How to revive that old boom..

[Tim Joy]

I have an old 15' 4-section VDB carbon pole I picked up used many eons ago. For a while I've had a problem when you twist it, it will CREAK every time, and it is worse at some lengths, but basically happens at any length.
Any suggestions to grease it up or something that will make it quiet again?

Also, I decided to add an internal coiled cable to it. Bought a 3'-18' K-tec coiled cable for boom poles and put it in, (Never mind I had to cut the end off and splice it together to feed it through) but it seems to knock around in there a bit, depending on what length I'm at, but almost always. I tried putting some felt around the cable at 1' intervals but it just got jammed up.

Any tricks?

I was thinking of dumping a bunch of baby powder to lube the cable and boom.

Thanks

 

[Rippie]

Baby Powder? Ugh no!!!

Take the pole and apart use a soft rag to wipe down and get rid of anything on the actual pole sections.
I personally use a windex style or simple green style cleaner with no complaints here.
There might be a better choice for other people but for me its just fine.

I use WD-40 on all the threads of the pole and the ring threads to help break up anything stuck in the threads.

I let it soak in for a few mins before cleaning off.
I usually just let a very thin layer of wd-40 on the threads which lasts for awhile when the pole is back together.


I clean my pole (wow that sounds bad) every 6 months or so or after getting caught out in the rain and things start to get sticky.


As far as the internal cable. Felt? not a great idea to put anything around it inside. Just as you said it's going to get jammed up and not do anything for your problem either.

An internal cable is going to make more noise the farther it's stretched. When its more loose inside its already resting on the inside of the pole. Stretch it out and
most of the cable is in mid-air.
Remember there IS some skill involved in swinging a pole.

 

[Noiz2]

Cleaning your pole so things don't get sticky... Is this a sound discussion? ;~)

I would agree with Ripple. No baby powder or felt. If you can get Prolong, it works better than WD-40, but WD-40 is also very good.