Adding spiked feet to tripod

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Peter De Smidt - 26 May 2004 02:06 GMT

I'd like to add surveyor style spiked feet to a Gitzo G506 tripod. I do
have a surveyor's tripod that I use. The cam leg locks and the spiked
feet are very nice, but it's not very compact, and it's a real pain
shooting fairly low to the ground, which I do fairly often. I recently
acquired a very nice Gitzo G506 Performance Compact tripod.
Unfortunately, Gitzo says that there are no auxillery spiked feet for
it. Hence, I'd like to make (or have made) my own. I'd like the feet
to have good sized spikes which are easy to remove from the tripod, and
which down't damage the tripod when the spikes are put on and taken off.
Has anyone done or seen something similar?

-Peter De Smidt

PS No, I don't want to buy a different tripod.

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John Emmons - 26 May 2004 02:21 GMT

Find a good machinist and have him or her manufacture up some clamp-on
spikes.

I'm envisioning something that slips over the end of the existing tripod
legs, perhaps using some sort of set screw to hold it on. They won't be
cheap but they could be pretty neat to use.

Use stainless steel for the spikes and maybe anodised aluminum for the
clamps, then you can submerge the legs in water without fear of rust.

John Emmons

> I'd like to add surveyor style spiked feet to a Gitzo G506 tripod. I do
> have a surveyor's tripod that I use. The cam leg locks and the spiked
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
>
> PS No, I don't want to buy a different tripod.

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Gregory W Blank - 26 May 2004 02:23 GMT

Does the tripod have some kind of pad on the feet now?

My Bogan and my Ries both had rubber pads The bogan had retractable
screws that had a spike, and the Ries has reversable legs with a spike on one
end and the pad on the other,.....if yours have a pad thats screwed on why not
unscrew the pad and screw in a sharpened longer "screw".

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Peter De Smidt - 26 May 2004 02:54 GMT

> Does the tripod have some kind of pad on the feet now?
>
> My Bogan and my Ries both had rubber pads The bogan had retractable
> screws that had a spike, and the Ries has reversable legs with a spike on one
> end and the pad on the other,.....if yours have a pad thats screwed on why not
> unscrew the pad and screw in a sharpened longer "screw".

Hi, I'm afraid that my tripod does not have a pad that screwed onto the
bottom of the leg. In the first place I tried unsuccessfully to remove
the hard plastic feet, and in the second place Gitzo said that they are
not meant to come off on my model.

It was a good suggestion, though.

-Peter

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Richard Knoppow - 26 May 2004 03:55 GMT

It seems to me that you could make adaptors out of
copper or other tubing of the right diameter to fit over the
tripod feet. These would have the spike fastened to the end
or, perhaps, simply squeeze the ends down to form spikes.
They would just slide on or off.

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Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA
dickburk@ix.netcom.com

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Bob Salomon - 26 May 2004 09:38 GMT

If your feet screw-on the Giotto's spike feet may fit.

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Peter De Smidt - 26 May 2004 12:55 GMT

> If your feet screw-on the Giotto's spike feet may fit.

They don't seem to screw on, and I'm hesitant to apply too much force.
It's a Gitzo Tele Studex tripod, which came out right before Gitzo's
move to MK. II status. Has anyone taken the hard plastic feet off of a
Gitzo of this vintage?

-Peter

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