2026-06-05 Tripod leg tips

As a collector of all things photographic you sometimes find objects coming your way from being focused all the time on collecting. On an unrelated point, I walk everyday to try to keep diabetes and old age at bay. If you connect the two points, you end up with this story.
   I have a tripod I collected that is missing all its leg tips. I have been half-heartedly looking at leg tips anytime I have been in a hardware store. I haven’t had much luck, as the tripod bottom leg sections are 13 mm (¼ inch) in diameter. They don’t make to many chair or table leg tips that small.
   I treat every walk as a possible opportunity to find things. Items I have found vary all over the map. I have collected bolts, nuts, wheel studs, mud flaps and exhaust pipe tips to the point I worry about car and trucks being on the verge of falling apart. I have collected pencils near the high school, pop cans by the side of the road, and multiple baseballs out by the three baseball diamonds.

So when I spotted a small black object on the road I thought I better see what it is. It turned out to be a small bumper.

The outside tip is hollowed, while the inside end has small wedges that collapse as you press the bumper into a hole (or tube).

The four small wedges center the bumper on the end of the tube.

I washed and dried the tip. Then I tried pressing it into the tripod bottom section. It was an almost perfect fit. It wasn’t a perfect solution. It would have to be glued in place as anything you can slide on can be pulled off. I would have to really depend on luck to find two more that match it lying on the road.

I settled on three vacuum line caps!

On the other hand I could try searching automotive stores for rubber body parts instead of touring anymore hardware stores!

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