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Photo Forum / Digital Photography / DSLR Cameras / June 2006Tripod screw "keeper"
The monopod I recently bought came with a threaded plastic cap on the screw. It seemed a useful addition - keeping the threads protected and protecting stuff that may come in contact with the screw during transit. Is there any place to buy this sort of thing? I don't see anything like this in online stores (though I may be looking in the wrong place) -- and it seems like the sort of thing that will easily go missing so it might be good to have half a dozen or so laying about. According to Brian Sullivan <briansullivan@gmail.com>: > The monopod I recently bought came with a threaded plastic cap on the > screw. It seemed a useful addition - keeping the threads protected and > protecting stuff that may come in contact with the screw during > transit. > > Is there any place to buy this sort of thing? I suspect that it served in the store to hold the tripod on a display rack, and it is expected to be lost as soon as the user uses the tripod. > I don't see anything like this in online stores (though I may be > looking in the wrong place) -- and it seems like the sort of thing that > will easily go missing so it might be good to have half a dozen or so > laying about. Well ... you *could* make a tether to keep it from getting lost, as I did with the protective screen over the LCD display on my Nikon D70 after losing the first one. (It tends to get hooked by my belt while the camera is on a strap, and popped off.) However -- if *I* felt the need for such a screw protector, the simple thing would be to go to the hardware store and buy a box of 1/4-20 nuts (steel or brass. not plastic), or even better, I would take a little time in my machine shop and make some knurled ones. You can also go to a maker of nylon screws and nuts, and buy them, I think a minimum order of 1000, so you would probably want to sell some to others who wanted such protection. Normally, however, the tripod screw retracts into the top of my tripods nicely enough so I don't worry about it.. Enjoy, DoN.  SignatureEmail: <dnichols@d-and-d.com> | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564 (too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html --- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero --- > The monopod I recently bought came with a threaded plastic cap on the > screw. It seemed a useful addition - keeping the threads protected and [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > will easily go missing so it might be good to have half a dozen or so > laying about. If you google "plastic cap" and check the ads that come up on the right you'll find several suppliers--seem to want to sell boxes of a thousand though. You could also get a can of "Plasti Dip" for 10 bucks and make your own. Signature--John to email, dial "usenet" and validate (was jclarke at eye bee em dot net) This may sound a bit silly, but when I first got my DSLR, money was an issue for ANY accessories. What I did was to get a heavy duty wooden Shovel handle (6 feet long), a double threaded bolt (wood screw on one end and "camera" thread on the other) and made my own hiking monopod. I had the same issue with the threads on this stick. I put a thin coating of machine oil on the "camera" threads and then covered same with the liquid plastic that can be used to coat the handles of tools. After sitting for a couple of days, I was able to score the base of this plastic on the monopod and unscrew the flexible plastic, leaving clean threads and a cap I could reuse whenever I needed to... Still have it after 2 years (although, I no longer need it). Some variation of this might work well. > The monopod I recently bought came with a threaded plastic cap on the > screw. It seemed a useful addition - keeping the threads protected and [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > will easily go missing so it might be good to have half a dozen or so > laying about. > The monopod I recently bought came with a threaded plastic cap on > the [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > that will easily go missing so it might be good to have half a dozen > or so laying about. Somewhere I bought a bullet-shaped aluminum socket, tripod-threaded (1/4-20, if I'm not mistaken) with a keyring-style ring through a perpendicular hole in its nose. Screwed on a tripod screw (imagine!) it serves as a hanger on a peg. I tried it on an old tripod. It worked good. They're still there. Of the dozen or so tripods I've had and used/misused, thread protection never was an issue. SignatureFrank ess According to Frank ess <frank@fshe2fs.com>: > > The monopod I recently bought came with a threaded plastic cap on > > the [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > Somewhere I bought a bullet-shaped aluminum socket, tripod-threaded > (1/4-20, if I'm not mistaken) That is correct, at least until you get