Fixing a sagging boom stand

[Tadpui]

I was ready to toss my On Stage tripod boom stands in the garbage today. I'm already not a fan of these cheapies, but I'm sure that everybody here has at least one or two of these things (or their worldwide equivalent brands) kicking around the house, and I'm sure that they've let you down a time or two as well.

I'd put a large diaphragm condenser mic on it, extended the boom arm to get it into place over the drums, and walked away for a bit. When I came back, my mic was resting on top of one of my drums, the boom arm clutch just couldn't hold the weight of the mic. I tightened that thing as hard as I possibly could, and the thing still sagged within a few minutes. I was ready to toss the stand and buy a nicer one (I've been spoiled on the couple of K&M stands I have...I love those things). But before adding to the local landfill, I figured I'd see if there was anything I could do for the sagging boom arm clutch.

There are 2 rubber discs inside, one on either side of the boom arm's pivot attachment thingie. The whole assembly works on friction between the rubber discs and the parts that touch them. I disassembled it, took out the rubber discs, and found that they were coated in what looked like pulverized rubber particles. I took some rubbing alcohol and wiped them down, got all of the black rubber dust off of them and everything that touches them, and put it back together. I'll be darned, that thing hasn't sagged at all since then.

This may be old news to some people, but I'd never considered what was going on with my sagging stands. And if it's not old news to you, maybe you can revive an ailing mic stand or two in your collection!

[SweetDan]

That's a handy tip; I'll have to remember it, or maybe even try it out on the stands I have that are at the point where I have to really crank them down to get them to stay.

[rayc]

It is a common problem and a good solution. Cutting some rubber rings from a tyre &/or scoring the contact surfaces also gets one by in a pinch.
BUTTTTT, cheap is often cheap. Mind you I'd go to that & more trouble to avoid tossing it.

[Bubba]

Even better, replace them with leather.

[Tadpui]

Even better, replace them with leather.

Even better, replace the whole cheap stand with a better quality one I really was looking forward to getting another K&M or two to replace these cheapies. But alas the repair seems to have worked.

Happy to report that over a week later the cheapie is still holding up an LDC with the boom almost fully extended.