Issue with 3 legged things Punks Brian

snerkler

snerkler

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Last year I swapped my manfrotto 190 carbon fibre tripod for the 3 legged thing Punks Brian for lighter travel and I have to say I’ve been regretting it.

The legs aren’t as smooth and free to extend (no biggie) but some are stiffer than others. Then this week the legs keep going loose and flop about after 2 or 3 times of folding the tripod away and opening it up again, so I have to tighten the bolts every time I use it. It looks to me like it could be a design flaw as the bolts twist around as you fold the legs up, but all reviews I’ve read praises how good the tripod is so it’s probably just mine.

Has anyone else experienced this and know how to fix it? At the moment I’m seriously considering replacing it with the Manfrotto BeFree
 
Can't help regarding the issue. But they do have a 5 year warranty.
 
I'd replace it. My experience was similar and one of my students bought one that literally fell apart on her in front of me. Wouldn't go near them.

Worth double checking the reviews to see if they're really just long ads.
 
I have the Brian and can’t say I have had this issue. My main gripe with it is that it’s just not as stable as my old manfrotto 190. I am actually considering getting another tripod for when I’m not venturing far and keeping this one for travel/hiking. That said I have been quite pleased with most things about it, it just has 5 sections and quite spindly legs which is where the stability side of things comes from
 
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Thanks for the replies guys. I've contacted them to see what they say, in the past they were really good with the smoothness of the leg extensions so I'm hoping that they can offer some advice, or even have it back to take a look at it. I'm still very tempted by the Manfrotto as it's a bit lighter (I know this is detrimental to stability but lightness is key for me these days), it's just the height that concerns me.
 
snerkler said:
Last year I swapped my manfrotto 190 carbon fibre tripod for the 3 legged thing Punks Brian for lighter travel and I have to say I’ve been regretting it.

The legs aren’t as smooth and free to extend (no biggie) but some are stiffer than others. Then this week the legs keep going loose and flop about after 2 or 3 times of folding the tripod away and opening it up again, so I have to tighten the bolts every time I use it. It looks to me like it could be a design flaw as the bolts twist around as you fold the legs up, but all reviews I’ve read praises how good the tripod is so it’s probably just mine.

Has anyone else experienced this and know how to fix it? At the moment I’m seriously considering replacing it with the Manfrotto BeFree
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I have one of the first 3LT Punks tripods, now just over 7 years old. Functionally it works but it doesn't inspire confidence (and I am never happy about stability when all leg sections are extended), but I have had friends whose early 3LT tripods have just fallen aprt as @Harlequin565 says. I can't remember the last time I used mine.

If you are looking for a replacement, I'd look at the Benro BAT series, I have the smallest one (with ball head) and its a very solid piece of kit (though vertically challenged!)
 
Bobsyeruncle said:
Do you need to loosen the bolts to do that?
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No, in theory you shouldn't need to touch the bolts.
Mr Perceptive said:
I have one of the first 3LT Punks tripods, now just over 7 years old. Functionally it works but it doesn't inspire confidence (and I am never happy about stability when all leg sections are extended), but I have had friends whose early 3LT tripods have just fallen aprt as @Harlequin565 says. I can't remember the last time I used mine.

If you are looking for a replacement, I'd look at the Benro BAT series, I have the smallest one (with ball head) and its a very solid piece of kit (though vertically challenged!)
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Thanks, I'll look at the BAT series. I was looking at their MeFoto series earlier. I was very happy with the Manfrotto 190 legs I had which is why I'm swaying towards the Manfrotto BeFree series.
 
I'd recommend @snerkler Manfrotto 190 legs. They support a 645z comfortably and are still pretty small and light. Good compromise. A D850 and 70-200 2.8 goes on and I've tightened the legs once in the 4yrs I've owned them. They are reliable and dependable.

If you shoot in wind etc you might want 055 or 057 legs but they are quite a bit heavier.
 
SFTPhotography said:
I'd recommend @snerkler Manfrotto 190 legs. They support a 645z comfortably and are still pretty small and light. Good compromise. A D850 and 70-200 2.8 goes on and I've tightened the legs once in the 4yrs I've owned them. They are reliable and dependable.

