What did you fix today? (part 2)

Helios 1984 · Feb 24, 2018

Cleaned and lubricated the rewind shaft/mechanism of my Topcon 35-L. The whole thing was gummed with old mammoth oil which made rotations not smooth.

Helios 1984 · Mar 8, 2018

Today I fixed up my Grandma's old sewing machine which had been given to me back in 2005. It was inoperative when I got it, but I wasn't much of a tinkerer in those days, so it ended up biting dust in our basement.
Yesterday I decided to give it a try( Hey better late than never ), turns out it just needed to be cleaned, oiled & greased.
I get to have a new useful tool, and as a bonus reward I learned how to use a sewing machine.

E. von Hoegh · Mar 28, 2018

Yesterday.
A Kiev 4, it had a couple issues - the shutter slit width was slighly uneven, and the lower curtain was locking on the first safety notch, not the second. The right hand tab of the curtain latch had been messed with, and the lifting ramps were too high, after rectfying these issues the slit width was too narrow for 1/1250 to give an exposure. Resetting the slit by trial & measure gave an accurate 1250 & all slower speeds, the slit is now even in width, lower curtain egages the safety latch as it should, flash synch reliable after cleaning the contacts, and while I was at it I repoised the meter needle so it indicates the same regardless of the cameras position.
This one really needs a complete overhaul, but the above issues could be addressed only with the shutter in the body casting, now I know that all it needs is cleaning and relubricating. It's a very pretty '69 that I bought off feepay a few years ago for the H-103 that was on it.o

Helios 1984 · Mar 31, 2018

After some fiddling, I managed to repair the bobbin winder of the aforementioned sewing machine. Nothing less than a triumph!

E. von Hoegh · Mar 31, 2018

I like the color scheme!
The Brother machines seem to be very well regarded, I know a professional seamstress who uses one and swears by it, several years ago I cleaned it in exchange for altering - tailoring, really - a pair of wool pants. I think we both got a great bargain since there's nobody within 150 miles who works on sewing machines, and apparently the only thing I can sew competently is Contax/Kiev shutter ribbons.

Fujicaman1957 · Apr 12, 2018

Ya'll were lucky..I once had to clean out my grandmother's Singer. Seems she oiled it after every use with 30 weight motor oil ! What a mess!

Helios 1984 · Apr 19, 2018

I made a new larger insert for my shoulder bag.
- Piece of foam playmat
- Shoes Goo
Note: I think I'll sew some cushion pads to put on the bottom.

MattKing · Apr 19, 2018

The thing I like most about that insert is that it is a light colour and not light swallowing black.
Which means you have a chance of being able to see the contents of the bag.
My wife tells me that one of the reasons to buy expensive handbags is that they offer lighter coloured liners.
My research indicates that she may be right, but I still think she is still telling me a story.

Helios 1984 · May 23, 2018

I made a new tongue for the top part of my Topcon case and paid a cobbler to install a new snap button.

removed account4 · May 23, 2018

lawnmower . replaced the carb and seals and gas line ... and mowed the lawn,
and before that i fixed the paper shredder and shredded 6 paper bags worth of my life.

John51 · May 24, 2018

I get the grandkids to do the shredding for me. They think it's fun.

EdSawyer · May 24, 2018

Swapped out the shutter in an RZ67 250mm APO lens. The original had a shutter blade go missing - it's inside the shutter somewhere, but not sure how it got disconnected. Rather than fiddle with that, I bought a pair of 100-200mm zooms that had 2 good shutters included, and swapped one of those shutters in for the one missing the blade. I had to resolder about 15 wires as the 100-200mm shutter had an extension harness wired into it, that the 250APO didn't need. But it all went well and seems to work fine now! Probably 4 hrs of labor total for that full teardown and rebuild.

Helios 1984 · Jun 2, 2018

I converted an AD-100 APS adapter into an AD-10 which can be used with either DiMage II, III or IV.
The modification is very simple and non-destructive, you just have to unscrew the bracket, disconnect 6 wires and smoothen the soldering points.
What is nice about these adapters is that you can batch scan entire rolls which makes me wish APS was still alive.

