Ball Head Lube

I have an older ball head, Giottos MH-1001, which has a stiff pan rotation movement. What should I use to lubricate it? The lubes which come to mind are silicone, moly, lithium. Any suggestions.

Thanks

Bob

I'd first try contacting Giotto for their advice:
http://giottosusa.com/ballheads.shtml 

If that doesn't work then my first thought would be to try WD-40 to clean out the movement area as it can get gunked up with dust over time.

I would try a powdered teflon dry lubricant. I absolutely recommend against WD-40. It seems to attract dust more than many lubricants. If you must use a wet lubricant, Triflow is better, but as Robert said, check first with Giottos for a recommendation. Many ballheads can be disassembled and cleaned.

Joe

I'd like to suggest that you try cleaning the ball head before adding a lubricant. Dirt can make a ball head somewhat sticky in movement. I have had good results with a balky ball head just by cleaning it with a rag and alcohol. Rotate the ball in all directions and clean several times. It just might work and you can always add a lubricant later.

Richard

Richard and Joe,

Thank you for the advice. I will try calling Giottos first

Bob

When using WD-40 as a cleaner, you must always remove excess that is remaining, or it will like any wet substance, collect dust. I've used this many times for cleaning ballheads, as recommended by Kirk Enterprises. When cleaning the ballhead itself, use WD-40 on a clean cloth (a tissue works well) and wipe the ball in the loose position and spin it, and then use a clean and dry cloth to wipe the excess off the ball. All ballheads become sticky after awhile and require cleaning, FYI.
On the pan base if used, I would also highly recommend using tissue or paper towel to remove the excess fluid by capillary action: place it in the grove and allow the fiber to draw the excess fluid out.
Do it this way and it isn't complicated, but is effective.

Of course the best is to remove the pan base to clean, which may require sending it in.

Robert wrote:When using WD-40 as a cleaner, you must always remove excess that is remaining, or it will like any wet substance, collect dust. I've used this many times for cleaning ballheads, as recommended by Kirk Enterprises. When cleaning the ballhead itself, use WD-40 on a clean cloth (a tissue works well) and wipe the ball in the loose position and spin it, and then use a clean and dry cloth to wipe the excess off the ball. All ballheads become sticky after awhile and require cleaning, FYI.
On the pan base if used, I would also highly recommend using tissue or paper towel to remove the excess fluid by capillary action: place it in the grove and allow the fiber to draw the excess fluid out.
Do it this way and it isn't complicated, but is effective.

Of course the best is to remove the pan base to clean, which may require sending it in.

Robert,

Thank you for that information

Bob

Don't use WD40 or any petroleum based lubricant. Clean it first and if that doesn't work use a silicon based lubricant like tri-flow but use it very judisciously. and wipe off everything before and after. Leaving residue will only gum things up worse in the future.

Bob,

After the rather harsh reaction to any mention of WD-40, I re-confirmed with Kirk Enterprises that this 2 step method of cleaning the ballhead and then wiping off the WD-40 residue is still their preferred method to clean a ballhead. In this method WD-40 is a cleaning solution and absolutely not a lubricant. I have personally used it successfully on 3 different manufacturers ballheads, all of which had the same or similar black coating on the metal ball as does Kirks. After cleaning the WD-40 residue in step 2, I could put my finger on the ball and spin it and come up with zero residue if I cleaned it well.

I would never use Triflow on anything as my experience is that it leaves a gunky residue. I'm not sure how well it would wipe off.

With that said, RRS has a good video on how they recommend cleaning their ballheads using rubbing alcohol in a similar clean and then wipe dry method. If I had their ballhead, that's the way I would do it. 

Interestingly, RRS's video shows using a toothbrush to clean the edges around the tripod cylinder and the ball and makes me think a similar technique may help you with your panning base on the Giotto. Especially if the Giotto panning base is sealed like the Kirk's is, in which case you won't be able to do much else than send it in for disassembly for cleaning if the toothbrush doesn't do the trick for you.

Good luck and let us know what if anything works for you.

“Robert wrote:Bob,

......then wiping off the WD-40 residue is still their preferred method to clean a ballhead. In this method WD-40 is a cleaning solution and absolutely not a lubricant.
..............
I would never use Triflow on anything as my experience is that it leaves a gunky residue. I'm not sure how well it would wipe off.

