Fixing an air cushioned light stand?

[Carlo]

I've just bought a used light stand off ebay, but the air cushioning in the middle section doesn't work.
It was described like this so i'm not too bothered as i don't have any heavy lighting kit, and it works just fine.
But! being the type of person i am, i was wondering if it would be an easy/cheap fix, After all, there can't be many moving parts in the faulty section, maybe just a broken seal or valve.
It's a Calumet MF 6045, which they still sell so i may give them a ring tomorrow.

 

[sk66]

You mean the middle section drops quickly? Or that the top section drops quickly into the middle section?
They typically just use a disk with a hole in it as a "controlled air leak" and a seal on the moving tube. Should be easy/cheap if you ca identify/source the part you need.

 

[Carlo]

It's the mid section that drops.
I'm actually going through Manchester this weekend, so i might pop into Calumet.

 

[simonbarker]

It should be an easy fix, as far as I know there's only two parts, the bottom and the rubber/plastic seal on the column above. I've got the same problem but because it's on the bottom column I can't access the bottom as it's covered by the bottom portion and I can't see how to remove it.

In your case you should be able to just unscrew it and see what the problem is, you may only need to adjust it rather than replace any parts.