15mm rod thickness variations?

M

Mike@AF

Veteran
I just received a couple Cinevate Proteus baseplate systems with 15mm rods. The rods seem like they may be too thick, slightly beyond 15mm spec. I don't have a way of measuring accurately enough to tell.

I have a couple accessories for 15mm rods. One is a D|Focus follow focus and I was able to get it on the rods because it's a plastic clamp. The other is a Varizoom Riglits shock system and it's metal with a non-clamping side (just a 15mm hole) and a clamping side and I can't get it on at all.

I also have some IndiSystem rods from an IndiRailsPro system and those 15mm rods will not clamp tight in the 15mm clamp on the top of the Titan matte box I got from Cinevate.

The Varizoom Riglits piece slides onto the IndiSystem rods with no problem. So this leads me to believe that Cinevate's products are slightly beyond the normal 15mm spec.

Unfortunately that's all I have in 15mm gear, so I have nothing else to test with. Before I go to Cinevate with this, has anyone experienced this when trying to mix different manufacturers?
 
You should absolutely be able to fit all 15mm accessories on 15mm rod regardless of who makes the accessories. The rods you have might be 15.8mm which is commonly mistaken for 15mm and I know that manufacturers have mixed up batches in the past.
 
Okay, thanks. I will contact Cinevate. It worries me that I can't get my 15mm rods to even tighten with their clamps on the Titan matte box.
 
Okay, so I used some calipers to measure the diameter of the rods. The Cinevate rods are exactly 15.00mm in diameter. The other rods I have are 14.85mm in diameter. The Riglits part I have has an opening of 15.00mm on the side that's not a clamp. I'll have to call Varizoom about it. Is it normal for rods to be exactly 15.00mm in diameter or is it normal for whatever is going onto the rods to be 15.00mm in diameter. It can't be both. I'm assuming it's the rods that should be 15.00mm in diameter because the accessories are for 15mm rods. I'm I think about this right?
 
Okay I have an important question before I start calling these companies to figure out a solution. I want to make sure I have gear that's compatible with most other stuff and usable in the future as I alter the setup.

Should the rods be 15.00mm or should the accessories be 15.00mm? Meaning, for support systems, the rod has to be smaller than the hole or clamp for the accessories. So which should be 15.00mm?
 
Mike@AF said:
Okay I have an important question before I start calling these companies to figure out a solution. I want to make sure I have gear that's compatible with most other stuff and usable in the future as I alter the setup.

Should the rods be 15.00mm or should the accessories be 15.00mm? Meaning, for support systems, the rod has to be smaller than the hole or clamp for the accessories. So which should be 15.00mm?
Click to expand...

This is an issue that comes up more often then you would imagine (or like). We spec our rods at 14.96. Our drawing is in Inch rather then MM, but our rods are no larger then 14.96. This is to make sure they are as compatible with as many other manufacturers gear as possible. Our accessory bores are all 15mm with the same type of tolerance, unilateral but going up instead of down. For our part drawings we include GD&T on the bores (similar to the concentricity call out on this dwg) to make sure the 60mm at 15mm bores are at the correct location and bore diameters. I expect most manufacturers are not using GD&T on there drawings or the compatibility problems would not be so numerous. But is there a standard? No, I wish there was. But, give them a call, I have heard nothing but positive feedback about Cinevate and there customer support.

Steve
 

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