Sticky pan

No, I didn't cook bananas flambé in a cast iron skillet.

Just bought a new Manfrotto/Bogen 141RC/3030 pan/tilt head perched on a 190CL/3001 tripod.

Tilt is fine and smooth, but pan is a bit sticky-stiff and not so smooth.

Would you:

A. Let it/help it break in?

B. Squirt a little machine oil in the works?

C. Spray a little silicon in the works?

D. Take it back and exchange it?

E. Other?

Mine is the same way - I have a ball head, but the pan is not so smooth. I'm pretty darn sure than it's already lubricated, and I'm pretty darn sure that Bogen says not to lubricate it - though they might say that about the ball, not the pan. And I'm pretty sure it's a thicker lube than machine oil, which might break down the Manfrotto lube so that it's too thin.

There is a screw underneath that *might* adjust the pan stiffness.

But is it that bad? Mine is sticky, I wouldn't mind having it be looser, but I didn't think it was too bad and didn't want to muck with it because of my above thoughts.

Then again you have a pan/tilt compared to my ball-head. A smooth pan is probably a lot more important to you since I can move my ball-head around, and flat-panning isn't so important to me.

Thank you Scottes. You prompted me to ask myself "Why the ding-dong are you pussy-footing around? It's a simple mechanical device and you can take any mechanical device apart and get to the bottom of it!"

Well this mechanical device is a well designed set of aluminum castings, reasonably well machined and assembled, ..by what?

Human Beans!

There you go. So I took it apart to the point I could peek inside the pan fittings. The plastic 360 degree scale disk is mysteriously fastened in there and it didn't want to be willingly pried off, so I didn't go into the inner, inner sanctum. That's where the center bolt lives.

So what did I see through the pan clamp crack?

Plastic/aluminum shavings in there plus some black/brown gunge binding, smearing and jambing joyfully while I'm getting POed trying to pan the thing! Probably made the day after strike day in Bassano. Basta.

So I picked all that stuff out with needle thin tweezers and squirted some light oil in there to loosen up the gunge compound until I got it all out. Then blew out the remainder with silicon spray. It is already quite a bit better, though some rough points remain. Next I've got to find some high grade grease compound and work it in there to give it a cushion to revolve on.

Maybe I should have returned the thing, but now I have at least learned something. I wasn't expecting a thousand buck professional video pan head, but wouldn't you expect smooth panning with the right light resistance in a Manfrotto head? I did, and I am a bit disappointed.

Yes, I have a 484RC2 ball head on my 676B monopod, but I would call that a floppy pan. You can't get the pan base to turn nicely without the ball being released, but I do like it on the monopod.

So thanks again for giving me a jump start.

John ...

but then, that's what you'd expect as a feature with Italian products, right?

Best regards,
Andy

I find that sticking pan, tilt and balls all work better and smoother if you put more weight on them.

Therefore, you can now go and buy a Canon 600mm.

Seriously, swarf in the pan mech ? That is not on.

All heads I have ever bought have always been a bit poor. Sure, they look nice and shiny on the outside but insides tend to be a disaster. I've always fully stripped them down and rebuilt with a higher melting point general grease.

Two Manfrotto heads I had when left in the car on a hot day leaked out their grease onto the car carpets. The missus wasn't best pleased. This stuff looked like cooking fat and it was only 45 degress C in the car.

I'm now using a Giottos heavy duty ball head with QR plate and it is the nicest, smoothest head I've used, and I've not rebuilt it yet.

Cheers

Ian

Well John_T and Ian have given me reason to tear apart my head to get it to go smoother.

And - not to be left out - Andy has convinced me not to do something stupid like buy a Ferrari. I'll just have to stick with Volkswagen, my second choice.

Funny, I just picked up a 488 and the pan is really smooth, no case of the stickies or bindies (geez I got to get a dictionary )
Probably the first Manfrotto head I've bought that wasn't a little rough.

Well you know how it is Andy. They made me an offer I couldn't refuse, and of course it was businesss, not personal...

The Ians, Switzerland is strangely short on good camera & equipment stores. If you want something really good or special, you have to go to the pro shops, where I now go less and less. The people are fun and knowledgeable, but the gear is all on the heavy end and the prices are so way beyond shameless, it's an insult. I've gone from a maximalist to a minimalist, not so much on the cost, but on amount and weight of gear.

In all aspect I like this tripod/head, but things like a grating, sticky pan and IanW, your story of butter for grease, that's inexcuseable! So now I'm going to find some high grade grease with molycote or something in it and that head is going to be right.

Funny, Giottos, Italian name for Taiwan product. They look well made. Of course the separate pan clamp ads that demension to a ball head. I got the Manfrotto 484RC2 for the ratcheted lock lever because the lever gives more, haha, leverage. Do the Giottos knobs lock and unlock easily without having to take vicegrips to them?

John,

The Giottos MH 7001 - 621 actually has a small lever to lock the whole thing up. Finger tight only really and it'll hold up a 10D with Big-Ed and a 100-400 + 2x, no problem at all. What I especially like is when you do lock it, the ball doesn't move like some smaller ball heads. So yes, very easy to lock and unlock and no vice grips required.

Cheers

Ian

Haa! I'm impressed, "hight 110m".

Very interesting Ian. At 507g it's a bit heavy, but it looks really good and has a neat design for all that it will do. They don't have a distributor in Switzerland so I guess I'll have to hunt.

Can you use the horizontal adjustment as a macro track/ lens offset?

John

John,

Yes, this head is heavy (and tall ) but I use it for landscape/macro work where weight isn't really a problem, in fact, it is a benefit. I have another, smaller/lighter Giottos head for when I need to walk my tripod into a location.

The top plate does indeed slide along the QR. I have a medium sized one that can move about 2 cm from centre. either way, (with a positive lock when in position). I also have the long top plate, that can move perhaps 4cm from centre, either way. I.e. the long top plate gives approx. 8 cm of movement.

I've used the long plate for macro work, mainly so I don't have to reposition the tripod when I change my framing etc.

The long plate is also useful for creating 3D images where you want to move the camera to the left and right to take two (almost) identical shots to combine later into stereo images.

Cheers

Ian