I repaired mine with some wire. Will it hold up? Probably not (I used cheap wire) but it’s in my home studio and doesn’t move around much. I’m debating on getting another of the big PLMs with a diffusion cover to use as giant softboxes. If anybody has one with the wire problems they want to sell I’d happily give $40 if you pay shipping. (kevincoughlin@yahoo.com)

It was actually an easy fix – just thread the pieces onto some wire, a bit loosely, then use all 4 of your hands (or two and some choice curse words) and set them into the right slots, and then tighten. Be sure the fitting is oriented the right way…. or you will curse some more as you take them OUT of the slots and put it back the right way.

“Thanks for getting in touch! Unfortunately there is no way that I am aware of to fix your PLM – we don’t offer repair services for the PLM system since the cost of repairing it would exceed the cost of the umbrella itself.
We are phasing out the Extreme Silver PLMs, so they are currently on close out http://www.paulcbuff.com/plm-silver.php . Please note that all close out sales are final and close out items do not come with a return policy or a warranty. The 64” Extreme Silver PLM with Buff speedring is marked down to $44.95.
I’m sorry that I can’t offer more help but if you have any other questions at all please email us or give us a call toll free at 1-800-443-5542.”

I can understand that reasoning. I’m a cheap, tinkering bugger and always messing about, so I’m different. I sewed my own diffusion cover for the one I had, not to save the $25 bucks but because I wanted one the next day and had a bunch of that kind of fabric laying about in the sewing room. Although seeing that the 64 inch soft silver is down to $45 (for the speedring mount) until they get rid of the old stock, I might pick up another, or maybe go with the bright silver and have “options”. If it breaks, I’ll fix it again.

Well, yeah, I’m sure that I probably could. There’s two problems with that, however: The first is that when it came apart, and as I was examining it to see how/why it came apart, three or four of the loop-stitches that hold the ribs in place also broke. So, those will have to be repaired as well and, with all of that together, I’m debating at this point as to whether or not it’s all just more trouble than its actually worth. The second, and probably much more significant, impediment to what you suggest is that I’m one hell of a lazy S.O.B. with a ridiculously low frustration tolerance. 😉

From what I’ve been led to believe, this problem only exists with the speed-ring mount PLMs. The umbrella mount PLMs are, apparently, far more sturdy. Considering the price of them, even with shipping costs added in, just replacing my broken PLM with a brand new one seems to me to be worth avoiding the hassle of a self-repair.