What did you fix today? (part 2)

hartacus · Feb 1, 2019

Today I fixed my new-to-me Canon A-1's wheeze.

I went with the through-the-lens-mount-screwhole method in this video, which worked well. I curled the end of a blunt syringe needle enough that I could feel the gear and its mounting post (about 2 mins into the video) and make sure that I had the tip of the needle in the right place. (For reference, the squares on the cutting mat are 1cm x 1cm)

Took about 5 minutes for the oil to work through (camera oil from micro-tools), but now the wheeze is all gone. As good as Ventolin.

Ian Grant · Feb 9, 2019

Sewed up the case of my Yashicamat 124, not a perfect job as it's not leather rather some king of compressed cardboard type material.

Then much more successfully and far neater I sewed up the top edges of the case of my Half Plate Kodak Specialist II View camera.

The case's handle is an issue but with quite a bit of Super glue I've made it solid and functional again/ The case itself has has a coat of black acrylic paint so looks smart again

Ian

Raphael · Feb 22, 2019

Not exactly today, as it was a long run job, but this week, I processed my first film with my now fixed Jobo ATL1 processor.
It was broken after a sudden power cut in end of November 2018. I finally fixed the CPU board, after a lot of reverse engineering, a few self induced failures and wrong inducing . I can now resume B&W and E6 film shooting and home processing !
Best regards,
Raphael

Ian Grant · Feb 24, 2019

Fixed the light leaks which were a bit larger than pinholes on my Half Plate Kodak Specialist 2. Did this by patching them on the inside, then re-blackeened with matt black acrylic paint.

Now at last ready to use once the fog lifts

Ian

Scott Micciche · Feb 26, 2019

Cleaned cloudy F3HP viewfinder internal glass/mirror. It drove me crazy seeing all the dust and haze within.

Cholentpot · Feb 27, 2019

Right-o. I have an ongoing problem I'm working on

I have an SRT 101 that locks up when I put a battery in. It seems the pressure is pushing on something under the bottom plate. When I remove battery and wiggle advance arm the camera unlocks. Has anyone else had this issue? Anyone have a fix besides for not using a battery?

EDIT:

Ok, I fixed it...at least for now. So if anyone runs into this problem here goes.

I removed the bottom and the battery case. It seems the plastic dimpled a little with age and was putting pressure on an arm that was then not moving and would lock up the whole camera. I solved this by making shims out of a cardboard business cards and putting them under the case propping it up just a hair. If anyone has better shim ideas I'm all ears. For now it's working and the meter is just about on target. Maybe a 1/2 stop off or less. Good enough for gooberment work.

Scott Micciche · Feb 28, 2019

Cholentpot said:
Right-o. I have an ongoing problem I'm working on

I have an SRT 101 that locks up when I put a battery in. It seems the pressure is pushing on something under the bottom plate. When I remove battery and wiggle advance arm the camera unlocks. Has anyone else had this issue? Anyone have a fix besides for not using a battery?

EDIT:

Ok, I fixed it...at least for now. So if anyone runs into this problem here goes.

I removed the bottom and the battery case. It seems the plastic dimpled a little with age and was putting pressure on an arm that was then not moving and would lock up the whole camera. I solved this by making shims out of a cardboard business cards and putting them under the case propping it up just a hair. If anyone has better shim ideas I'm all ears. For now it's working and the meter is just about on target. Maybe a 1/2 stop off or less. Good enough for gooberment work.

Nice work! I've not seen this with my 101, but now I will make a note. Cheers!

Kino · Feb 28, 2019

Cholentpot said:
. I solved this by making shims out of a cardboard business cards and putting them under the case propping it up just a hair. If anyone has better shim ideas I'm all ears. For now it's working and the meter is just about on target. Maybe a 1/2 stop off or less. Good enough for gooberment work.

How about carefully applying heat from a hair dryer until the plastic gets soft and pushing it back flat?

Cholentpot · Feb 28, 2019

Scott Micciche said:
Nice work! I've not seen this with my 101, but now I will make a note. Cheers!

Anytime. I felt if I asked the question I should give the answer when I found it.

Kino said:
How about carefully applying heat from a hair dryer until the plastic gets soft and pushing it back flat?

I didn't think of that. Plastic would still be pliable and maybe still hit that lever? I do need to find better shims though.

removedacct1 · Feb 28, 2019

I just finished restoring a 1939 Kodak Retina 143 this morning. I disassembled the shutter, focusing helical, lens groups, and film advance mechanism, cleaned it all, and lubricated what needed lubricating, then reassembled it. It shows its age, cosmetically, but it now runs as smoothly as the day it was made! These early Retinas are works of art, IMO.

pentaxpete · Mar 2, 2019

I have been sent for FREE another Voigtlander VITO -- this one is the 'BR' model Anyway, the shutter blades would not close properly. I had a look through the rear and saw some 'dirt' stains on the blades. I dropped some Lighter Fuel onto a Cotton Bud ( Translation for you Americans -- 'Q-Tip') and gently wiped the closed blades. Then I dropped lighter fuel down the slot where the V.X and M settings are as i was not going to try to access shutter from under the black covering on front. Then loaded a test film and wound on and shutter 'Creaked into Life' and blades work as they should -- even the V Delayed Action works on this BR now ! Will try with REAL FILM next !