WD-40 always leaves behind a lubricant film, but does remove gunk. When I used to repair and service bikes, it always attracted a lot of grime, especially to the chain. This describes it as a lubricant:

https://www.wd40.com/products/multi-use

 Triflow wouldn’t do that as much and, of course the chain is close to the ground and kicked up dust. WD-40 now has dry lubricants and special formulations for bikes, along with their many other products:

https://www.wd40bike.com/

I still highly recommend not using any wet lubricant and prefer powdered teflon above all other lubricants. I have a fascination with ballheads and have taken apart and serviced many of them. When you clean them with alcohol, I like to use 91% because rubbing alcohol usually has more water and other additives than 91% does. 99% may be even better.

Everyone has different experiences and preferences, so no offense is intended, Robert.

Joe

Reiterate no WD-40 and use Triflow instead - it wipes off very clean, leaves much less of a residue, is not petroleum based so doesn't congeal nearly as much, etc... That is if you need any lubricant at all. You might be able to just clean it.

How to clean a panning base has turned into a religion of lubricants. No one here knows how to clean a panning base, but suggestions were offered in good faith. The best I can come up with is to use a toothbrush as the Giotto panning base may well be a sealed unit (as most are) and require sending in for disassembly for cleaning. Clearly the OP will need to call around and gather more suggestions from ballhead manufacturers. But this argument over lubricants and cleaning solutions has become profoundly stupid!

Maybe the respective companies use different formulas in different regions of the country, but Triflow is crap & gunky here in the great lakes area and WD-40 doesn't gunk up unless you pour it on like maple syrup. That's a fact!

This is the last I'm saying about any ballhead cleaning here since there seems to be a religion against WD-40 here for some bizarre reason not stated with reason. Does WD-40 harm the ball No, does it harm the composites the ball glides on - No, but you don't use it or anything as a lubricant on a ballhead - it's for cleaning only in this use. Oh, and by the way, everything (alcohols, silicon, teflon, oils, etc) leave a residue including our breath. But is it apparent residue when cleaned properly? That's the point missed.

That and how to clean the panning base...

Robert wrote:How to clean a panning base has turned into a religion of lubricants. No one here knows how to clean a panning base, but suggestions were offered in good faith. 
......
This is the last I'm saying about any ballhead cleaning here since there seems to be a religion against WD-40 here for some bizarre reason not stated with reason. Does WD-40 harm the ball No, does it harm the composites the ball glides on - No, but you don't use it or anything as a lubricant on a ballhead - it's for cleaning only in this use........But is it apparent residue when cleaned properly? That's the point missed.

That and how to clean the panning base...

The OP asked about lubricants for the pan base, not cleaning the base or ballhead. And, yes, some of us do know how to clean a panning base. I, personally, have disassembled, cleaned and lubed them many times over 29 years. 

There were good reasons given to not use petroleum based lubricants, if lubrication was needed, including gathering dust.  E.J. stated in this thread about not getting them on plastics:

https://www.naturescapes.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=57&t=257495

They can damage certain types of plastics(not all). The composites that some ballheads glide on are some form of plastic or polycarbonate. Others use a fiber washer similar to the old shims in the leg locks of the older Gitzo tripods. They can be damaged (swelled) by water and ruined, thus low water content alcohol. There is no blanket solution for cleaning and lubricating a head without knowing the materials used. The Giottos site has a diagram of the ballheads, but no description of the material used in the cup at the bottom of the ball that puts the upward tension of the ball. It is very possibly a form of plastic.

http://www.giottosusa.com/ballheads.shtml

More pertinently, no panning base description is provided, either. This article shows a Benro ballhead: 

https://petapixel.com/2013/04/22/disassembling-a-tripod-ball-head-to-see-how-it-works/

The Giottos looks similar. Notice the plastic part(cup) that puts tension on the ball and the plastic split compression ring. Also of note is the tip of the pan knob that looks like plastic. On the Giottos, which looks similar, the cutout view looks very similar. Notice how the locking section is about half an inch wide. That's where the problem tends to occur. It is not easy to clean without taking the base off. Sometimes the plastic tip wears off and you have metal to metal contact which wears the locking surface and makes the friction uneven around the rotation. If petroleum based lubricants or cleaners like CRC Brakleen or others penetrate to the plastic, it could be damaged if sensitive to such products.

Joe

Thank you for all the information. I will start by cleaning the head with water and go from there

Bob