to large-format (and maybe some medium format) tripods, which I believe to be 3/8-16 threads. > with a keyring-style ring through a > perpendicular hole in its nose. Screwed on a tripod screw (imagine!) [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > Of the dozen or so tripods I've had and used/misused, thread > protection never was an issue. Agreed. As I mentioned in another followup to this thread, without a camera mounted the screws usually retract into the plate so they are not exposed -- or at the worst are extended by a light spring, so any pressure likely to damage it will instead just push it into the top plate. Enjoy, DoN. SignatureEmail: <dnichols@d-and-d.com> | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564 (too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html --- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero --- Acorn nylon 1/4 20 caps are available in many hardware stores (Home Depot for example) for a few cents. Many fastener companies also have a variety of caps that can be used. Bad news is fastener companies sell items by the box 10/25/50 of, Good news is there products are often very inexpensive w.. > The monopod I recently bought came with a threaded plastic cap on the > screw. It seemed a useful addition - keeping the threads protected and [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > will easily go missing so it might be good to have half a dozen or so > laying about. > Acorn nylon 1/4 20 caps are available in many hardware stores > (Home Depot for example) for a few cents. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > 10/25/50 of, Good news is there products are often very > inexpensive Home Depot seems like a good bet -- I will check next trip to see if they have such a beast. >> Acorn nylon 1/4 20 caps are available in many hardware stores >> (Home Depot for example) for a few cents. [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > Home Depot seems like a good bet -- I will check next trip to see if > they have such a beast. I have two envelopes originally six wingnuts each, two different sizes of wings, but both 1/4-20. I found them on a parts wall at a now-forgotten hardware store. Seems to me a wingnut would be easier to on- and off-load, and harder to lose than a nut. I have some nylon wingnuts, too, but I can't seem to find them. Same size, I think. SignatureFrank ess According to Walter Banks <walter@bytecraft.com>: > Acorn nylon 1/4 20 caps are available in many hardware stores > (Home Depot for example) for a few cents. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > 10/25/50 of, Good news is there products are often very > inexpensive One maker (or brand) is "CapPlugs". Many of them are designed for one-time use -- shipping a product to the final customer -- and have to be torn to remove them. They are commonly used to protect the threads on the ends of pipes, and electrical/electronic connectors. Enjoy, DoN. SignatureEmail: <dnichols@d-and-d.com> | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564 (too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html --- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero --- Would a car tire cap fit? > The monopod I recently bought came with a threaded plastic cap on the > screw. It seemed a useful addition - keeping the threads protected and [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > will easily go missing so it might be good to have half a dozen or so > laying about. According to Dave <catx@pacbell.net>: > > The monopod I recently bought came with a threaded plastic cap on the > > screw. [ ... ] > > Is there any place to buy this sort of thing? > > > > I don't see anything like this in online stores (though I may be > > looking in the wrong place) -- [ ... ] > Would a car tire cap fit? Highly unlikely. The diameter might be close (a bit oversized), but the thread on a valve stem is *much* finer than that on a tripod thread. Probably something close to 32 TPI, instead of the 20 TPI of the tripod thread. Enjoy, DoN. SignatureEmail: <dnichols@d-and-d.com> | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564 (too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html --- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero --- > According to Dave <catx@pacbell.net>: > > [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > Enjoy, > DoN. Assuming that you're posting from the USŠ Go to any half way decent hardware store. (Ace stores are pretty good, particularly the old ones with a ³bolt room.² Ask the sales person for a ³quarter-twenty Nylon cap nut.