Sachtler Pan Brake not working properly

[Balz Auf der Maur]

Does anyone know how to fix this or what might be the problem?

I ordered a new pan brake for my Sachtler Video 14 II which I bought used. Even though I installed the brake correctly (fitting into the hole in the inner ring of the tripod head) it doesnt fully stop the head from panning, males a strange click noise and then is lose again… (i tried to film it here, excuse the background music but the clicking can be heard)

 

[Mark Dunn]

Could you have lost something from inside the hole, a ball bearing or spring or something, that did the actual jjob of locking?

[Balz Auf der Maur]

I don‘t think so…I‘ve had a look at the exlposion drawing and there‘s nothing in there but the inner ring which has a hole with a thread in it that should hold the screw ?

Ordered the green marked pieces which should be all…the red line is the order that the blueprint shows.

[Balz Auf der Maur]

Ok...sachtler says, they might not be able to repair the head because it's too old and it would also be too expensive. Anyone have experience with opening one of those heads? I removed the bottom screws but the halfbowl won't come off ^^

[Dom Jaeger]

It's been a long time since I worked on Sachtler heads but from memory be careful opening up the bowl - on some models it's part of the pan drag mechanism. Got a drawing of the pan assembly? These are not simple machines, with pre-loaded bearings and sprung pins that can easily pop out of alignment, and a complicated sequence of re-assembly. The holding bolts need to be tightened to specific torques to correctly compress the drag disks etc. I remember the repairs we did were not cheap.

It sounds like the lock-off thread on the inner ring is stripped, so replacing the lock-off alone won't fix it.  I can't remember how much of the pan assembly you need to disassemble to access that brake ring. You might need to find some old-timer repairman who used to work on Sachtlers 20 years ago.

[Balz Auf der Maur]

Yeah, it seems you‘re spot on! I contacted Sachtler and they told me that it‘s probably the thread that has been worn down on the inner „break-ring“. They told me I could send it in for repair (which they didn‘t know if it‘s still possible to do since they don‘t usually have those kind of spare parts for really old heads) but that alone would‘ve cost more than what I paid for the head so I‘m gonna have to let it be sadly ?