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Panamic Maxi boom pole handling noise


Matthias Richter

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after years of using a Panamic Maxi boom pole I wanted to get my boom-op a new one.

 

Bought a 3-segment Maxi-pole that turned out to be noisy regardless of our adjustments of the end stops. Every minor twist or turn was audible and my boom op would feel that "clong" within the pole. Sent it back to Panamic where it was replaced by a new one although they could not replicate our problem.

 

The new one was fine for the first few days. Now it gives us headache too. It feels like the pole is working in itself, finding the new centre of gravity. You turn the last segment (the one with the rubberized material) for a cue by a quarter or something and right after the next segment seems to twist within the pole making a audible knock.

 

It´s driving me nuts. If anyone got any idea as to what is going on - please let me know.

 

Matthias

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Hi Matthias; I too find that My maxi often gets a little ‘creaky’

 

the only thing I’ve found that works is to disassemble the pole, give it a thorough clean, and make sure to tighten the white plastic core part of the end-stops, as it loosens over time.

 

surprisingly this only happens with my pole from 2011, my original pole from 2006 is perfect. 

 

Cheers, 

 

Ian

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Hmm. We don’t use the Maxi much any more, but never had this (90s) pole creak. EditOops sorry ( meant Super Maxi) I have 3 Maxis which we love using, with no creaking issues, but we do clean at times.

Ian’s recommendation of cleaning is always useful with any pole. And of course checking tightness of all joints involving different materials.

Edited by Jim Rillie
My mistake.
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after further testing:

 

it all depends how wide you grab the pole. If the boom op needs a lot of movement back and forth within his arms and therefore got his hands pretty close to each other (less than 50cm) the creaking becomes very noticeable. The wider you get the grip the less creaking we get. 

It should not be like that?! Or is that normal  with all newer Panamics? Did they change material? The old one does not show this behavior.

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14 hours ago, Ian Thomson said:

Hi Matthias; I too find that My maxi often gets a little ‘creaky’

 

the only thing I’ve found that works is to disassemble the pole, give it a thorough clean, and make sure to tighten the white plastic core part of the end-stops, as it loosens over time.

 

surprisingly this only happens with my pole from 2011, my original pole from 2006 is perfect. 

 

Cheers, 

 

Ian

Hi Ian

 

How do you clean the pole? Do you use any lotions or potions?

 

Reg

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I have sent back the first 3seg 3 month ago. They told me they could not reproduce the problem but sent a new one nonetheless. 

The new one „seemed“ to be fine in the beginning but now creaks too.

what FB group is it in? I‘m in various groups too - maybe I can search within the given group?

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20 hours ago, Reg said:

Hi Ian

 

How do you clean the pole? Do you use any lotions or potions?

 

Reg

 

Hi Reg, 

 

I usually just strip it down and ‘wash’ all the parts with warm water, and dry.

 

every so often I spray furniture polish onto a microfiber rag and smooth it onto the pole sections, allowing it to dry before wiping with another rag.

 

Hopefully I’m not damaging it.

 

I’m definitely interested in how others clean and maintain their mic-poles.

 

Cheers,

 

Ian

 

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When Dave Fisk worked for K-tek,he put up a video of him cleaning a K-tek pole. I think he used Windex (might work with any window polish) and WD-40. I've used that with good results on K-tek poles. Not sure how well that method fares with other poles, but I guess it can't hurt. I've used olive oil to grease collars and threads in emergency situations (Only oil I could find)

 

Creaking would suggests that somewhere somethings not gripping tightly enough. I had a PSC pole that creaked when I turned it. I got rid of it when I took the whole thing apart, cleaned it and put a strip of magic tape on the last collar (the one closest to the bottom), there was probably a 0.02mm gap or something and the tape solved that, for the time being, at least.

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30 minutes ago, Olle Sjostrom said:

Creaking would suggests that somewhere somethings not gripping tightly enough. I had a PSC pole that creaked when I turned it. I got rid of it when I took the whole thing apart, cleaned it and put a strip of magic tape on the last collar (the one closest to the bottom), there was probably a 0.02mm gap or something and the tape solved that, for the time being, at least.

I have swapped all components but the fibers from my old (non creaking) pole to the new pole: still creaky

Seems to be the carbon/ fibre itself?!

 

Also - with Panamic you‘ve got adjustable endstops. So there shouldn’t be any play left. Even if I adjust the end stop very wide so I can barely slide the segment in and out - it still creaks.

 

If I have my ear next to the last segment I can hear those creaks very prominent. Sounds like inside the pole. 

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1 hour ago, Matthias Richter said:

I have swapped all components but the fibers from my old (non creaking) pole to the new pole: still creaky

Seems to be the carbon/ fibre itself?!

 

Also - with Panamic you‘ve got adjustable endstops. So there shouldn’t be any play left. Even if I adjust the end stop very wide so I can barely slide the segment in and out - it still creaks.

 

If I have my ear next to the last segment I can hear those creaks very prominent. Sounds like inside the pole. 

It's totally possible that the fibres of the pole are weak at some point in the pole. I'm no manufacturer but I mean the fibres are woven together (?) so I guess every single point in the pole can't be exactly as strong as the other... 

 

And I was unclear with the tape. I put the tape in the locking collar. So in the Psc pole there was a little piece of white plastic between the locking ring and the next section. I put the tape on that little white plastic, and it made for a tighter fit and that eliminated the creak for me at least..

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13 hours ago, Matthias Richter said:

Constantin - when did you buy yours? 

 

 

April 2017. it’s also a 3-section Maxi. And I think it’s less a creaking sound and more, like you described it in your original post - a kind of clong or maybe a thud or a knock. Very annoying. It’s a shame as I really liked the poles, they ooze quality...

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5 hours ago, Mike Westgate said:

Hi folks,

 

I am a user since 1978!

 

The aluminium poles were less noisy but did bend at full extension.

 

The fibre poles can creak but do not bend.

 

Yes adjust the internal expanding screws (they used to be metal but are now fibre)

 

I use spray on PTFE to clean and lubricate

 

mike

 

This is not a maintenance issue. My boom has been doing this since day 1...

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  • 4 months later...
  • 1 year later...

Canford exchanged the handle segment.
Unfortunately now 1 year later I have the same problem again with the same boom pole. To me it feels as if the handle segment is not stiff enough in it self and does rotate in tiny moves around the end stop creating little creaks.
But again: Canford really helped to identify the problem in the first round 

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  • 2 weeks later...

@Matthias Richtergreat to know that! Im just about to buy one. But ate same time living in Brazil is always incredibly hard for this kind of dynamics. Its truly expensive and take ages to send anything out of the country and receiving it back. Sometimes the price of doing all this is just like buying a new one. Any kind of gear - sound-wise speaking - its between 2 to 4 times the real price of anything in world due our import and customs taxes. So, maybe not buying a Panamic soon.

 

But, can I ask something more ? ..Do you think that this issue is related to specific model Line or maybe just a specific model.. or it could happen with all of them ?

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