Glidecam 4000 central post keeping moving... HELP ME

[Federico Cangiano]

Hello everyone and well done for this great forum, very useful.
I've noticed that my Glidecam 4000, keep moving towards right and then
it stops in a certain position.
This also happens when the cam is not assembled. I've tried to take it completely
to pieces leaving just the central post without telescoping clamp and bottom plate but nothing...
the central post keeping moving towards right and then stops in a certain position.
I have also noticed that the gimbal has got a light moviment.
I want to let you know that I bought the glidecam just 1 week ago and it never felt down or such.
I have then tried to balance this movement moving the weights to the lower side
more to the left and also moving the knob, to see if this could help the rotation...
...nothing, it keeps moving towards the right.
I have done all these trials in a room without wind so I think there's something wrong.
I am asking to myself if it's me not able to balance it or there's a problem of construction.
Thank you to whoever is gonna help me.

[Mikko Wilson]

Sounds like a non linear gimble. It happens sometimes with cheaper rigs (like the Glidecams)

- Mikko

[Terry Thompson]

Federico,

It might be a non-linear gimbal like Mikko said or it might be a problem with fine balancing the rig. You can fine balance a non-linear gimballed rig in one direction only.

On your Glidecam, the bottom weights should be centered and at the end of the slots so the bottom plate is balance by itself. You can check it by rolling it on some sort of round surface like a round pencil. The bottom plate should balance in the center where the post connects.

Now, balance the sled as good as you can with a 1.5 to 2 second drop time. Next while holding the handle with one hand hold the post horizontal and let it rotate on one finger where it wants to go. Once it settles, if the camera is pointing down then it needs to be adjusted via the camera plate towards the back a little. If the camera has it's right side down then it needs to be balanced to the left a little. Which ever way is down is the heaviest part of the sled. When the sled is properly balanced you can move it in any position and it should stay put.

This is covered in our "Stabilizer Basics" training DVD.

If this doesn't help let us know.

Tery
Indicam

[Fredric Savard]

Hi

Your problem seems to be more than not linear gimbal ,
your pan bearing surely was badly press fit on the post or presente a
manufacturing defect.

call glidecam support.


Greeting!
Frédéric Savard
FS PRO
www.fsprostab.com

[Federico Cangiano]

thanks everyone,
click link to watch video test
http://stage6.divx.com/user/FedeCang...4000-pro-DRIFT

[Terry Thompson]

Federico,

Watched the video and noticed that the movement wasn't that bad but still if it bothers you here is another suggestion.

One other possibility (but I don't know if it the Glidecam is set up the same as our sled) is that if the bolts on the yoke are tightened too much they will put a bind on the pan (large) bearing. This will show up as a drift of the sled on either side of one position.

Try this...pan the post to where it moves back then go past that spot a bit and see if it moves in the other direction. If it does, then my guess is that one or both of the yoke bolts (if Glidecam has them) is too tight. It's hard to describe but that's something you can try right now.

One word of caution...on our sled we use teflon tape to keep our yoke bolts in so that they don't need to be cranked down hard. This keeps any bind off our larger pan bearing so that it can move freely. If you do loosen your yoke bolts slightly, make sure you do something like we have done so that you won't have the bolts back out. That would be a bad thing.

You also might contact Glidecam for their recommendations. In fact, that is probably the first thing you should do. They are a good company.


Tery
Indicam