As we continued our search to find the proper name for the Mitchell geared head, which we still have not found, we came across this charming advertisement that Mitchell placed in “American Cinematographer” magazine in March 1931. In the ad, there are two camera operators, one using a geared head and one a friction head. …
Trivia About the Mitchell Geared Head and Friction Head Read More »
An interesting question was posed recently to the committee I serve on at the Academy of Motion Picture Art and Sciences asking about the history of geared pan/tilt heads. The questioner was only aware of the Worrall geared head, so many of us contributed our experiences with other styles and manufacturers of geared heads that …
As we continue our quest through the backlog of tripods, I happened upon this cute wooden unit that lacks any identifying labels. The wooden legs are robustly made, but the integrated pan/tilt head was clearly designed for a smaller camera. This tripod features a cast aluminum pan/tilt head which is joined to the wooden legs …
As we continue our trek through the forest of tripods, we rediscovered these Peter Lisand studio pedestals and were once again impressed with the engineering that went into designing and building them. A few years back we bought out the remaining inventory of the Peter Lisand Machine Corporation from the daughter of the founder, and …
You know how you have that one thing that you are always meaning to do, but you just never get around to it? And the longer you put it off, the larger the thing gets? Well, tripods have become that thing for me. I keep meaning to make time to photograph them and list them …
One final check in before we take a few days off for the holidays. The Fox Freehead is now about 90% repaired. I have been working on the frozen tilt axis for the last week; it is another remarkable piece of engineering. The tilt axis is made up of a two-part casting that houses the …
Success! Thanks to the folks at Jim’s Tap Extraction Service in Torrance, CA, the broken hardened screws were EDMed out of the casting of the Fox Freehead! Also, at the 11th hour yesterday, the grease I was recommended finally arrived. In the meantime, I went on a search to see if the original ¼-20 fillister …
Just a quick update on the progress on the Fox Freehead before we break for Thanksgiving. I have spent most of the week up to my elbows in various types of grease, trying to clean all of the orifices and metering valves that control the drag on the pan axis. This is proving to be …
A Quick Update on the Fox Freehead Before Thanksgiving Read More »
The Fox Freehead has now finally been broken down to its basic parts. The 82 year old grease, rust, aluminum chips, and most of the broken screws have been removed and cleaned. Simple degreaser was not adequate for this project. It took hours with dental picks, wire brushes, acetone, and degreaser to get all of …
Disassembly of the Fox Freehead is Nearly Complete Read More »
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 …
