What did you fix today? (part 2)

snapguy · Jan 3, 2014

I have an Ansco Viking Folder that seems to be a 4.5.It, too, looks swell but the focus ring will only go between 5 and 10. It's to pretty to leave on the shelf. I must try to fix it.

Tom1956 · Jan 4, 2014

I've been working on the AM of this 1949 Stewart Warner console for ages. Only radio that has ever beaten me (so far). And it's just AM, which means I have to be a whole other kind of incompetent boob if I can't find this piddly little problem. But I can't and that's a fact. I wish I knew more about a 12AT7 am-fm circuit. These voltages are not making sense, and I've gone through any of the resistors. I think some knucklehead (not me) has put the wrong slug in the oscillator coil.

winterclock · Jan 5, 2014

Did CLA on a new to me Betax #4 with a 7 1/2" Velostigmat series II. It's within 5% at all speeds and the glass is gorgeous. Wondering if I should modify the front element to add a swirlator adjustment.

Truzi · Jan 29, 2014

Fixed my Waterman Hemisphere fountain, replacing the damaged medium-point with a fine-point Kaweco nib. I couldn't see paying over half the cost of the pen for a nib "assembly."

benjiboy · Jan 30, 2014

I don't fix my photographic equipment, I have an agreement with the camera technician who services my
gear not to,and in return he agrees not to shoot any pictures.

Newt_on_Swings · Jan 31, 2014

A week ago I cut a section of 3mm thick plexi for my wista as a protection cover for a sheet of gridded ground glass. (Non standard setup) but then I decided to pop in the scratched up standard wista fresnel and draw a grid line onto that plexi to compare. The replacement clear glass grid is $50-60. It looked ok with a super fine point sharpie but then i decided to etch the lines in with a light press of an exacto knife. It looks pretty nice now after I removed the sharpie and the lines are very thin and clearly viewable at all angles. Only problems is that 3mm is just slightly too thick but it screws in ok, and the cut lines don't make a nice smooth surface for sliding a loupe around.

ME Super · Jan 31, 2014

We have a house that was built in 1904. The door knobs on the interior doors are all the kind that you screw on to a square spindle and then put a set screw in to hold the knob in place and keep it from unscrewing. The latch on the door in the kitchen that leads to the mud room stopped latching. Took the knob apart (it was a total of four screws, including the set screw) and the problem was readily apparent. The spring that pushes the latch out was broken and wasn't springy any more. Took 3 measurements of the spring and a trip to the local home improvement store. The new spring is in, and the knob is as good as new.

peter k. · Feb 7, 2014

Love the creativity of these old large format camera's...
Made a lens out of a magnifying glass and had to verify the old Focal Plane Shutter in a 1950 Pacemaker. Did some shutter tests, and then took some preliminary 4x5 shots, developed and made some more adjustments, as I understood the F.P.S. better, in using it.
Now needed to really test it out in the field, but had run out of 4x5 film, and didn't want to wait for shipment... so... hmmm..
Cut two foam boards to the size of a 4x5 film holder, and out of these, cut out the interior of this rectangle, to the size of a 3x4 film holder, that I had film for. Rubber cemented these two together, and then using black matte board cut, two pieces for top and bottom. The bottom piece, larger on the interior of the 'U', so to form a ledge. This way the 3x4 film holder would slide in flat, and not try to dip toward the lens.
Ha ... Worked great, what a fun work around...

John_Nikon_F · Feb 8, 2014

Replaced the rewind crank assembly on my FM2n. Now have the correct part installed...

-J

John_Nikon_F · Feb 9, 2014

Did a few more things in the past 24 hours. Got the second MD-2/MB-1 working. Discovered that the frame counter hadn't reset properly. Did it twice (spun it down to zero, then slid the rewind button cam upward), and it now works properly. On the FM2n, just changed out the shutter speed dial collar with one that's less worn and straightened the shoe enough that my SB-24 will slide into it. Still need to have the top cover straightened. Shoe sits at a little bit of an angle and there's a weird dent where it says "FM2". May just source a different top cover for the camera.

