villainvixen started this discussion ·
Anyone out there come across a problem when you want to press the bearing unit against the base plate? It won't push down. I found a YouTube video regarding maintenance, all it says is to unscrew the screws on the bearing unit and press down, then re-screw. That has not worked. Anyone have any suggestions?
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Can you move the bearing unit at all when you unscrew the 3 screws? If you can't then you need to be able to loosen it so that you can. I ended up taking all 3 screws completely out and spraying wd 40 into the holes and letting it sit for a bit. This is quite common.
The bearing unit moves. i removed all the screws, tried lubing it all up. still won't push down. i'll try wd 40 though. i was thinking of that earlier. currently since i can't push it all the way down, the screws in the base, i can't reach. so its basically stuck on spin until i can figure this out.
I meant up and down, not spinning. This is a write up I did about this problem a few years ago: 2. Collars not set at proper height. This also has become a problem over time. The 3 locking pins that keep the collar/rotating mechanism on pole A vibrate loose and with us removing the poles every night the spacing shifts. Not so difficult to deal with when the poles are new but not very easy when the poles have been used for a few months. The easiest fix I have found for this is to remove all 3 locking set screws, squirt PB blaster or WD-40 into the holes, let sit for about a minute and then try to make the adjustment. I did not discover this trick until about an hour into trying to get them loose. I almost destroyed a pole trying to get this collar loose.
Here is the rest of that post so in case you run into any other issues with your stage you can reference this: OK...issues: 1. Locking pins not lining up properly on pie pieces. I know that CED in Cleveland has had this issue too and has their pie pieces marked with specific locations. You can actually see some of the locking pins are bent in order to get into the proper holes. Kimara sent out new locking pins along with all 3 versions of itac, 2 bottles of Xgrip and 2 bottle of dry hands. 2. Collars not set at proper height. This also has become a problem over time. The 3 locking pins that keep the collar/rotating mechanism on pole A vibrate loose and with us removing the poles every night the spacing shifts. Not so difficult to deal with when the poles are new but not very easy when the poles have been used for a few months. The easiest fix I have found for this is to remove all 3 locking set screws, squirt PB blaster or WD-40 into the holes, let sit for about a minute and then try to make the adjustment. I did not discover this trick until about an hour into trying to get them loose. 3. XJoints. We all know the issues. Our were compounded by students that wanted to help setting up the poles and not realizing that there was a specific way that A and B needed to line up. Needless to say, if the pin does not line up with the channel they get smashed. I had 3 joints with retracted pins. Talked to Kimara. The newly designed joints had recently come out, decided to replace all of our joints with the new design. I paid for 4 and Xpole gave us 4 free. 4. Footers on the extensions. The rubber part on many of ours have spit and fallen off leaving a metal bottom as opposed to a plastic bottom. The metal feet will gouge your floor. This has been taken back to the design team to seek a solution. Also, the tiny set screws that hold the ball on the footer have been vibrating loose left and right. Currently I have about 8-10 that I have collected. It is not worth my time to try and find which of the 48 possibilities are missing their screws. 5. Stripped X locking set screw. This is the set screw that keeps the pole locked into the stage. I am not really sure how you strip stainless but we manageed to do it....twice. I have an idea on how this happened and it comes down to being in a rush to set up/take down poles and not having the hex key in all the way. M8x8 is the set screw that you need to replace them. The ones that XPoles uses have an oval bottom....I have been unsuccessful in finding those (and those that know me and my searching capabilities, seriously, these things are next to impossible to find). The standard cone bottom will work just fine. Lowes and Home Depot do not carry metric set screws. I ended up at a little ACE Hardware store. Also, The Grabit Broken Bolt and Screw Extractor, size 2 is what you will want/need to get this screw out. I tried a few different styles and this one by far is the best in this situation. I got mine at Lowes for about $8. [www.lowes.com] 4. This just happened, well, has been happening but I just fixed it Wednesday night. The collar that the pole sits in that is part of the stage is actually 2 pieces. There are 6 socket screws on the bottom of the stage that can and will wiggle loose. This will cause the pole torattle and move in the base even when all of the normal adjusters are tight. I flipped the one over and one of the screws had come completely out (the other 5 were loose). The hex key that tightens the Xjoint is the same size as these, however there is very little clearance between the stage supports and the screws so this was a slow and tedious endeavor.
I had that issue. Kimara walked me through taking out the tiny little screws that are just above the base of the stage (the ones you're not supposed to touch.) I took those out, put the bearing in, put the screw in and tightened it until it touched the bearing, then unscrewed it *slightly* so you can take the unit out and put it back in easily. This screw is the one I'm talking about: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-00xiCm-qMwE/UktQ-G7pqzI/AAAAAAAABMA/28eMzIGC0Ig/s1600/IMG_2227.JPG
Yeah, that needs to come out. Be careful as with the ones I taught on there were actually two little screws there, not just one. If that has been set too far in then the unit stops on it instead of it fitting neatly into a little channel.
aerialgypsy, oh! That screw. I bought my stage secondhand. I never got the hex key or whatever to place into that one. So i've never touched it. I need to get one.
x pole should be able to tell you what size the hex key should be. I got mine second hand too, and it came with 3 hex keys.
Chem - mine had TWO as well! It was bizarre!
Only got one key :( but yeah, I've been waiting til the last possible moment to give them a call. I want to look at all my options first to fix this.
