Am I the first to wear out the gearing on Manfrotto 410 geared head?

[rogerxnz]

See pic showing exposed threaded rod and knob resting on the centre column.

The end result is the vertical angle adjustment has failed because the knob has fallen off and, before that happened, there was a dead spot where turning the knob did not change the angle and I had to push the head until the knob engaged with the threaded part of the rod.

If it has happened before and is it repairable economically?
Roger

[kers]

if you did not break the knob;
i have repaired mine myself; once you dive into the way the mechanism works it will be obvious how to repair it.

[JoeKitchen]

Nope!  It's a shitty head and they tend to wear out or break.  It should be better for the money.  Amongst architectural photographers, this is pretty well known. 

I'd recommend the Arca Swiss Cube as a replacement; it's the best geared head on the market.  The occasion I would recommend against it is if you do a lot of work on the beach or near sand.  The gears in the Cube are partially exposed, so constant sand exposure can do some damage.  In this case, I'd go for the Arca Swiss D4 Geared Head, and it's $450 cheaper than the Cube. 

[Harold Clark]

Nope!  It's a shitty head and they tend to wear out or break.  It should be better for the money.  Amongst architectural photographers, this is pretty well known. 

I'd recommend the Arca Swiss Cube as a replacement; it's the best geared head on the market.  The occasion I would recommend against it is if you do a lot of work on the beach or near sand.  The gears in the Cube are partially exposed, so constant sand exposure can do some damage.  In this case, I'd go for the Arca Swiss D4 Geared Head, and it's $450 cheaper than the Cube.

I have experience with the Manfrotto as well, they do become sloppy from use but I have never had one come apart. I now use the Area Swiss Leveller 75 which is great. It only provides 15 degrees of adjustment which is much more limited than the Cube, but enough for the vast majority of my architectural projects. For the rare instances where I need more range of movement I keep a Markins M10 ball head in the bag.

[Balafre]

Great Lord Roger! You brute! I sympathise - I've gone through four 405's in twelve years, which are the bigger version of yours. The 405/410 are sadly fragile but their utility (to me anyway) in time sensitive situations is unmatched. I'm in Auckland, and know of an engineering wizard. The approach is sensitive so please DM me and we can chat.

[Doug Peterson]

The most extensive write up of Arca Heads that I’m aware of (bias alert: I wrote it; we sell them).

https://www.photo-digitaltransitions.com/arca-swiss-heads-the-essential-primer/

Tripod heads can last a lifetime, and be used with many of cameras during that lifetime. In my opinion it makes far far more sense to take the pain of buying the best one for you right off the bat than to keep replacing and upgrading cheaper ones. All (tripod head) roads leave eventually to Arca; you might as well start there.

[TechTalk]

See pic showing exposed threaded rod and knob resting on the centre column.

The end result is the vertical angle adjustment has failed because the knob has fallen off and, before that happened, there was a dead spot where turning the knob did not change the angle and I had to push the head until the knob engaged with the threaded part of the rod.

If it has happened before and is it repairable economically?
Roger

I've used the larger brother to this head, the 405 model, over a number of years. I haven't seen one wear out, but I have seen one break from hitting a concrete floor. The good news is they are pretty easy to get parts for if you want to repair it yourself. Diagrams with part numbers can be found on the Manfrotto product page under "Downloads". Of course you can also send it to Manfrotto for repair.

If the 410 has been working for you, it's likely worth repairing. Manfrottos are not the same quality as Arca-Swiss geared heads, but they are still excellent heads which work well.

[imagetone]

Spare parts here. Prices make repair economical, you will have to see what the shipping costs to NZ are https://www.manfrottospares.com/410-parts.html

Coincidentally someone told me about this site last week when I was ready to junk my head after reading so many reports of it wearing out. All mine actually needed was a screw tightening which is easy once you've seen the exploded diagram. Yours seems to need some parts replaced.

Useful video guide here
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2X7-RFUV3A8

[TechTalk]

Spare parts here. Prices make repair economical, you will have to see what the shipping costs to NZ are https://www.manfrottospares.com/410-parts.html

Coincidentally someone told me about this site last week when I was ready to junk my head after reading so many reports of it wearing out. All mine actually needed was a screw tightening which is easy once you've seen the exploded diagram. Yours seems to need some parts replaced.

Useful video guide here
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2X7-RFUV3A8

Thanks for the link to the extremely helpful video and to manfrottospares.com! I appreciate it.

Another resource for searching parts from Manfrotto is www.manfrotto.com/nz-en/support/spare-parts. I set the link for New Zealand, but you can change the country selection by clicking on the flag in the upper right corner of the webpage. The page includes a link to manfrottospares.com and other service information.