What did you fix today? (part 2)

BrianVS · Sep 3, 2017

Capital_Gang by fiftyonepointsix, on Flickr

The Capital Gang, Kodak Retina 1B, IIC, and IIIC.

Kodak 1B: flood clean shutter to bring back to life, pop the top- clean the VF.
IIC: Changed out the Cocking Rack, old one finally jammed up. THANKYOU CHRIS SHERLOCK!!!
IIIC: put in new lens element, cleaned the VF/RF, Lube the rack.

Cost of all three cameras... $100. Plus time well spent.

fdonadio · Sep 4, 2017

I fixed a stiff aperture ring on a Nikkor 36-72mm and also turned two broken iPhones into one fictional gadget.

fdonadio · Sep 4, 2017

Functional, I meant...

Europan · Sep 5, 2017

I’m at a Zeiss-Ikon Movikon 16, total overhaul. The rotten stinky 80 years old grease must go out, burrs need to be removed, all the glass cleaned. What a job!

barzune · Sep 5, 2017

fdonadio said:
Functional, I meant...

Don't you jest live autospell?

BrianVS · Sep 5, 2017

Not today- but a few months ago, worth mentioning.

Turns out the pre-war Carl Zeiss Jena 13.5cm F4 Sonnar can be fit into a Jupiter-11 mount and can be used across the full focus range. I've converted the 5cm F2 Sonnar using a J-8 mount and the 5cm F1.5 using the J-3 mount, but could not convert an 8.5cm F2 using a J-9. The J-11 does not focus very close, ~2.5m or so. Shimming the sweet spot at 5m allows accurate focus across range. The J-9 mount goes to 1.15m, almost impossible to make ir agree on a Leica across full range.

Converted Sonnar by fiftyonepointsix, on Flickr

So- 1937 Sonnar converted to Leica mount using a 1970 J-11 mount. Don't worry about the J-11 optics, went in the Zeiss Contax mount perfectly.

fdonadio · Sep 5, 2017

barzune said:
Don't you jest live autospell?

Best inventory since spliced breath!

John_Nikon_F · Sep 5, 2017

lol, not sure how to follow up on that one.

Anyway, installed the motor drive plate on my "new" F, swapped a bunch of pieces over to it from the old body, then swapped the items I don't need or want to the old body, so it can be sold.

-J

Patrick Robert James · Sep 5, 2017

I have a couple of Graflex roll film holders that I rarely ever use. One of them had a wind lever that was pretty sloppy so I decided to fix it. I fixed it good. It is now in the junk pile.....

Tha last thing I actually fixed was a Zeiss Planar for my Contax SLRs. I noticed it wasn't very sharp wide open. Turns out that the lube must have outgassed. Stripped it completely and cleaned the elements and relubed it with Helimax.. Now it is smooth as silk and sharp as a tack.

By the way, it is nice to see you posting again Brian. I have always been amused by your crazy lens hacks.

c41 · Sep 6, 2017

I cleaned and put new seals in my as yet unused by me Olympus 35RC rangefinder.
Things started well and slowly degenerated from there(!) Trying to get the adhesive to stay face down and not stick to the sides of the tiny 2mm recesses on the camera body was like trying to load my M3 on the back of a moving motorbike in the rain. Halfway through a test roll to see how I did. Well, I hope as I'm not keen to go back to '2mm-town'. My 7 year old daughter is itching to try the camera out so fingers crossed.

BrianVS · Sep 27, 2017

Did a CLA on a Leica IIIa. The shutter speed dial was stubborn, the screw covering the RF adjustment- also jammed somehow. Shutter speed came off with hollow hard rubber cork cut and wedged between it and the body after removing the accessory shoe. One of the screws on the accessory shoe was very stubborn, needed the "just right screwdriver" and Ronsonol. Cover screw- repeated screwing in tight then unscrewing worked. It must have unscrewed the threads underneath. Used needle-nosed pliers with electrical tape to get off the fronts of the finder. Most of these 80 year old cameras are going to have something corroded into place or at least held in with old/dried grease. Effort was after applying a little Ronsonol to loosen things up..

Helios 1984 · Oct 1, 2017

I did an insert for my old messenger bag.

