I received and installed the Feisol 3401 Center
Mount Column Kit today. I thought that I
would offer my comments on the modification.
You have to remove the legs from your existing
3401 and install them on the new center piece.
That is the biggest problem as you have to remove
the mounting screws which are very tight and
you only have one hex head wrench (the one you
received with your tripod originally). If you
are not like me and have tons of these wrenches
around this can be a problem. I did not have
another metric wrench but I managed. It would
be really nice if they would include at least
one of these hex wrenches in the kit and two
would simply be wonderful. Taking apart the
legs involves a little bit of dexterity. Be
careful as there are brass washers in between the legs
and the center column mount. There are external lock
washers as well on each end of the double screw that you
take out on the leg and they are black and hard to see.
I dropped on of the damn things and it took me a half hour
to find it again.
Reassembling the legs onto the new center piece
was not too difficult but aligning the brass
washers in between the leg and the center piece
and getting the screwend in can be a little bitchy.
The center column is now carbon fiber and the locking
piece is very similar to the leg segment locking
pieces except it has flanges on it to enable a really
good and easy tightening (and loosening) capability.
They do supply a small hex wrench and a couple of spare
screws for the column top on the tripod. The piece
they send is the standard piece they now ship with
the basic tripod and you have to remove the existing bolt
mount and attach the center column mount. The standard
tripod does not have a column anymore.
The instructions are not very good and there is
nothing about removing the standard tripod top
and replacing it with the center column top.
Maybe they figure even us Americans can figure
it out and choose not to include this little
tidbit of instruction.
Other items: The leg pivots have some sort of
lubrication on them and by replacing them some
of it gets removed. It would be nice to know
what the lubrication is so that it could be
replaced - better still it would be nice if
Feisol sent a little lube with the kit.
When removing the screws I noticed that there
is a little screw tightening material (Locktite?)
on the screws. I don't know if by seperating these
and re-attaching if that degrades this material (I
expect that it would) but again, it would be nice
to know what the material is so that the user could
choose to replace it if he liked - better still would
be if Feisol sent a little dab of it along with the
kit.
Overall observation: I like it. It beats the
hell out of the previous center column mount.
They really need to send two hex wrneches with the kit.
TBP
Mount Column Kit today. I thought that I
would offer my comments on the modification.
You have to remove the legs from your existing
3401 and install them on the new center piece.
That is the biggest problem as you have to remove
the mounting screws which are very tight and
you only have one hex head wrench (the one you
received with your tripod originally). If you
are not like me and have tons of these wrenches
around this can be a problem. I did not have
another metric wrench but I managed. It would
be really nice if they would include at least
one of these hex wrenches in the kit and two
would simply be wonderful. Taking apart the
legs involves a little bit of dexterity. Be
careful as there are brass washers in between the legs
and the center column mount. There are external lock
washers as well on each end of the double screw that you
take out on the leg and they are black and hard to see.
I dropped on of the damn things and it took me a half hour
to find it again.
Reassembling the legs onto the new center piece
was not too difficult but aligning the brass
washers in between the leg and the center piece
and getting the screwend in can be a little bitchy.
The center column is now carbon fiber and the locking
piece is very similar to the leg segment locking
pieces except it has flanges on it to enable a really
good and easy tightening (and loosening) capability.
They do supply a small hex wrench and a couple of spare
screws for the column top on the tripod. The piece
they send is the standard piece they now ship with
the basic tripod and you have to remove the existing bolt
mount and attach the center column mount. The standard
tripod does not have a column anymore.
The instructions are not very good and there is
nothing about removing the standard tripod top
and replacing it with the center column top.
Maybe they figure even us Americans can figure
it out and choose not to include this little
tidbit of instruction.
Other items: The leg pivots have some sort of
lubrication on them and by replacing them some
of it gets removed. It would be nice to know
what the lubrication is so that it could be
replaced - better still it would be nice if
Feisol sent a little lube with the kit.
When removing the screws I noticed that there
is a little screw tightening material (Locktite?)
on the screws. I don't know if by seperating these
and re-attaching if that degrades this material (I
expect that it would) but again, it would be nice
to know what the material is so that the user could
choose to replace it if he liked - better still would
be if Feisol sent a little dab of it along with the
kit.
Overall observation: I like it. It beats the
hell out of the previous center column mount.
They really need to send two hex wrneches with the kit.
TBP
