I finally made some progress on disassembling the Fox Freehead! Many thanks to everyone who made helpful suggestions. Seven days of soaking the screws that hold the top plate to the Freehead, and many hours of tapping, pounding, and twisting later, I was finally able to get the screws out of the top plate. Thinking I was well on the way to having this portion of the project completed, progress was halted once again by the discovery of 2 sheared- off screws that held one side of the tilt assembly in place.
Sometime in the life of this Freehead, someone else tried to take it apart, not realizing that many of the screws were custom made from hardened steel, and cemented in place. Learning from my struggles with the screws on the top plate, I approached removing these screws with penetrating oil, a 2 oz hammer, and a pin punch until I felt the screws break free. Those screws then came out without any further struggle. However, when I went to do the same thing on the other side, I found that 2 of the retaining screws had been sheared off, with only one of the drag adjustment screws holding this portion of the assembly together.
This is when I discovered that the screws were made of hardened steel, so I was not able to drill out the sheared off portions. Next stop is a machine shop with an EDM machine to burn out the remaining pieces of these screws. Then, I will have to machine duplicates of the screws that were sheared off. Progress is slow, but it is happening.
