Dave K

Hi, all. I need some help finding a part for my tripod.

I have an older Slik U-212 tripod. Rather than a ball-head, it has a platform head that has, among other features, a rod that is used to lock the tilt part of the head.

And therein lies my problem. I discovered a few days ago that the "nut" that this rod screws into, and which locks the tilt head into position, is AWOL. I've looked just about every place I can think of, but 'tis seriously MIA.

I emailed the Slik folks in Japan, but haven't even received the courtesy of a reply telling me they received my message, nor do I really expect to. I also emailed THK Photo in California - apparently Slik's US distributor. They at least replied, but told me that particular tripod had been discontinued years ago and no parts are available.

This is my go-to tripod and I have used it for probably more years than I can recall. Because of that, and because I just can't see trashing an old and trusted friend or adding unnecessarily to the trash collection, I really hope someone can help me with this. I took a few shots of the tripod's head but am not able to access them now. If you'd like, I'll post them in a later post.

Thanks for any help you can give.

Dave K

dragonfist Loc: Stafford, N.Y.

Dave post some photos so we can see what the problem is. Kind of hard to assess a problem without eyeballing it. There are a lot of smart folks on this site so it's possible one of us has an idea on how to fix it.

Dave K

I fully agree that there are some smart people here. I'll put some shots of the beast up in a few days. They're on my home computer and I don't have internet there yet, nor can I easily do them from work. I'm off for a few days beginning this coming Wednesday, so I'll make it a point to get them up then.

Thanks for the offer.

Dave K

plieber

Just take the rod to any old hardware store. In the nut and bolt aisle the typical hardware store has a board which has nuts and bolts stuck to it. Just try your rod into into one of these nuts and buy the nut.

Dave K

Did that. Unsuccessfully. The thread angle on the rod is significantly steeper than common hardware store nuts, so they won't work. Thanks anyway.

Dave K

Jwilliams0469 Loc: Topeka, Ks.

I think you may be looking for this but not sure...

http://www.amazon.com/618-752-Replacement-Quick-Tripod-U-212DX/dp/B00009R6Q8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1319341178&sr=8-2

Dave K

Thanks J, but that's not the part. That part is still firmly attached to my camera, for all the good it's doing me now. The part I need is part of the tilt-head locking mechanism, which is the rod that extends at an angle from one end of the pan/tilt head on the tripod itself. I'll put a photo or two up as soon as I can to make it easier to identify.

Again, thank you so much for your input. I really do wish it were that easy.

Dave K

Kirk

You may have to have that part made. I got my U 212 out the other day and the head wouldn't tighten down just like yours. My daughter had used my tripod a few years ago and somehow lost that part. I suspect that someone unscrewed the handle and the square nut fell off. I'm hoping that the nut is ether a standard or metric thread so I can make one if I can find some square stock. I've looked on line but have had no luck.

Dave K

Thanks, Kirk. As I said earlier, the thread is steeper than the normal screw threads commonly found on bolts. The threads per inch count may be abnormal, as well. One guy told me to get a square block of plastic (polyethlene or the like, that fits into the slot of the missing nut, then simply drill a hole through it and allow the rod to self-tap the thing. Nice idea - if I had the proper tools, but that's a whole 'nother story entirely.

Dave K

AdkHiker Loc: Northeast

I agree find a good machine shop andvand machinist worth of his 'salt' can you. I am surprised that you could not find the correct thread at a good hardware store.

Good luck. Maybe look into purchasing a Manfruto

Dave K

Actually, I have my eye on a Dolika AS620B100. It has some features I really like. Anyone use one of these? What's your opinion?

BBNC

If the missing part is a nut that fell out of a socket, that nut will most likely be some form of standard metric nut, which can be had at your local Lowes, Home Depot, or well equipped hardware store. Take the locking handle which screws into the nut with you, and you should not have any trouble matching a nut to the threads.

There may be a slight possibility that the nut will be US standard threads, but I doubt it.

it might cost all of a dollar, or less.

rayford2 Loc: New Bethlehem, PA

Take the head and handle to a person who knows how to use taps and dies. He/she will find a common threaded nut that will fit the head insert and then cut the old thread off the handle and rethread it to match the new nut. The handle will be a little shorter once this is done.

Mark7308 Loc: Vancouver WA

what you need to do is go to an auto parts store and see if they have some thing to measure the thread pitch. Being that it was made in Japan I would guess that it would be metric or mey be a machine screw thread. Does the hole take a square nut or a regular nut. Well I hope that that help, I fix locomotives in my spare time when I am not taking pics.

Mike Little Loc: Ozark, Missouri

If you have a friend that is a machinest have him make it I ran into the same thing on another project and that was my only recourse. What you have is a metric or oddball tread from Japan