If that dosn't work, you may need to dig deeper. https://petapixel.com/2013/04/22/disassembling-a-tripod-ball-head-to-see-how-it-works/
Sometimes, a piece of grit may become trapped between the ball and clamping piece of plastic, distorting the plastic. The resulting "pip" will always cause drag. Judicious scraping with an extremely sharp implement (I've used a suitably shaped piece of broken glass) will relieve the lump. A light dusting with PTFE spray can work as a substitute for scraping if there are multiple instances of the issue. Buying a new pad would be the ideal answer. Good luck with that. > On 17 March 2018 at 01:48 Godfrey DiGiorgi <godd...@me.com> wrote: > > > Yes, lubricant on a ball head is generally a really bad idea. I don't know of > any manufacturer that recommends lubricant of any kind. > > Really Right Stuff has a video on how to clean one of their ball heads > properly. I've found that it is just about exactly the same as the procedure > described by Arca-Swiss, FOBA, Kirk Photo, Acratech, and others in their > owner's manual and literature. > > https://youtu.be/eR_a8I3Zd_I > > I would do this first, before anything else. The likely cause of stiction in > a ball head is a tiny—microscopic!—film of finger oil and dirt deposited on > the ball's treated surface ... get all of it off and the ball head should > work as new again. > > G > > > Paul Stenquist Fri, 16 Mar 2018 07:18:02 -0700 wrote: > > > > I use a large heavy-duty Sirui bullhead when shooting off a tripod with big > > glass. It’s been excellent for several years, smooth and solid. But I think > > it may have picked up a few specks of dirt here and there, and now it has a > > bit of a tug and hesitation in its movement. I’m wondering if anyone has > > tried lubricating a bullhead with light oil. I think that may make matters > > worse by attracting dirt. I can clean it somewhat by rotating it to extreme > > positions while wiping it down, but that doesn’t seem to fully solve the > > problem. Is lube okay or a bad idea? -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
