Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

I've got two new 64" PLM umbrellas, speedring mount. First ones I've had. One of them I can assemble, barely; the other I cannot.

The problem is that the screw described in the instructions as the "thumb screw", the one with the four-point black knob, is very hard to screw in far enough to hold the 10mm positioning shaft.

On one of the umbrellas, it goes in far enough to "feel" the hole in the positioning shaft pretty easily, but is difficult to turn beyond that point. With force, it'll go in far enough to hold the positioning shaft, but it's very hard to exert that much force on a small screw.

On the other one, I can't even get it to go in far enough to feel the hole. If I really force it I can get it in enough to feel the hole, but there's simply no way I can get it to hold the shaft.

Am I doing something wrong, or are these broken? For everyone else, is it easy to screw those thumb screws in? (It goes in easily enough when the umbrella is collapsed.)

I've gotta say the whole thing is disappointingly fiddly and difficult to assemble. I got them because I assumed they'd be easier to store and assemble than softboxes, but that's really not true. Thinking about returning them and sticking with standard umbrellas.

Following up to my own question: The problem seems to be the position and/or alignment of the stop on the fixed metal shaft with the hole above it, that the thumbscrew is supposed to go through.

If I remove the thumbscrew completely, I find it will easily slide through that hole. But if I assemble the umbrella by sliding the center ring of the umbrella ribs over the fixed shaft until it hits the stop, I am unable to get the knob to screw easily through that hole. Trying to back the center ring off the stop slightly is challenging, but doesn't seem to help.

I wonder whether those fixed metal shafts are out of tolerance -- perhaps the stop is too close to the hole, or the hole is not perpendicular to the shaft.

Has anyone else had this problem?

Sorry for the late reply.

It does sound like the hole is too close to the stop. While this is not particularly common, when we have seen it, the thumb screw can usually be threaded with enough force (likely using pliers). Once threaded, threads are cut into the shaft, and subsequent installations are fine. This will be the most expedient solution.

However, if this is not a solution that works for you, please contact our customer service department, and they will help you get a workable solution.

FYI, for anyone following along at home: Paul C. Buff Inc. has accepted my return and refunded the original purchase price of the umbrellas, but despite my asking multiple times on the phone and in the note included with the return, has not told me whether they were, in fact, defective -- nor have they refunded my return shipping for the (presumed) defective products they sent me.

And that's after it took two posts here, e-mail, and three phone calls to get replacements.

Very disappointed in Paul C. Buff customer service.

I strongly recommend against purchasing the speedring-mount PLM umbrellas. They are very poorly designed from a mechanical engineering standpoint, and despite the inclusion of a quality assurance tag in the package, are apparently not actually checked before they are shipped out to customers. (The standard mount umbrellas are pretty nice, it's just the speedring mount that should be avoided.)