² If you want to make sure that's it (lots of different tripods - some from overseas that might use metricŠ) drag your tripod in and they'll fix you up. According to William Davis <davisbill@mac.com>: > > According to Dave <catx@pacbell.net>: > > > [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > > > > > Is there any place to buy this sort of thing? [ ... ] > > > Would a car tire cap fit? > > > > Highly unlikely. The diameter might be close (a bit oversized), > > but the thread on a valve stem is *much* finer than that on a tripod > > thread. Probably something close to 32 TPI, instead of the 20 TPI of > > the tripod thread. [ ... ] > Assuming that you're posting from the USŠ Well ... *I* am, but with the original poster posting in googlegroups with a gmail address, there is no way to be sure -- other than asking him. :-) > Go to any half way decent hardware store. (Ace stores are pretty good, > particularly the old ones with a ³bolt room.² [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > from overseas that might use metricŠ) drag your tripod in and they'll > fix you up. Even my old Zeiss Contax cameras use 1/4-20 -- or something which is practically interchangeable with it. 20 TPI would be 1.27mm pitch (close enough for the short engagement length of a typical tripod thread), but the diameter of 1/4" translates to a 6.35mm diameter -- a bit off from the nearest standard metric thread diameter -- 6.0 mm. And my reference material for metric threads is downstairs, so I don't know for sure whether there is any standard 6mm by 1.25mm pitch thread. I had read somewhere that the diameter of 1/4" was mixed with a Whitworth thread form (55 degrees included angle, instead of the 60 degrees in most common Imperial and metric threads). that is close enough to allow interchange with that short an engagement. (Most tripod sockets are typically no more than about five threads (1/4") deep.) But -- as I said earlier, if *I* wanted one, I would go down to my machine shop and make it. And it would have whatever custom outside shape I felt that would benefit me the most. :-) As it is, I sometimes go into production mode on adaptors from tripod threads to the standard US microphone mount thread -- 5/8-27, so I always have a few of those around which I could use to protect the tripod threads. Enjoy, DoN. SignatureEmail: <dnichols@d-and-d.com> | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564 (too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html --- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero --- > The monopod I recently bought came with a threaded plastic cap on the > screw. It seemed a useful addition - keeping the threads protected and [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > will easily go missing so it might be good to have half a dozen or so > laying about. My monopod also has a plastic "knob" on the threaded end, making it useful as a walking stick (aluminum). It has a small chain attaching it to the stick part so it won't get lost. >> The monopod I recently bought came with a threaded plastic cap on the >> screw. It seemed a useful addition - keeping the threads protected and [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] >as a walking stick (aluminum). It has a small chain attaching it to the >stick part so it won't get lost. I was toying with the idea of using the monopod as a walking stick, the thing that put me off was the easy collapisibility. especially in an emergency. >>> The monopod I recently bought came with a threaded plastic cap on the >>> screw. It seemed a useful addition - keeping the threads protected and [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > the thing that put me off was the easy collapisibility. especially in > an emergency. I've often used my monopod as a walking stick. Needed to as I recently have the need of using a cane. I didn't find using a heavy monopod as a walking stick to be as comfortable as the use of a cane, but it worked. The times that I have used my monopod as a walking stick, I've never had my pod collapse as I was using it. > The monopod I recently bought came with a threaded plastic cap on the > screw. It seemed a useful addition - keeping the threads protected and > protecting stuff that may come in contact with the screw during > transit. > > Is there any place to buy this sort of thing? Go to the hardware store and buy a cap nut with the appropriate thread size. > > The monopod I recently bought came with a threaded plastic cap on the > > screw. It seemed a useful addition - keeping the threads protected and [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > Go to the hardware store and buy a cap nut with the appropriate thread size. I went to Home Depot -- Acorn nuts in nylon in the 1/4 20 size that fit tripod screws are about 15c or so each. > The monopod I recently bought came with a threaded plastic cap on the > screw. It seemed a useful addition - keeping the threads protected and [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > will easily go missing so it might be good to have half a dozen or so > laying about. Go to a hardware store and buy a 1/4"-20 wingnut. They are cheap. If you have a drill pop a small hole in a wing and attach a fishing leader so you don't lose your nut ;) |
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