Servicing a Bogen 3066 head? How?
 

I've got a Bogen 3066 which is getting wobbly at the spot where it attached to the tripod.. Was thinking about trying to open it up, but figured I'd ask for advice first..

Anyone rebuilt one of these before?

Any documents available?

Thanks..

Joe

if it's loose where it attaches to the tripod then I can't see any reason to open up the head.
Take the head off and turn it upside down. If you see 3 screws(big heads) those secure "clips" to hold the outer housing to the inards and base plate of the head itself. Make sure those are tight. Remount the head.

OOOOHHHHH WAIT! I gave you step 2 before step 1. Is the head mounter to a ball head on the legs OR is it mounted to a center column type set of legs. In either case turn the whole rig over (head to carpet) and check the screws that secure the head to the column or ball. More often than not they work loose and bingo. You go to do a nice smooth pan and doggoneit...It's like ridin' over railroad tracks.
There is generally very little reason to open up the head itself.
Don

It's not the actual connection to the tripod.. but its the head internals that are wobbly..

I've got a parts schematic from bogen for order parts(pretty rough looking) but I went ahead and dissassembled the head.. It looks like someone had already opened it up and added a bunch of extra washers in there so the internals weren't sitting all the way in place.. Why would someone do this?? God only knows.. Appears they'd lost a setting bolt, and instead of putting washers under the outter cap they put them inside...

Pulled the 5 extra washers, and things appear to be much better... if anyones got better info than the part order schematic, which is pretty hard to read.. I'd be interested..

Tx..

Joe

Have you tried tightening the knob right under the plate mount? Mine was getting sloppy until I cranked it down.

I also had to use the very crude parts diagram to decipher what goes where. It took a while but I finally figured out where everything goes.