Voigtlander Vito BR by Peter Elgar, on Flickr

hartacus · Mar 8, 2019

Yesterday and today I fixed a stiff shutter dial on a Voigtländer Vito CLR. I picked up the camera for $10 at a camera fair, as it was in a parts bin. So far, the main problems I've found have been a stiff shutter dial and a loose light meter illumination window. The stiff dial turned out not to be something jammed in the shutter, as I had suspected, but a dirty helicoid for the ISO setting dial which is linked to the shutter speed dial. I cleaned the helicoid and lubricated with some Helimax-XP and it's... better. The helicoid really needed a soak in some solvent to clean it up fully. Nevertheless, I cleaned off a lot of old gunk and the new grease brings a significant improvement (i.e. it can be moved with one hand now).

While I was in there, I also put a microdrop of camera oil on each of the spindles for the self-timer clockwork. It works without getting stuck now, which is some kind of miracle. I tested the light meter by comparison with a Sekonic L-208 and it seems accurate. And I cleaned the lenses thoroughly while I had it apart - the glass seems very clear.

A couple of pointers on this repair:

1. My CLR seems to be a newer (or older) model, or something, and it took me a while to find the retaining screws for the focusing ring. All available manuals and descriptions just say "loosen the three screws...", and none of the diagrams indicate that the screws could be hidden. On this model, they are under the distance gauge. You have to turn to nearest focus so that the distance gauge ring clears the shutter nameplate ring when its screws are removed, but then turn it back the other way once it's removed so that you're back at your infinity focus reference point before loosening the retaining screws.

2. Like a noob, I didn't mark off the position of the front lens element before I removed it. Well I did, but in lead pencil, and that soon wore off through handling. I'm going to euphemistically chalk that up to a subconscious desire to practice setting focus. I've read online about using frosted scotch tape as a makeshift ground glass, but then I read a post by someone who used a piece of CD case with the frosted scotch tape stuck onto it, because it doesn't warp. An inspired move. I opted for a compromise, by cutting a piece of overhead transparency the width of a strip of 35mm film and sticking the frosted tape to that. It's much easier to make and is rigid enough for the purpose.

It seemed to work just fine. Also, a magnifying glass really helps with this process.

Kino · Mar 8, 2019

Nice work and good tips!

pentaxpete · Mar 8, 2019

Bad News on my Voigtlander 'BR' -- I THOUGHT I had fixed the shutter blades but with real film test results were terrible -- all over-exposed and camera shake as shutter seemed to give about 1/15th second. Even the 1/300th ones were blurred -- I reckon the blades were not closing fully. I scanned ONE neg only which I think has 'Artistic Merit' ---

hartacus · Mar 11, 2019

I have a Vito CD with dirty shutter blades - I worked them free a few years ago, but they gummed up again pretty quickly. The blades and the shutter mechanism are likely to be jammed up with the same gunk. Quite possible a previous owner tried to "fix" it with WD-40 or something...

lobitar · Mar 16, 2019

pentaxpete said:
Bad News on my Voigtlander 'BR' -- I THOUGHT I had fixed the shutter blades but with real film test results were terrible -- all over-exposed and camera shake as shutter seemed to give about 1/15th second. Even the 1/300th ones were blurred -- I reckon the blades were not closing fully. I scanned ONE neg only which I think has 'Artistic Merit' ---
View attachment 218948

Personally I don't think you will get a handle on it without using graphite dust - that is unless you take the shutter completely apart?

hartacus · Mar 18, 2019

Yesterday I readhered the light meter control window on the Voigtländer Vito CLR. It was loose and the surfaces to which it had attached was gummed up with a lot of old and very rough adhesive. I had, at first, wondered if the old adhesive was rust, because it was dark reddish brown, very hard, and not at all smooth. However, acetone (nail polish remover) softened it enough that some, though not all, could be scraped off with a sharpened matchstick (it did a better job than naphtha or isopropyl alcohol). I removed enough and got the surfaces smooth enough that some double-sided tape reattached the window quite securely. The other problem, of course, is that the white paint from the sides of the window is coming off. I'll try to address this once I think of/can obtain a suitable replacement paint. It's not the prettiest, not really a complete job yet, but it's functional.

Also, I managed to find some screws to replace the front top cover screws - never seen a Voigtländer Vito with all of its original top cover screws. The ones I found were Phillips head, so not a direct replacement, but they work, and $5 bought a pack of 1000 from a large online sales website named after some rainforest. Dimensions are 3mm long, 2mm head diameter, 1.37mm thread diameter.

