I seem to remember that WD-40 is mostly hexane, liquefied petroleum gas/ or
CO2 (propellant) and about 10% mineral oil; so it should have a little bit
of lubrication ability. A quick G**gle search revealed a range of
recommendations for cleaning ball heads that varies among brand. Markins
clearly recommends WD-40, particularly if doused in water (they claim that
none of their internal parts are damaged by water or WD-40 but it could
freeze up in very cold weather).
Arca-Swiss says no lubrication of any type; clean with dry cloth and air
blast.
Acratech says to avoid lubricants and to clean with alcohol.
Kirk says WD-40 is OK.
I suspect these recommendations are based on the differing materials of
the balls and internal parts. Best listen to your manufacturer.
Charlie
PS Found this posting by one fellow to be rather humorous:
I think lots of us are over-thinking this "to lubricate or not to lubricate"
thing. Let's just put it into perspective for moment. I'm going to assume
that the typical duty my field tripod (Gitzo aluminum and Kirk BH-1) sees is
pretty representative of everybody else's here. Rides around on the back of
backpack, gets laid down on the dirt and wet grass, goes into a couple of
feet of water, falls over with the camera attached while you're playing
contortionist a get a shot of the tiny flower in the rocky crack, etc., etc.
In other words, the life of a field tripod is a rough one and anything I can
do to keep it in good shape is important. Forget about what this
manufacturer or that recommends. This is a tripod head, not a brand new
automobile, and consists of a ball, socket, and some knobs. It's anodized
aluminum inside a composite cup with relatively tight tolerances. Though it
might operate fine dry, nobody with any machinery experience would dispute
the fact that bearing surfaces which are exposed to moisture and particulate
matter penetration on a routine basis won't benefit from some sort of light,
non-viscous moisture-displacing lubricant. Frankly, if putting WD-40 on your
ball causes the head to not work correctly, you need a better unit.
I've had my Kirk for 5+ years. It's gone underwater, gotten full of mud, and
dropped head-first onto the pavement hard enough to dent the ball. I never
lubricated it when first bought it and seemed to get rough and scratchy so
now, before every trip, I give it a light coat of WD-40, Tri-flow, or Felder
Spindelfluid. 5 years later, it looks like a bomb went off underneath it but
works beautifully. What I'm saying, guys, is that this is tripod head we're
talking about, not a Rolex watch. If I had to worry about what somebody from
Germany would think, I'd never get any photography done!
--
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