[frascati]

What is the black knob affixed to the top? I read up a little on this tripod and apparantly it's an accessory of some sort. Maybe for a monopod?
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It's aluminum and tapped on the bottom with standard mounting thread. It comes apart like a russian nesting doll and will affix to the camera bottom. There are also large diameter threads on the base of it. They match the threads on a leg if it's unscrewed from the body. Is this a monopod base? Seems kind of elaborate for something that does not allow for pivoting on any axis.
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I just got this at Goodwill. I looks like it might never even have been used. There is no wear except for a few light scratches and the rubber feet look factory fresh and unmarked. "Star 'D' Davidson Optronics Made in USA

I believe the reason it was never used, and eventually donated, is because two of the legs were completely frozen in extended position. I'm pretty confident that I can fix anything mechanical and it was otherwise such a remarkably beautiful piece of engineering that I couldn't resist. The main panning axis seems to be on ball bearings and everything operates with mercedes benz like smoothness.

I got it home and dismantled the legs and was suprised to find the culprit. The cast aluminum rotating cams within the likewise cammed nylon cinching rings, in all three legs, showed rough casting marks. They'd never been polished. So they'd cam the nylon ring tight enough, but the rough aluminum face on the cam stuck to the nylon and reufused to rotate out of the nylon simply spinning the nylon around in the barrel. Using a fine wire brush on a dremel I smoothed the surfaces of the cams and reassembled. Now the cams/legs work perfectly.

Amazing that so much thought and engineering went into this and for one lazy misstep in final assembly it was all but unusable all these years.

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Last edited by frascati; 12-22-2010 at 02:30 PM.

[davidreilly3207]

I believe it is a monopod accessory to turn it into a walking stick.

[frascati]

So some Brit blublood with too much time on his hands weighed in on the design. Is that all you're suggesting?

[alohadave]

So some Brit blublood with too much time on his hands weighed in on the design. Is that all you're suggesting?

What's with the comment?

[adwb]

Look at Google Tiltall Tripod Supporthttp://tiltallsupport.blogspot.com/2010/03/mystery-of-star-d-tiltall.html
"Somewhere in the mix, we have the mysterious Star-D Tiltall. The Davidson Optronics Company was located (photo left) in West Covina, a suburb of Los Angeles. The Davidson Company still exists and made a number of interesting tripod designs during its history including the tripod shown above with the unique "Star-D" handle crank. "


and perhaphaps a lazy yank in west Covina in the production line rather than the previous offensive comment?

[Sparkle]

What's with the comment?

Now boys, "tis the Season to be Jolly".