING! Out shot a spring and plastic piece behind the trigger, then... BOING!... AGAIN! The bolt in the middle was the the second spring loaded projectile that flew across the garage. Then, the metal bushing fell out, UGH! This wasn't going well!
Luckily I found the pieces laying around the garage. I cleaned the grease from the ball and the inside collar where the ball sits. I managed to reassemble everything back fairly quick, with the exception of the spring and plastic piece behind trigger. When I attempted to put the top half of the head together, the compressed spring and plastic behind the trigger would pop back out and fall at my feet. The trick to assembling the head, was to put the two halves together, leaving just enough room to gently compress the spring and slide the plastic piece into place. Gently apply pressure to clamp the top of the head together, leaving the bottom half lose enough to align the tiny set screw w/nut (located on the bottom in the back of the head) with a small allen wrench keeping it accessible when tightened together.
A third arm with hand would have worked preferably better, but I digress. Today, I spent time searching the Internet and found this great picture above, which would have come in handy when I was putting humpty dumpty back together again.
Thanks to "chaplovejoy" for taking the time to photograph the parts and adding captions, making the repair a little easier for the next person. The repair is is not as bad as it sounds. I am happy with the results and it works like new again! No washers were required.
One final tip, there is a little set screw in the back of the head near the base, if the ball head is just starting to come lose, don't take it apart! try tightening the screw a little at a time first.
Be sure to click on the picture to take you to flickr and read other peoples hints and tricks, or post a Thank You to "chaplovejoy".
Pictures used with permission.
email:Sabrina | website: http://www.picktorrent.com
You know, I am a female and I'm not going to pretend that I understand how all that mechanism works and functions. I just want to come into my husband's world and to begin to approve what he does every weekend:) Perhaps in such a way we'll become closer to each other. Who knows...
email: | website: http://www.flickr.com/photos/adamm/
All I wanted to do was move around the platform so that I could do the grip with my left hand. Totally unscrewed the wrong parts. parts went flying. Was quite annoyed with myself. Thought I'd broken, as in, 'I'll never get this thing back together'.
Took me about an our but I did it. Figured out that the last thing one wants to do is try to force the spring into position after everything else is in place. It's a tricky operation. A vice would have been handy. I just had my hands and i used one of those wood boring drill bit thingy-things (not sure what they're called). Seemed to do the trick. I was sweating for a while.
email: | website: http://www.flickr.com/photos/adamm/
Ooops. Should read, took me about an hour.
email: | website: http://www.flickr.com/photos/adamm/
Actually, mine's the 322RC2 but same principle.
email:Mary | website: http://www.sacekim-merkezi.org
Hi;
Unfortunately, although I realize I could not read the topic defalrca to help me in this regard would be glad if the mail.
mary lou
marylou23@gmail.com
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email:Rondo Estrello | website: http://rondostar@gmail.com
Thanks for this post. It helped me greatly. I am so glad I didn't have to see my baby exploded like the image above. I was able to fix mine very easily by simply tightening the screw on the back of the head. It's holding up nicely now. Thanks again!
-Rondo
email:Dennis Baker | website: http://www.dennisbakerphoto.com
Thanks for the "final tip." Tightening that set screw solved my problem.
email: | website:
The Set screw was the solution!!!!