I stopped in at my local Goodwill Store today, looking for something else completely, but came upon a Bogen/Manfrotto 3001 tripod with a 3126 pan-tilt head. It was only $5.99, so I bought it. The catalog says it can hold up to 8.8 pounds (4 Kg), which will come in handy for me.
Unfortunately, it did not come with a pan bar, so I went to the hardware store and bought the fixings to make one: a solid aluminum bar, 1/2 inch in diameter, and a solid oak dowel, 1-1/4 inches across. I cut a nine inch section of the bar, and a five inch section of the dowel. I bent the bar in my vise (and should have cushioned it with wood, since the vise made marks in the aluminum), and drilled a 1/2 hole deep into the piece of dowel with a Forstner bit. I knew I wanted to coat the wood with some polyurethane, and that it would be slippery if I used it when my hands were sweaty, so I sanded in some finger grips. After applying three coats of finish, I mixed some epoxy, put it down the hole in the dowel, and inserted the bar as far as it would go. It will harden overnight.
The material for the bar cost about twice what I paid for the tripod, but I think it looks nice, it definitely works well, I still got a good deal on something I've been sort of looking for (a 'middleweight' tripod), and I have plenty of material left for other projects.
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