It’s alive! The FC friction head restoration is finally complete! Here, you can see the friction head supporting Mitchell FC camera sn.8. Mitchell friction heads have a surprising number of parts that all had to be reconditioned or remanufactured in order to make this unit complete again. The casting hides 10 steel friction plates, 14 clutch pads, 2 enormously powerful coiled springs that act to counterweight the camera, and an adjusting knob to increase or decrease resistance on the tilt axis. The pan axis has an expanding adjustable brake shoe much like the old fashioned automobile brakes that locks the pan axis in place. A very clever set of clutch pads and steel clutch plates are used to increase or decrease resistance on the pan axis. To complete the restoration process, a new top plate was manufactured, as was a spring loaded 3/8-16 tie-down mechanism.
