Friction arms - what am I doing wrong?

FiddlerMD

FiddlerMD

Well-known member
I recently got an 11" friction arm from amazon .. it's the typical one with the various adapters and 1/4" 20 screws and whatnot. The quality seems decent, however, here's the part that baffles me. I recently tried to put a 7" monitor on it and screw the other end into a mafer clamp. The part screwed into the mafer clamp kept unscrewing out of it because of the torque that the monitor's weight exerted on it, no matter how hard I tightened the collar piece. Am I doing something wrong or is this the fault of the arm?
Also, it seems like it's kind of difficult to screw the arm into something.. the screw part rotates freely in its joint and there's nothing to grip on to .. i usually manage, but it seems like it would be a lot easier had the screw part had something to grab onto.

let me know your thoughts.

Thanks!
 
A lot of the cheaper arms are simply too hard to tighten due to poor build quality.

Like anything that screws on and uses that kind of tension, though, flipping the clamp around so that the weight-tension of the monitor favors the tightening thread rather than the loosening thread can help quite a bit. The same goes for mics and mic stands for live music and studio recording, as well as Hollywood arms on C-stands.
 
Most of those cheap friction arms don't have textured joints that really interlock securely when you crank down the knob. I have the P&C ones that do and they're not that much more expensive. But I only use them for lighter gear since they're not too secure at the ends where you screw them into your camera, rig and device. I'm amazed at how many people do rig their stuff that way. Somebody has to come up with an anti-twist mechanism. Edelkrone has a dedicated EVF mount that looks pretty good. It's a bit more expensive but probably more trustworthy during run and gun. It only mounts via hotshoe, though. I'm actually trying out an EVF friction mount called the Xtender that was recommended by forum member Erik Naso. They have three or four types of mounts including one that will put a spigot on your camera. I just ordered it for my Dp4. Looks pretty solid.
 
DNN said:
Most of those cheap friction arms don't have textured joints that really interlock securely when you crank down the knob. I have the P&C ones that do and they're not that much more expensive. But I only use them for lighter gear since they're not too secure at the ends where you screw them into your camera, rig and device. I'm amazed at how many people do rig their stuff that way. Somebody has to come up with an anti-twist mechanism. Edelkrone has a dedicated EVF mount that looks pretty good. It's a bit more expensive but probably more trustworthy during run and gun. It only mounts via hotshoe, though. I'm actually trying out an EVF friction mount called the Xtender that was recommended by forum member Erik Naso. They have three or four types of mounts including one that will put a spigot on your camera. I just ordered it for my Dp4. Looks pretty solid.
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nah, that's not the issue - the one i have is exactly like the p&c one (probably same OEM). I just figured th collar would be designed in a way where it would put enough pressure on the screw hole
 
Those arms are the work of the devil - basically useless unless you are flying something light like a french flag IMO

Some of the top brands can almost handle an EVF

For a monitor you probably need to look else where - something with arri style rosette serrations, and be prepared to spend.
 
The basic idea behind these friction arms is a nice one but in practice there's lots of problems, I agree yes. You can't do anything you want with them, they have limitations.
For monitors it's much much better to get something like the edelkrone evf mount that was already pointed to you and forget about those friction arms.
 
I use an inexpensive friction arm with a light weight monitor (7" Lilliput) on a FS-100. I had a hard time with it, at first. I started doing what Alex H. said and trying to make sure that I orientate the arm so that the torque is towards tightening the screw and not loosening it, just like on a grip head. This is going to sound crazy, but I also started carrying one of those flat square rubber jar openers with me and use it to tighten the main knob. It helps me get a little more umph when tightening it down and really helps. I haven't had issues with my cheap arm since I started doing the above.
 
it's really amazing that this is the case. I was under the impression that friction arms are used by just about everyone for just about everything.. guess I was wrong. The concept is great .. implementation seems a lot to be desired though huh... The edelkrone stuff also looks great but it's just too much money for something like this (for me).
 
FiddlerMD said:
The edelkrone stuff also looks great but it's just too much money for something like this (for me).
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It's not cheap, especially when considering what it is. But I think that you could DIY something very similar and save a couple of bucks...
 
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It depends on what your using them for, light weight items like LED lights, French flags, and small monitors, they work well. I have an 11" inch, arm that is :), and a 7". The 7" is a bit better, Seems to be stronger due to the size difference. As far as the tightening issue, I tighten the main handle to make it stiff, then screw it on the monitor, its much to hard trying to do it while it's flopping around. You can also use a lock washer to keep it from coming unscrewed, On a larger scale, the bogen (manfrotto) magic arms are awesome, their built like a tank, and never have issues.
 
The 7" arm works better than the 11". I have both and found that I prefer the 7" for the monitor. You can't expect miracles. You have this small 1/4-20 screw at the end of a lever holding a big mass. Friction can only do so much against a rotational lever.
 
What works pretty well is what Black Rapid does for its tripod strap mount. They attach a permanent thick rubber washer on the screw, which really grips the camera when you torque it down. It really does help to keep it from unscrewing.
 
I have 2 P&C 11" arms and both are pretty much useless now. I had to pull the good parts from each to get a halfway working one. And I've only used it to hold up my little 5" Marshall monitor.

I used an Ultralight Systems arm and its amazing. Holds weight really well (I've picked up a decently loaded FS100 by the arm and it didn't even slip one bit) and the quality is top notch. Completely different design that seems like it'll last. I'm completely sold on it.

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yeah i've been looking at RAM mounts also .. those are built like tanks but all these solutions are so freaking pricy! There's gotta be a cheaper universal ball kind of system out there
 
Just got this yesterday and it seems to work pretty well. Not cheap but I know it won't get in the way when I need it to work. It's a friction mount so you can angle the evf very easily. Since Smallhd put's the HDMI ports on the bottom, you have to use this little offset plate which seems a bit clunky. But there's a tab that locks the offset plate so it doesn't spin. Also, the two friction knobs that lock the angle can stick out if you tighten them down. That could have been done a little differently but not a big deal. It still looks more OEM than the friction arm. So far, the company has been very responsive to my questions so that helps when dealing with a new product.



 
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The part screwed into the mafer clamp kept unscrewing out of it because of the torque that the monitor's weight exerted on it,
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easy answer is CHANGE HOW YOUR MAFER CLAMP CLAMPS to whatever its clamped to so that the weight of the device is tightening (pulling clockwise) rather than loosening the 1/4 threads.
thats a pretty easy thing to do wrong. especially when you're in a hurry or have a bunch of gear to rig up.

there is nothing scarier than being in the middle of a shoot and having your $1000 monitor take a rotational nose dive ; )

as others have said. the way zacuto arms are designed circumvents this problem (and is far superior IMO) but again, only compatible with other zacuto mounts
 
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