As I work toward a demonstration of the total Fox Cine Simplex system, I decided to work on the pan tilt head, which the Fox engineers call the “Freehead Camera Mount”. Most of us take the pan tilt devices we use for granted, as they are just always there and we depend on them to make our camera moves smooth and steady. After reading about the great lengths the Fox engineers went to on the design of this pan tilt head, I thought it would be interesting to give you a brief idea of their inspiration. This pan tilt head is controlled by a semi-fluid liquid hydraulic control system. What that means is that, in both the pan and tilt axes, they created a series of chambers and adjustable orifices through which the fluid would pass to control the amount of drag and enhance the smoothness of pan and tilt.
Their stated goal in this design is to remove any jerkiness or resistance caused by friction in the pan and tilt axes. They paid special attention to the materials and the design used here, even going so far as to call out the particular grease that was used, an automobile water pump grease manufactured by the Kendall Oil Company. Choosing this as the next phase of the project might have been a huge mistake, as I am having a devil of a time getting the screws out to service it! That aside, the pan tilt head was missing its adjustable pan handle, so I am doing my best to interpolate what it looked like from the terrible pictures I have of it. I have begun to machine a new adjustable pan handle for it. As soon as I finally get this thing apart, I will show you as much of its internal workings as I can access.