If you shoot in wind etc you might want 055 or 057 legs but they are quite a bit heavier.
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I had the 190 and swapped them for the 3LT Brian as I wanted something more compact, but I am currently regretting that move. I don't want anything heavier tbh.
 
snerkler said:
I had the 190 and swapped them for the 3LT Brian as I wanted something more compact, but I am currently regretting that move. I don't want anything heavier tbh.
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I had a Befree GT and it was very good, light,compact amd sturdy.
Only sold it because I got a great deal on a series 2 Gitzo traveler.
 
tijuana taxi said:
I had a Befree GT and it was very good, light,compact amd sturdy.
Only sold it because I got a great deal on a series 2 Gitzo traveler.
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It's the befree advanced I was looking at rather than the GT as it's 400g lighter which will make a difference carrying it around :smashin:
 
Bobsyeruncle said:
In that case, why wouldn't some loctite work?
It would stop the bolts slackening once you've tightened them....
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I need to take it apart and have a look how it goes together, but my initial thoughts are that it will stop the bolts from rotating altogether and as I said they rotate back and forth with the legs so I'm not sure you'd want to 'lock them in place'.
 
Bobsyeruncle said:
In that case, why wouldn't some loctite work?
It would stop the bolts slackening once you've tightened them....
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Well having took it apart the bolts do have threadlock on them so I can only assume therefore that the bolts aren't supposed to turn with the legs so will try your suggestion. It's a bad design if that's the case though as this means that you can't adjust them to suit otherwise you'll break the lock and will need to re-apply you adjust them :oops: :$
 
I have had beyond brilliant customer service from 3LT so do give them the chance to fix things before you buy another one.
 
snerkler said:
I need to take it apart and have a look how it goes together, but my initial thoughts are that it will stop the bolts from rotating altogether and as I said they rotate back and forth with the legs so I'm not sure you'd want to 'lock them in place'.
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IIRC it's a binding bolt I think they are called so locktite should work in theory if you are careful to only get it where you want it!
 
LeeRatters said:
IIRC it's a binding bolt I think they are called so locktite should work in theory if you are careful to only get it where you want it!
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Thanks. It’s actually two screws one going in from either side, both have old thread lock on so definitely seems to be what it needs. As I said though it’s not ideal as it means any time you adjust it, or need to tighten it again in future then you’ll have to re-apply the thread lock. It also means I’ll have to get the tension right first time before the thread lock goes off.
 
Chipper said:
I have had beyond brilliant customer service from 3LT so do give them the chance to fix things before you buy another one.
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This, The company has the best CS so do give them a chance, I’ve had 2 tripods from them over 8 or so years and the only real Problem I had was when cleaning the shim/lock mechanism on one of legs, I cocked it up and they were a great help showing what to do and sent out some replacement parts.
 
snerkler said:
Thanks. It’s actually two screws one going in from either side, both have old thread lock on so definitely seems to be what it needs. As I said though it’s not ideal as it means any time you adjust it, or need to tighten it again in future then you’ll have to re-apply the thread lock. It also means I’ll have to get the tension right first time before the thread lock goes off.
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Presumably you will use Blue Loctite, Red might be overkill if you want to get them apart again.

Never had this problem on other tripods that employ the same leg folding method.
Wonder why they have become so loose, I usually check mine as part of regular maintenance.
 
tijuana taxi said:
Presumably you will use Blue Loctite, Red might be overkill if you want to get them apart again.

Never had this problem on other tripods that employ the same leg folding method.
Wonder why they have become so loose, I usually check mine as part of regular maintenance.
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Yeah, it'll be blu thread lock lol. I don't know, but my thoughts are that the recesses for the screws aren't big enough meaning that the leg can't rotate around the screw freely and instead it unscrews/breaks the threadlock as it turns back and forth. Just a presumption, without seeing similar tripods I can't say whether they're the same or not.
 
wolfyccfc said:
This, The company has the best CS so do give them a chance, I’ve had 2 tripods from them over 8 or so years and the only real Problem I had was when cleaning the shim/lock mechanism on one of legs, I cocked it up and they were a great help showing what to do and sent out some replacement parts.
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The customer service has been very good to be fair, however I've lost faith in the tripod and I can't help think that either it's a design flaw or that I have a lemon.
 
snerkler said:
The customer service has been very good to be fair, however I've lost faith in the tripod and I can't help think that either it's a design flaw or that I have a lemon.
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Customer service can be great - but if the product is lousy it doesn't matter.

Tripods shouldn't need "customer service" they should just work out the box. I've never had a manfrotto crap the bed on me once - bar having to tighten one of the legs a little...like once.
 
Well I think I've fixed Brian, thread lock seems to have done the trick,........ for now. When I took it apart again I noticed that the part that the screws screw into is a threaded cylinder which rotates in the hole, so I can only assume that the bolts are supposed to rotate but won't unscrew as the barrel turns with them. Thinking back I did try and tighten the legs as I preferred them a bit stiffer so I guess that unbeknown to me I'd broken the thread lock. Now that I know that you can't 'tamper' with the screws and they are what they are I'm hoping I'll not run into any more issues. Seems odd though that you can't adjust them in case you want the mechanism to be stiffer or looser but you love and learn :thinking:
 
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