balancing stabilizer...

[XiaoSu Han]

hi,

i bit the bullet and bought a stabilizer from that indian company on ebay,

it's really well made but i just can't stabilize it...

the problem is that both of the rails on the bottom of the post are movable horizontally, that means i can't get it really aligned, i tried with a rope and by eye, it just does not work...

i can move the gimbal, the sled can be moved horizontally in two axis', i can move the weights back and forth, but can rotate those rails they are on...

what steps do i have to follow so i can balance it really correctly?

i tried by balancing vertically first with the gimbal moved to the GC and then put it down so it's a 2 second drop time, but it drops not straight, but diagonally... i can't figure out why...

and then i balanced horizontally first with quite a bottom-heavy setup, but still cant seem to get the hang of it, after balancing vertitally to a 2 second drop it's off again....

here's a picture, every time i try to balance it, it gets back to that position if i prod the rig a bit...

thanks for any information provided in advance... i am really stuck here

regards from vienna, xax

[Phil Kindred]

Are the clamps the rods are mounted to really clamping?  You might need to shim them or look at making a different base set up.

[XiaoSu Han]

yeah the clamp pretty well... i have found the problem it seems

it seems that the gimbal has the same problem as in some of the glidecam v8/16's

if i balance the rig completely, and spin the sled around 180 degrees, it pivots and vice versa

i tried shimming the gimbal fork, but no success as of yet. really bad

any tips?

[Charles King]

If you tried the 2 seconds drop time and it does not drop properly than you got a problem with your gimbal. This is a offset to reall cheap units.
The gimbal is off center.
Or a better word. not aligned properly

[XiaoSu Han]

i'm quite pissed... hope they are going to send me a new yoke with aligned holes, otherwise i have to make one myself...

beware of the indian steadycam

[Charles King]

you get what you pay for... unfortunately.

[Charles King]

I assume you have already retified this issue?