-J

benjiboy · Feb 9, 2014

We only hear of peoples successes on this thread, we never hear about their failures, of which there must be many, because modern cameras and lenses are such complex optical.and electro mechanical devices that they were never intended to be user repairable.

Newt_on_Swings · Feb 9, 2014

I made a separate thread awhile back for just that thing, titled what did you break today.

On a side note, I replaced a sox 35 low pressure sodium lamp in my Thomas duplex. I sourced a new Phillips lamp for $35 or so instead of the $100 they want for an original. The old one had a sodium leak causing the insulating outer bulb to become blackened and mirror like.

I also figured out why my durst 45 pro was having uneven lighting from the bulb. Since I don't have a manual for it it took me a little while poking around to figure out that you can push the lamp/bulb socket rearward outside the lamp house. There was a small lip that was blocking it and once I lifted the socket and pushed it went through. The original positioning was ok for smaller formats but at 4x5 with a 150mm lens there was a shadow cast by the bulb being too forward and low.

Kevin Caulfield · Feb 9, 2014

A roll of Acros 100 120, our youngest's 7th birthday.

David A. Goldfarb · Feb 9, 2014

The fan in my next dark/bathroom. The previous tenants removed it, I would guess, because it was too noisy, and it seems to have been stopped by rust in the motor. A little lubrication and letting it run seems to have gotten it to quiet down.

Kawaiithulhu · Feb 9, 2014

Very small thing today, disconnected the auto-reverse switch inside a Uniroller in preparation for next weekend's 4x5 tests in a "new" Jobo drum and some pyrocat. You have to disable the switch because the larger diameter drum doesn't make a full rotation before reversing, it being designed for smaller diameter unicolor tanks.

Later I'll give the switch an external port so I can reverse manually, but it isn't necessary.

Bill Burk · Feb 10, 2014

Sounds like fun Kawaiithulhu

I put "Jon Goodman" light seals in the back of my Spotmatic-F this weekend...

It was a tough choice, which cameras to add seals to. I finally decided based on which ones I was "least likely" to send in for a proper CLA. (It would be silly to replace the seals and then send the camera off for professional cleaning).

Kevin Caulfield · Feb 10, 2014

Kevin Caulfield said:
A roll of Acros 100 120, our youngest's 7th birthday.

Not Acros, Neopan 400.

trythis · Feb 10, 2014

Tonight was just light seals on a Konica Auto S2. Previously I tightened/lubed its lens helical, battery wire replaced and shutter blades cleaned.

Earlier today I cleaned out and refitted one of the mirror clamps of the HP prism of my F3HP

Yesterday I finished resoldering a loose AE lock wire on a nikon F3hp that required splitting the body in half. In the process I accidentally broke an aperture indicator string which I didnt need to mess with in the first place.
Both problems are fixed now and I am waiting to finish a test roll to see if the shutter speeds and light meter are still good. Seals are all new as well.

benjiboy said:
We only hear of peoples successes on this thread, we never hear about their failures, of which there must be many, because modern cameras and lenses are such complex optical.and electro mechanical devices that they were never intended to be user repairable.

While trying to fix the shutter timing, I chipped an Ftbn prism mirror, so I abandoned the project. I suppose if I find another I might try a swap, but the mirrors are shimmed per camera, so ... nah.
I have a canon IIF rangefinder that I am burned out on replacing the shutter. I just need to get the timing correct but working on it is rather tedious. I have to say the much newer Nikon F3 is much easier to work on. Of course if the flexible circuit board had problems, forget it!

I have repaired 5 different times my Yashicamat 124 (not G); I can rip into it pretty fast now. I finally had to go in and actually clean out the shutter blades.. Flushing, even with break cleaning fluid is a fools errand after all and now the screws all look like crap, but I am not planning to sell it or anything. It is perfectly snappy and works reliably now. Its winding system got lubed and is smooth as silk. The light meter wire was replaced even though its really a novelty at this point. Such a pain in the butt, but I really like that camera after all that work.

ME Super · Feb 11, 2014

Replaced the linksys router with a belkin one last night. The wireless on the linksys was getting flaky and would randomly drop all wireless connections for 2-3 minutes. On the plus side, I have better signal in my upstairs bedroom and a media server built in to the router. On the downside, I had to reconfigure every wireless network device because the belkin wouldn't let me have spaces in the SSID!

