Rental Glidetrack Sticky?

[Evan Bourcier]

Hey guys, just got my Lensrentals.com order in today, and everything is awesome, except the slider I got seems to have some problems with sticking and not making smooth moves.. it seems to be where there's a little wear on the track that there's a problem, but it's made it pretty much impossible to use at the moment. I emailed lens rentals to get their thoughts, but was wondering if you guys had any tips or tricks.

thanks
Evan

[Peter Manojlovic]

Sometimes, even the smallest little ding or scratch will hang it up...
I've got a smooth file and emery cloth on hand to smooth it out....

I don't know if the rental company would approve of the buffing and filing marks on the side of their equipment..Ask them.

[Olof Ekbergh]

There are a few tricks to using these linear sliders from Igus.

First if the truck or carriage is not aligned properly, it can be knocked out of alignment in transport, though I find this to be rare.

Igus recommends an 11 lb down force on the carriage when tightening the 5mm allen bolts (on the 16 series track) to align the 4 slides. I like to finger tighten all four first while pushing down on the carriage with about 10 lb force (my guess) check that the slider is sliding very freely, then tightening a little harder still with the down force using the angle on the allen wrench for more power.

What I mean by finger tight is, hold the 5mm allen wrench (I supply all the tools you need with my system) like a straw not by the angled part. Twirl it between two fingers and your thumb. Remember to push down on the middle of the carriage while you do this. Remember the carriage should slide as smoothly when screws are tightened as with them loose.

If you just tighten them it can cause the torque of the allen screw to turn the sliders a little, this will cause extra friction.

Also keep the cg in the center of the carriage, if the camera is front heavy it will make the slider harder to push, more friction. Polishing the track helps too. In some cases I have seen people use oils to make the track smoother, this is a bad idea as this will cause dirt to stick to the track and worse to the plastic bushings, these can be cleaned but you have to disassemble the track to do this.

I hope this helps.

If your slider seems really stiff, loosen all the allen screws, and try the slider with them loose. It will probably slide really freely. That is how it will slide when properly aligned. So now try tightening as I described above. If you get it right, it will slide as easily now as when all the screws were loose.

The other trick is to push on the slider at the base of the head just above the truck, don't pull it or push it with the handle on your head. You can still turn the head with your other hand as you are sliding. But the main push should be on the center line of the carriage. I sometimes do both with one arm, I use my elbow to turn the handle while my hand is on the center of the head moving the carriage.

[Evan Bourcier]

Thanks for the tips guys! I played with it for a while more and it seemed to smooth itself out. I made a quick video on it at the end of the day, so I'll save typing all my thoughts haha.

GlideTrack SD Review - YouTube