I'm tired of buying crap. Is it possible to buy a tilting prism without a target? Is it possible to buy a prism pole with a brass lock ring and no plastic whatsoever?
Somehow i wished I lived in Tennessee near you. I could repair those poles for next to nothing and still make an honest profit.
feel for you....My brand spanking metal prism pole on my last job was an absolute piece of crap. Carbon fibre all the way from now on.
Chinese workmanship not holding up for you?
Seco offers a compression lock pole for not too pricey...keep the threads lubed and they work ok!
My pet peeve is when people over-tighten the prism clamp. Just snug is all that is needed. Then, after over-tightening, they never work right again. Also cousins to this peeve is when people feel the need to over-tighten the: Instrument onto the tribrach, the bipod onto the rod, & the data collector onto the rod. grrrrr
Lube them here and you collect sand and dust, not good. I keep them dry and clean. Sometimes when tightened during a cool part of the day, expansion makes it seem like they were overtightened and they were not. Start hand milking, soon no one will be able to prevent you from loosening them up without even a grunt.
jud
Leica
RADU
I just bought the 8' version of this rod: http://www.hayesinstrument.com/cgi-bin/webc.cgi/st_prod.html?p_prodid=2115&sid=3b6LA-2i@K3D3ln-27111262203.f3
I've always preferred the twist lock mechanism. This rod comes with brass fittings and one of those dual tips (the one you can switch out cheaply without replacing the entire tip.) Then I recycle the used nub onto my tripod feet.
Leica
Agree with Richard, of course if not using Leica gear, not as handy to use 🙂
I bought ONE GLS11 prism pole in 1995 when I went on my own, still as good as new.
My previous employer had several Leica poles that were used hard, in five years there no failures.
After using other brands of bipods, I bought both a Leica bipod and rod tripod, very well made, never have to adjust, just plain works ALL the time.
Just noticed the other day that my newest Leica tripod is now 10 years old, that too looks and works like new.
You really do get what you pay for.
SHG
What brought all this on was our KIP service man came down today and I had him bring a couple of rods and a prism for me to look at. Well, one of the rods had a plastic quick release. I told him to take that thing back. The other rod was better, it was a twist lock, however, the extension section would not turn. It was straight up and down. I sent that one back too. I thought, well, at least I got a prism.
Wrong.
We were looking at it this evening and you can screw the front cover off and the prism just comes out. Now, that isn't a big deal. However, when you tighten that cover up, you notice that the prism isn't fitting against it right. At the top there will be a gap, but at the bottom, no gap. Yeah, I'm sure that will help the distance accuracy.
I have wanted to cross paths with one of these and see one up close.
I have a few of their products and like their work.
Have to contact the company and find a vendor, no sales directly from manufacturer.
I use Ronson lighter fluid (the kind you use in a zippo)up here in the cold, WD40 and its like will "gel" up. Lighter fluid is thinner and works real well. Got a couple of older style Topcon tilting prisms, work great. Never gonna buy the flip lever lock rod again, strickly compression lock.
-JD-
> I have wanted to cross paths with one of these and see one up close.
>
I like the fact that the robotic telescoping pole on the website above has a locking pin option. Every party chief I ever worked for/with complained that the telescoping pole needed a second locking mechanism, and always beat it into my skull that I needed to be very observant that the pole wasn't slipping if I was running it any way but fully closed.
I always thought the telescoping rod with a external compression clamp, combined with an internal cam locking mechanism like a telescoping pool pole uses would make the best of both worlds... double friction clamping action.
