How to balance a flyer?

[Jason Bowers]

Hi Guys,
I recently bought a flyer and am using a XH-A1. I have a hytron 50 and 100 attached to the battery plate but find that the batteries really outweigh the camera and I cannot get proper balance. I don't have the tape but have the manual and cannot get the drop time at all. What am I doing wrong? Any help would be great.

[Charles Papert]

Just use the Hytron 50, forget about the 100. The A1 is going to be on the light side for a Flyer so you want less bottom weight.

[Jason Bowers]

Thanks Charles,
I can't get the drop time right, the gimble seems way too low and doesn't feel right. I followed the instructions but it isn't working for me. Is there a step by step procedure that I could find. I am doing something wrong which s funny cause I can get perfect balance on my smooth shooter.

[Jason Bowers]

K got it balanced with a two sec drop time. How to dynamic balance it? Also how should the arm be adjusted? tension and round knobs.

[Charles Papert]

The Flyer is a little tough to dynamically balance, you have limited adjustability by pivoting the monitor and the battery.

Tension on the arm is adjusted easily with those two knobs. You might have to lift the arm slightly to reduce torque on the knobs to adjust them under load.

[Jason Bowers]

What am I aiming for by adjusting the knobs? The manual doesn't explain too well at all. I put the bottom round knob all the way in and the top one 2 turns out. What should I be adjusting the wing nuts for?

[Charles Papert]

hmmm...

don't have a Flyer arm here at the moment, but the tension adjustments are the two knobs (one on each section) on the top of the arm. Can't think where there are wing nuts on the arm...?

Also, I checked the manual--the Flyer arm likes to be at horizontal when being adjusted (not what I said earlier). Sorry!

[Jason Bowers]

Sorry Charles let me clarify. I have adjusted the spring tension so the flyer sits at midrange. The knobs I was referring to were the two round knobs on the insert attachment where the arm meets the vest and the wing nuts that hold the arm to the vest. The manual says they are to adjust in/out and the round ones on the arm are side/side. It just doesn't state what I am trying to achieve. I have quite a large gut so I need to probably adjust for that.
Thanks

[Tom Wills]

Those two sets of knobs are your socket block adjustments - the socket block being the two parts that connect the arm to the vest. You dial these adjustments in so that when standing in the correct posture, the rig doesn't want to fly away from you in any direction, and you're not having to put much work at all into keeping it where you want it around you. Now, as to what that correct posture is, I'm not sure if it's something I can go into in text properly (Perhaps Charles can give you a touch more insight on that).

But yes, those controls balance out for your chest angle, the way you stand, and how the mass of the Steadicam sits out in front of you. Once you have your posture, work on the in and out controls (the two T-Handled screws) to make the rig float, in a front-to-back sense. The side-to-side controls (the two thumbwheels) require that there be no load on the arm, so those should probably start off in a relatively neutral setting, which can be worked on as needed.

[Charles Papert]

Jason:

What you are looking for is for the rig to float at the proper position at your side without having to lean excessively one way or another. With the rig on, walk for 10 steps or so and then stop, maintaining a normal stance. Pay attention to which way the rig immediately wants to fly away from you (or towards you). If it flies left or right, you need to adjust the thumbwheels appropriately; if forwards or backwards, the wing nuts. One note is to make sure before you start that both of these are dialed in to bring the socket block as close to the rest of the arm as possible, then only adjust one of the thumbwheels at a time--don't dial them both out as that places unnecessary stress on the screws. The ideal is that you can stand and have the rig float in place without having to hold it there. However, until you get really used to wearing the rig, slight adjustments in your stance will cause it to fly this way and that; the key is to identify a major tendency to fly one way or the other and adjust for that.

[Jason Bowers]

Thanks again guys,

When I walk the arm flies out and to the right. How should I adjust for this?

[Charles Papert]

Jason:

The adjustment for you will be to have the bottom wingnut dialed out (showing threads) with the top one screwed all the way in, which will bring the rig backwards to you. The next question is a little more complicated as it depends on which side of the body you are flying the rig. If you have the arm coming off your right side and the rig flies on the left ("normal"), you should dial out the bottom thumbscrew so that the arm leans to the left and the rig will follow. If you fly with the right on the right ("goofyfoot"), dial out the top thumbscrew which will again lean the arm and the rig to the left.

I use a backmounted vest that changes the mounting orientation by 90 degrees and thus the functions of the adjustment points are swapped. I apologize that I listed these wrong in my earlier post for the Flyer vest and to avoid any confusion on the part of other readers, have fixed this in my post and eliminated mention of it in yours. Thanks for pointing that out!