Brought my slx 22 sept last year. Top clamp snapped yesterday while i was working.
The pole was not over extended despite the woman on the phone ensuring it was.
Is there anythig we can do?
Cheers
Hi There
Could you email me a photo of the broken part and the pole itself -
alex@agardiner.co.uk - I can have a look at this for you.
Is this the top gooseneck clamp or the clamp on top of the 2nd section that clamps the first section.
Generally in normal use the clamp body can only ever snap if the section inside is over-extended and the clamp body then is the only part holding the section. This allows the section to move unsupported and the clamp could snap in half. Sometimes this can happen and strain the clamp without actually breaking at the time, with more use though the fracture can then allow the clamp body to snap in half whilst seemingly in normal use.
If it was the top quick release clamp then the same thing applies if the gooseneck has not been fully inserted into the top section. If it has only just been inserted a little then the carbon overlap will not hold the gooseneck and this could allow the clamp to snap. Which gooseneck were you using? Some clients have fitted non-Gardiner products to the top and have used short alloy adapters (which are designed to be glued in on some poles) to connect them and these adapters are too short to overlap into the section correctly - this could lead to a snapped top clamp.
It would be very unusual for a clamp body to snap in half under any other circumstance - due to the physics of it.
The solution in all cases with a snapped clamp body is to remove and bond on a new one -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PysvFrQYUUc
