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Arca Swiss Z1 - flex in head assembly ?

pozzello

pozzello

Member
Hi all,

Is it normal to have some flex between the DP plate assembly and where it attaches/screws into to the stem of the ball ?



I originally though it might be flex in my camera body (Hasselblad 500) but I can flex the camera by holding the ball and pushing up on the panorama head with my thumbs.


Paul
 
GrahamWelland

GrahamWelland

Subscriber & Workshop Member
You might want to take a look at this:
Arca Swiss Z Head versions and stress

Precision Camera Works (PrecisionCameraworks.com) are very quick and professional about getting any Arca head fixed. They are the Arca repair facility and highly recommended. Myself and a number of other folks have had excellent service with them.
 
pozzello

pozzello

Member
Mine's also the newer DP version but it looks like I have the problem described on the Winberley site posted by Graham. I took it apart and tightened it down but it still flexes - the interface between the two parts doesn't look like a very good design.

Any idea how Precision Camera modifies it ?

Paul
 
pozzello

pozzello

Member
So I got a call from a rather unhelpful woman at Precision Camera.

PC - What's wrong with the head ?
Me - It flexes at the joint between the ball head and the base plate.
PC - No it doesn't.
Me - Come again ? I'm pretty sure it does, I could see some movement when I exerted pressure on the base plate.
PC - I'm not seeing any movement, there's movement in the panorama head, but not in the base.
Me - Well, I don't know what to tell you. I held the head at the ball and when I pushed up on the plate with my thumbs it clearly moved.
PC - As I said, it doesn't.
Me - Would you mind checking again ?
PC - i have it in front of me with a 100lb weight and it doesn't budge. I'm going to tell the technician to check the panorama plate.
Me - Can you ask him to check the base plate as well ?
PC - There's no movement in the base plate, I'll tell them to check the panorama head. We'll let you know if it's covered under warranty.
Me - Thank you, have a nice day.

So I got the head back today, the invoice said things were checked for tightness, and obviously it's NOT fixed. And actually worst than when I sent it in. So I took it apart and tried to figure out on my own.

From what I can tell from holding the two parts together without the screw, one of the surfaces isn't perfectly flat/level (Surface A seems slightly convex so that the top plate (surface B) 'rocks' on top of the stem) so no matter how tightly you screw them together there will always be some play.



Not only but the stem diameter is far too narrow to support a claimed weight of 130lbs. The interface between should be MUCH larger, and at the very least it should be machined/faced properly so that both parts sit flush. The medium sized screw that holds the parts together is another joke - there's simply no way to properly tighten a 3mm hex bolt !

Add to that poor customer service and I really feel like I pissed away $549.

Now any idea where I can get this thing properly fixed ?!
 
pozzello

pozzello

Member
I just wanted to post a follow-up and thank Rod Klukas from Arca Swiss for providing some truly excellent customer support. All I wanted was to have the panorama head repaired but he sent me a brand new head. And no flex/play in the new head.

:thumbs:
 
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