*Help* ULCS Handle Dilema!

So I currently have two of the ULCS digital tray handles for my Ike D70 Housing. Looks like this:

And I just got the new TTL Adapters for the handles to hold my manual controllers. Looks like this:

However, I can not with all of my might, nor the might of some channel locks get the balls to unscrew from their current handles. And now the balls on the current handles are seriously chewed up, and I leave on my cruise tomorrow. :shock:

Does anyone have any suggestions for removing them?

I've tried soaking in hot water, in case some salt got corroded in there or something. I've sprayed it down with WD40.

I'm at my wits end right now.

I vaguely remember the ball on top of one of my ULCS handles coming loose one time. There may have been some adhesive - these handles may not have been designed to come apart. I'd contact ULCS directly for advice. In the meantime...

Rather than using vice grips or the like directly on the ball, you might try clamping an arm section onto it, really tightening it down, and using that for the extra leverage to try to rotate it out.

If all else fails, your back-up plan - if you have a couple of triple clamps - would be to use those between the handles and the first arm sections, with the controllers mounted in the third slots. That's more or less what I did when I used to use an Ike slave controller for one of my strobes - not something I do now.

Frogfish

Hey Robert,

Thanks for the advice. I think I've got things figured out now.

The gray handles do not allow for the removal of the ball, so I've pretty much clawed the hell out of the balls for nothing. (I had tried the tightened arm rotation method before I brought out the wrenches). The blue handles do allow for the ball to be removed.

I was looking at the pieces I had thinking exactly as you suggested. If I just had 2 Triple ball clamps, I'd be set. Unfortunatley I do not.

So I've just zip tied my manual controllers on to my arms to get me through the week....

:sigh:

Look at the #9571.23 on following URLs: http://www.ikelite.com/web_pages/arms.html and http://www.ikelite.com/web_pages/arm_f.html . These clamps for the 1" diameter ball systems have a stud sticking out onto which the Controllers can be attached.............