The camera is all back together and, as you’ll see in the video, it is amazingly quiet. I hope you will forgive the road noise in the background, but frankly I just couldn’t drag the camera back upstairs where it is quieter. At the end of the video is a demonstration of the unique rackover […]
A Penultimate Update on the Fox Camera Read More »
My disappointment was palpable, though not unexpected, when I turned the camera on for the first time and heard the terrible sound of the shutter scraping against the innards of the camera. The journey now returned to taking the camera apart again, and removing the camera from the rackover cradle so I could get to
Oxidation Troubles with the Fox Camera Shutter Read More »
After powering up and running the camera for only a few seconds, I noticed that the camera was producing a horrible scraping noise. The noise was very similar to what you get on a Mitchell camera when the shutter blades scrape against the forward-most light trap. This, unfortunately, was a sign that I needed to
Not So Silent, Silent Camera Read More »
Happy new year everyone! A brief progress report on the Freehead for this first Friday of the new year: It’s as finished as I have time to work on it. Because this project is so interesting, it has gone way over the time I had set aside to finish it. There is still some air
Fox Freehead Restoration Complete! Read More »
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
A Final 2021 Update on the Fox Freehead Read More »
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
Another Step Forward for the Fox Freehead Read More »
I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving holiday, ours was nice and restful. Now that we’re back, I have spent the week hunting everywhere for a suitable replacement grease to finish my work on the Freehead. According to the camera manual, the original grease used in the hydraulic damper for the Freehead was water pump
Good Grease Hunting Read More »
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
Progress and Delays on Freehead Repair Read More »