M-88 · Mar 18, 2019

hartacus said:
Yesterday and today I fixed a stiff shutter dial on a Voigtländer Vito CLR. I picked up the camera for $10 at a camera fair, as it was in a parts bin. So far, the main problems I've found have been a stiff shutter dial and a loose light meter illumination window. The stiff dial turned out not to be something jammed in the shutter, as I had suspected, but a dirty helicoid for the ISO setting dial which is linked to the shutter speed dial. I cleaned the helicoid and lubricated with some Helimax-XP and it's... better. The helicoid really needed a soak in some solvent to clean it up fully. Nevertheless, I cleaned off a lot of old gunk and the new grease brings a significant improvement (i.e. it can be moved with one hand now).

While I was in there, I also put a microdrop of camera oil on each of the spindles for the self-timer clockwork. It works without getting stuck now, which is some kind of miracle. I tested the light meter by comparison with a Sekonic L-208 and it seems accurate. And I cleaned the lenses thoroughly while I had it apart - the glass seems very clear.

A couple of pointers on this repair:

1. My CLR seems to be a newer (or older) model, or something, and it took me a while to find the retaining screws for the focusing ring. All available manuals and descriptions just say "loosen the three screws...", and none of the diagrams indicate that the screws could be hidden. On this model, they are under the distance gauge. You have to turn to nearest focus so that the distance gauge ring clears the shutter nameplate ring when its screws are removed, but then turn it back the other way once it's removed so that you're back at your infinity focus reference point before loosening the retaining screws.

2. Like a noob, I didn't mark off the position of the front lens element before I removed it. Well I did, but in lead pencil, and that soon wore off through handling. I'm going to euphemistically chalk that up to a subconscious desire to practice setting focus. I've read online about using frosted scotch tape as a makeshift ground glass, but then I read a post by someone who used a piece of CD case with the frosted scotch tape stuck onto it, because it doesn't warp. An inspired move. I opted for a compromise, by cutting a piece of overhead transparency the width of a strip of 35mm film and sticking the frosted tape to that. It's much easier to make and is rigid enough for the purpose.

It seemed to work just fine. Also, a magnifying glass really helps with this process.

I did something similar to this when adjusting a rangefinder on my Olympus 35 RC. Only I taped an actual focusing screen there instead of simple tape. The reason behind this was that I don't have a magnifying glass so readily available and the focusing screen had a split-image focus area, which worked perfectly while adjusting the RF.

hartacus · Mar 19, 2019

M-88 said:
I did something similar to this when adjusting a rangefinder on my Olympus 35 RC. Only I taped an actual focusing screen there instead of simple tape. The reason behind this was that I don't have a magnifying glass so readily available and the focusing screen had a split-image focus area, which worked perfectly while adjusting the RF.

A split image would be so useful!

M-88 · Mar 19, 2019

I wasn't too happy with performance of my Nikon FE's aperture readout ring. It used to jam every now and then in minimum aperture value and I had to return it back manually. So I opened it, cleaned and found that unlike these funny little flappy springs indicated in the repair manual.....

.....mine instead had this whole spring-ring:

Since it fits there (almost) perfectly, I thought it was from F-mount camera and after checking other repair manuals, found it among FM2 parts. I got rid of the item altogether and the camera started to work properly. I'm sending my gratitude to whoever put it in there and made an acquisition of FE for dirt-cheap easy, thanks to "faulty aperture ring"

Now I'm trying to make a DIY spring flaps to put them where they should be.

hartacus · Mar 20, 2019

I took another crack at the light meter control window on the Voigtlander Vito CLR, with paint this time. Not quite as smooth as the original would have been but a fair bit neater that what remained.

Pentode · Mar 27, 2019

I just un-jammed the film advance on my Zorki-4 and applied two thin coats of black acrylic where the rubberized coating of the shutter curtain was cracked and leaking light.

Helios 1984 · Apr 3, 2019

I've made new spring plates for the lid of my Agfa Rondinax 35U. These lock the lid into place so it does not fall when pouring off the chemicals. I used a colour balance black card to make the new plates and glued them into place with Shoe Goo.

hartacus · Apr 8, 2019

Today I fixed the film advance lever of my Minolta XE-5. The lever would not complete its action properly - it would complete its travel, but would not be returned by the spring, requiring a slight slackening and then another push of the lever to finish the wind. The internet suggests that this is a fairly common issue with XE-series cameras. The ratchet mechanism, part of which is seen below as a brass pin between two straight springs, was slow. I de-gunked it and then re-lubricated with some light oil as suggested here. It returns perfectly now.

The XE-5's film advance is as close to perfect as I've ever felt. Smooth as silk, with just enough feedback, like a good kitchen knife. It makes my Canons feel like mince grinders in comparison.

Les Berkley · Apr 8, 2019

No photo, but I adjusted and lubed the meter on a Retina Reflex (no S, no #). I also found my Invercone.

What did you fix today? (part 2)

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