Newt_on_Swings · Mar 18, 2014

Fixed a seikosha slv shutter that I got off ebay with a calumet ilex 90mm f8 lens. I got it a few weeks ago but due to some important family matters i did not get a chance to check it and repair it until this past Saturday night - Sunday afternoon. The shutter would cock and fire but no blades moved and the preview lever did not open the blades. First thought was that it might be gummed up, a little squirt of naphtha and I I fired nope nothing then I tugged on the preview lever after the shutter was cocked to see if it would open. Nope not at all, then I tugged a bit more and there was a popping sound that you never want to hear a shutter make. Doh.

It was already past midnight and it was a super long day and week, but I went ahead and took the shutter apart. Flash sync and aperture setting pointers off first, then front cover and shutter speed plates off and bam everything flys apart. Doh what a headache. When I pulled the preview lever it got loose and popped off the single screw holding it down, which pushed the cocking lever and attached spring outward which popped out the main spring gear which isn't screwed down.

Ok got it all back together and now it wouldn't cock, and the shutter release lever was loose and there were two very thin springs hanging out. What a headache that i had to poke and prod around to try and figure it out as there is not a clear guide online. I left it for the next afternoon.

I realized that I had a similar seikosha s shutter that I had purchased inexpensively with lens, but was taken from a tlr as it had a flash cable and no screw in shutter release port. I took it apart to compare what was supposed to move in what order to fire the shutter when it was open. It was indeed very similar but was missing some sections such as the pc sync port and internal connections, and the self timer gearing, but with that I managed to take out a few parts of the shutter release, put them back the right way and reconnect the thin springs to the right areas. And finally it all worked. I can't wait to give the ilex 90mm f8 a go when I have some time.

Daire Quinlan · Mar 18, 2014

Newt_on_Swings said:
I realized that I had a similar seikosha s shutter that I had purchased inexpensively with lens, but was taken from a tlr as it had a flash cable and no screw in shutter release port. I took it apart to compare ...

This procedure has gotten me into trouble on more than one occasion :-D Once I ended up with THREE spotmatics in various stages of disassembly at the same time because of this...

John_Nikon_F · Mar 20, 2014

Going to be picking up a junk FM/FE series body with an unmodified casting to move the guts of my pretty clean looking black FM2n into. Previous owner notched the film gate area on the left edge of the shutter so his copyright information could be displayed on his negs and slides.

Alas, won't be repairing it myself, partly because I'd like a warranty with the repair job.

-J

Newt_on_Swings · Mar 20, 2014

Daire Quinlan said:
This procedure has gotten me into trouble on more than one occasion :-D Once I ended up with THREE spotmatics in various stages of disassembly at the same time because of this...

Yea it's not the best way as you have double the work but I have salvaged many junked cameras using this method when there are no service manuals available. Btw did you get your spotmatics fixed in the end?

John_Nikon_F · Mar 21, 2014

^Been there, done that. After last summer, I had a fairly large tackle box organizer FULL of Nikkormat FT series parts. Said organizer now belongs to Ralph Javins, but I'm starting on another...

Discovered why one of my 50/2 H lenses had a bind in the focus around 2'... Lens element assembly was loose. Fell out of the lens barrel when I took the lens data ring/filter ring assembly off. Since the lens had some cosmetic issues, I demoted it to pre-AI status and moved the AI conversion ring to the other. Was going to swap the real clean AI conversion ring from the HC lens to the nice H, but discovered that the lens is a bastard child. Barrel and aperture ring parts are from an H lens in the 742011-785010 range, and the focusing ring, filter ring, and optics are from a fairly early HC lens. Now on the hunt for the correct focusing ring with the larger font, and a lens data ring/filter ring from the correct serial number range. Will leave the newer glass in place.

-J

Mr_Flibble · Mar 21, 2014

The auto-stop-down pin on a MIR-26B ...only 9 screws to get to the disengaged part. 2 seconds to fix it. yay!

No idea how it could ever have come loose though. Or someone else might have been in there before I got the lens :|

What did you fix today? (part 2)

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