First off this thing is wobbly and anything but smooth. If you are not handy do not buy this one. I disassembled mine and was able to get it stable and smooth. This is what I did.I disassembled mine and was able to get it stable and smooth and this undoubtedly voided any warranty. The compass is something you would get out of a gum ball machine. I removed it along with the cap it sat in. This gave me access to the bolt. I disassembled and found that some of the machining was not deburred and bits of metal were in the joint. I deburred the machining and cleaned up any loose metal. Test fitting the parts relieved a lot of slop to the fit, well over 0.030". I was on a dead line and could not make a spacer so used brass shim stock to tighten the fit. The lubrication was very tacky so I cleaned all parts and used a Teflon based lubricant. The bolt was a tapered head and was very hard to get the pressure correct. Replaced bolt with a button head and made a brass washer to allow movement though time. The tilt joint was also disassembled as it was very wobbly when loosened to move and would loose position in the process of locking it down. Again I shimmed the parts to tighten the fit and lubricated. This was harder to shim as part of the lock down mechanism is also part of the stability for this joint. The lock down screw for the mounting plate had a bubble level in it...even though it would serve no practical use. I removed it and found it was based on a metric thread M6-1. I removed it and modified a seat post adjuster from a bicycle so I now have a cam lock. To cover where the compass had been, I used a bubble level (in a position that is actually useful) that I attached with double sided tape. This is just till I can machine proper spacers out of UHMW plastic at which time I will attach the bubble level better..For the price it is what it is, you get what you pay for. If you are capable of fixing its short comings it might be a bargain compared to high end gimbals.