75suzuki · Oct 4, 2017

Cleaned up an old Imperial Debonair, in 620. Im glad these were so simplistic, because the interior was truly filthy. It seems to function pretty well right now, I cant wait to put a roll through it.

BrianVS · Oct 5, 2017

A pair of Canon 100/3.5's in Leica mount- sent to me free to be used for parts as the inner surface behind the aperture was stated to be permanently etched. Most of it cleaned up, me and the person that sent me the pair get a working lens. Can't blame the repairman that stated they weren't worth opening up- the glass looked etched. Probably just got into the coating, which came off. Better to remove coating that looks like wax paper than to leave it in place.

R.Gould · Oct 5, 2017

A Zeiss Ikon Contessa and Contina folder,it was getting hard to wind the film on in both of them, the rewind knob was very stiff and squeking, a drop or 2 of oil on rewind shafts of both cameras, work them a bit the clean the shafts and now very easy and light winding/unwinding

Arbitrarium · Oct 5, 2017

This morning I finished bodging a fix on a Lomo 135BC. For some reason a little arm that resets the shutter release didn't reach to where it needed to, and the spring wind just clicked over without tensioning. Thickened the little arm with some tin foil lined with double sided tape which did the trick. Looking forward to doing some rapid-fire experiments with the camera.

c41 said:
I cleaned and put new seals in my as yet unused by me Olympus 35RC rangefinder.
Things started well and slowly degenerated from there(!) Trying to get the adhesive to stay face down and not stick to the sides of the tiny 2mm recesses on the camera body was like trying to load my M3 on the back of a moving motorbike in the rain. Halfway through a test roll to see how I did. Well, I hope as I'm not keen to go back to '2mm-town'. My 7 year old daughter is itching to try the camera out so fingers crossed.

Late reply, but if you're using self-adhesive foam, it goes into the slots easier if you lick the adhesive side first. Temporarily makes it less sticky, but once it's in the groove, the saliva will evaporate and it'll hold as usual.

guangong · Oct 5, 2017

Easy fix! By placing an Orako on one rangefinder window my 82 year old Leica IIIa is again easy to bring not focus. So pleased I will attach Okaros to my IIIc and IIIf.

Sirius Glass · Oct 5, 2017

Smoke alarm was beeping. I replaced the battery with a new battery. Still beeping. I checked the battery voltage and it was good. Pressed the button to reset for 30 seconds with the battery removed. Still beeping. Pressed the button to reset for 60 seconds with the battery removed. Still beeping. Bought a new smoke detector and installed. The beeping stopped.

Helios 1984 · Oct 5, 2017

A few weeks ago I was given a replacement eyepiece for my Topcon rangefinder by a gent in the Netherlands. Unfortunately, the part did not survived the journey... it arrived in 5 pieces : /
I wasn't going to just bin the whole thing so I bought a tube of krazy glue and put back the pieces together. The end result is satisfactory, however, I'll ask a friend who's specialized in miniatures to apply a thin layer of black paint.

Jeff Bradford · Oct 6, 2017

I fixed the knobs on a Conley B W 5x7. It's a nicely-made camera if not well-made.

fdonadio · Oct 6, 2017

Fixed (redone) the grouting on my bathroom tiles. It was terribly done by the "professional" that did it the first time.

Looks great now and the small leaks should have gone for good.

BrianVS · Oct 7, 2017

A test shot with the "not worth opening up, coating damaged" Canon 100/3.5. Both came out this good.

Canon 100F3.5 9x by fiftyonepointsix, on Flickr

Fujicaman1957 · Oct 15, 2017

Epoxied and repaired the battery tray for a Vivitar 365. The trays are nearly impossible to find just by themselves.

Patrick Robert James · Oct 15, 2017

I found out recently that a 2CR5 is just 2 CR123s in a case. I never knew that. I have a ton of CR123s and a few dead 2CR5s, so I pulled one of the 2CR5s apart and with a little filing made an adapter for the CR123s.

Helios 1984 · Oct 18, 2017

What did I fixed today? My Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 50mm f/2.8, of course. As usual, the aperture was slow to open due to a thin layer of sticky oil. I can't recall how many times I opened this lens :-/ However, I enjoy it very much when it's working properly.

What did you fix today? (part 2)

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