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This is constructed out of the "open" halves of four ferrules. At
first I attempted to economise by halving two ferrules and using all
the halves, but the ferrules are designed to grip on once side since in
normal use they are permanently attached to one rod. This made the
rods more reluctant to slip into position so I sacrificed two more
ferrules in the interest of engineering.
Positioning the ferrules was a matter of some trial-and-error and a
little chicken-shaking. I constructed mock-up legs and experimented
(played) with the elastic to get a good feel for what kind of angles
worked and at what angle the joints would no longer lock, then I
removed the elastic, taped a ferrule-half to the top of each leg and
placed the legs in the position I thought offered enough stability
without compromising the legs' ability to lock out.
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click image for full size version
Photography by Stoney |
Taking note of the angle between two of the legs, I took the top
section of two of the legs as a unit complete with ferrule halves and
clamped them gently in a vice, then blobbed a little weld on the join.
By reconstructing the tripod, I found the angle for the third piece and
pretty much repeated the procedure. Then I allowed the legs to
free-stand and held the main trunk in a position that looked kinda
upright and tacked that on too.
All this high-precision technique meant that the stand, well, didn't at
first. To fix it, I could swap leg sections around (since they were
not all the same length it was possible to tune the balance in this
way) and there was a little bending of the junction unit involved too.
Probably the best way to do this is by gentle tapping with a heavy
hammer, but take care not to crush the ferrule openings. You might
consider putting a snug-fitting drill bit into the ferrule before
tapping anything. Levering the piece with a carbon fibre rod is
foolhardy unless you *really* want to know about carbon-fibre-splinters
stuck in the soft bits of your hand (you don't, believe me!)
Once happy with the angles, I added a bit more weld for good measure,
ground off the excess, and drilled holes for the elastic to enter.
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