Totally dismantled and cleaned a O'Connor model 30 fluid head this weekend for a total rebuild. It's amazing how many parts and the quality of the parts that are in this unit. I have new fluid for it and need to order a bunch of o-rings. This thing is really well built but the weak link in the head is the damping collars inside. Made of plastic and built in 2 pieces to surround a drum. The dampening fluid is between the collars and the drum, by adjusting the collars closer, the dampening goes up. Problem is that if tightened to much, the collars can break. Seems to be a problem with some of these as the older tech at O'Connor warned me about this happening. So I'm looking for a head that can be used for parts. Doesn't need to look pretty, banged up, corroded, etc. Parts I need are burried inside.
On a side note to anyone who searches for info on these heads. I took the counterbalance springs out (and that is a chinese puzzle in itself) and measured the force at the minimum height and maximum height as installed and adjusted from the 10 to 30 pound range of the counter balance adjustment. I took length measurements before dismantling the head. Than I used a valve spring checker for race engine cylinder head prep work to measure the springs at both the min and max heights. I found that by removing the inner spring (each spring assembly is made up of 2 springs, an inner and an outer) that the calculated weight range goes down from 10 to 30 pounds to about 6.5 to 20 pounds. Much more suitable for a lot of the smaller camera rigs of today. There is very little info on the web about these heads so maybe this may help someone in the future.
Thank you
Bill Wojo
On a side note to anyone who searches for info on these heads. I took the counterbalance springs out (and that is a chinese puzzle in itself) and measured the force at the minimum height and maximum height as installed and adjusted from the 10 to 30 pound range of the counter balance adjustment. I took length measurements before dismantling the head. Than I used a valve spring checker for race engine cylinder head prep work to measure the springs at both the min and max heights. I found that by removing the inner spring (each spring assembly is made up of 2 springs, an inner and an outer) that the calculated weight range goes down from 10 to 30 pounds to about 6.5 to 20 pounds. Much more suitable for a lot of the smaller camera rigs of today. There is very little info on the web about these heads so maybe this may help someone in the future.
Thank you
Bill Wojo
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