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.
