| my new boom
The boom clutch is terrible! It's a round deal not unlike what Keith Monks used to use and fairly similar to what K&M (AKG) currently uses. Given the longer lengths and higher weights involved, a truly major design flaw. The boom clutch can barely hold the boom horizontal without a microphone.
*********************************************
Don't take this the wrong way, but are you using the counterweight? When you are dealing with 10ft booms and heavy steel fittings, there is NO way the clutch can be expected to counteract the resulting forces by itself. When the (massive) counterweight is properly positioned, the clutch should only be working against a few ounces or so. I've seen plenty of $5k and $10k booms during my years at Universal (camera and lighting) and even the most expensive of them relied on their counterweights for 98% of the resisting force. When you get up into the 50lb counterweight and above league, a clutch would be turned to metal filings if the counterweight ever just disappeared. Its not like the little $25 guitar store booms where the overall load is so small that the clutch can carry it on its own. In the boom stand big leagues, the clutch is just an adjustment tool to lock in an equilibrium between the counterweight and the load at the opposite end.
Other than that, I agree with Wurly and wish him the best with his proposed product. Can't wait to see it.
steve
|