Kodak Advantix High Definition 200 shot with a Fuji Endeavour 400ix.
La Habana, Cuba, 2004.

Wayne · Jun 2, 2018

I bought a stop valve so I can fix my homemade mixing valve that froze this winter

Helios 1984 · Aug 18, 2018

The dishwasher water pump was struggling to flush out the water at the end of the cycle, so I cleaned the filter under the impeller. ).
A simple maintenance which improves the lifespan of a dishwasher and its cleaning capability.

Helios 1984 · Sep 28, 2018

I've made a centre core extension for the reel of my new old tank. A few days ago, I bought an old Yankee Standard (single reel) but received a Yankee Master (double reel) with the reel of a Standard. Unfortunately, the centre core of the reel was about 1½ inch too short, causing the reel to move when doing inversions. Lucky me, I've found a plastic tubing with the perfect circumference.

jim10219 · Sep 28, 2018

Last week I repaired a Novatron 500 power pack. This week I repaired a Novatron 440 Plus power pack, and last night I repaired four Novatron flash heads. Tonight, I repair three more. I'm pretty happy with how this whole project is going, because I've been able to get all my spare parts for the flash heads from a single donor flash head, which means I haven't had to waste money or time on buying and shipping spare parts!

Sometimes I wonder if photography is my hobby, or if it's repairing photography gear.

Helios 1984 · Oct 30, 2018

This afternoon, I've cleaned the oily aperture of my Helios 44-2.

Here's the video I've used

hartacus · Nov 6, 2018

Yesterday/today I replaced the mirror damper on my Canon FT QL.

I wish I'd taken a before shot. The damper foam was so degraded it wasn't sticky, just dry and crumbly, and mostly crumbled away. I honestly thought it had been taken out in a service decades ago and not replaced.

After:

I've used a hand-cut piece of 2mm craft foam, glued in with PVA. It's quite rough to be honest (forgot to use a ruler), but the mirror contacts foam instead of bare metal so that's an improvement. I'm not quite sure it's thick enough, but anything's better than nothing. It also seems a little quieter, but I'm almost certain that's just my ears playing tricks.

hartacus · Nov 13, 2018

hartacus said:
Yesterday/today I replaced the mirror damper on my Canon FT QL.

I put in another layer of foam, because it wasn't quite stopping contact with the focusing screen frame.
If anyone who's fixed a mirror damper on a Canon FT thinks this looks too thick, let me know. I have never seen the original in place and in one piece, so I've nothing to go off.
(also, contrary to how it looks in this photo, it is actually flat)

fdonadio · Nov 15, 2018

Found an old optical slave in a drawer a couple of weeks ago. Tested it immediately and it didn’t work. Tossed it in the “photo paraphernalia drawer”.

Today, I took a deep breath, cracked it open and found out it was just a broken wire (at its solder joint). Resoldered and tested it... working as good as new!

Pentode · Nov 19, 2018

Yesterday I dove into a Soligor 135mm f/2.8 in Minolta mount. A few weeks ago I had cleaned the aperture blades which had been gunked up with oil. All that was left was to collimate it, which I got around to last night.

This was my first foray into repairing a lens. I have much more appreciation for the prices of lens CLAs now! It was a lot more work than I had expected. The lens is ready to use now!

hartacus · Nov 23, 2018

Today I reattached the translucent window on the front of a Nikon DP-20 viewfinder (for the F4) which had come adrift. I also gave the finder a bit of a clean.

Before:

After:

(Let's be honest, this one's never going to be pristine.)

I also cleaned the red stripe on the F4's grip. Q-tips and small dabs of water. It actually looks red now, which I didn't think would be possible. You do not want to see the Q-tips. Interestingly, though, there's a tiny crack running right the way along the red stripe that I only noticed post-clean, but my work log photos show was there before as well. I suppose it's a natural weak point in the rubber grip, but I was surprised nonetheless.

Nodda Duma · Nov 24, 2018

Didn’t fix per se, but I made another plate drying rack.

Helios 1984 · Nov 29, 2018

I re-glued a shutter ribbon on my "for parts" Spotmatic, I've used Shoe Goo in lieu of Pliobond.

What did you fix today? (part 2)

Moderator

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency