What did you fix today? (part 2)

[Andreas Thaler]

The Calumet Shutter Speed Tester has been out of production for at least 25 years. Here is a link to the tester.

Kenneth Lee Gallery - Calumet Shutter Tester Manual

Thanks!

 

[eli griggs]

A gunky Singer 221 currently on my bench. It’s slowly coming along.

Thanks.

Krud Kutter - The Must for Rust

A wonderful product to get rid of rust, particularly with tiny bits that are difficult to brush.

Interesting, I have a nice 201 with a can that was rebuilt when I got it, and a CLA.

I used it for making thin leather items and school backpacks for my two boys when they were young, and it still comes in handy, from time to time.

 

[Trask]

Couple of days ago started to clean a somewhat grotty Polaroid 600SE I picked up -- it had been seen some heavy use. Found the repair manual online, pulled the hand grip, got the cover off the top of the body, wanted to remove the screws that would allow access to the viewfinder mechanism, but the screws appear to have been glued in -- couldn't get them undone, so work stopped there -- not that there is more to the camera body than that! I'd pull the front cover off the tighten up the screws on the lens mount, but the repair manual says that the cover would be destroyed in so doing, so held off as finding a replacement seems very unlikely. Shooting some 665 soon!

 

[Mr Flibble]

Someone gave me a Graflex Century 35 / Kowa Kallo 35 earlier this week. They missed the fact that it wasn't working when they bought it.

Winding crank was jammed, shutter release was blocked.

The push bar linking the crank with the charging lever on the back of the shutter barrel had become disconnected somehow.
Then someone probably had tried to crank it, HARD, bending the lever and jamming the push bar between it and the rangefinder unit.
This in turn prevented the crank from unlocking when you press the release.

After bending it back and hooking it back up, it seems to work as it should.
The bar needed a little adjustment to fully cock the shutter.

One part in the shutter itself was a little sticky as well, but that cleared up easily enough with a little TLC and exercise.
So now I have a working Century 35. The Film Gods demand that I feed it some film soon.

 

[Chuck1]

Can those kowa lenses fit into a standard 00 or 0 shutter?

 

[eli griggs]

Couple of days ago started to clean a somewhat grotty Polaroid 600SE I picked up -- it had been seen some heavy use. Found the repair manual online, pulled the hand grip, got the cover off the top of the body, wanted to remove the screws that would allow access to the viewfinder mechanism, but the screws appear to have been glued in -- couldn't get them undone, so work stopped there -- not that there is more to the camera body than that! I'd pull the front cover off the tighten up the screws on the lens mount, but the repair manual says that the cover would be destroyed in so doing, so held off as finding a replacement seems very unlikely. Shooting some 665 soon!

Go to Amazon and buy some Swiss clock/watchers cat's whiskers oilers, which are very small, tapered with a tiny flattened ball in the tip, probes.

While designed for delivering minute amounts of oil, in several sizes of droplets, you can use these to apply a solvent like acetone/fingernail polish remover or alcohol to the loctite screws with precision that will not soak/wet unintended areas.

Search "Bergeon 55-710" a set of four oilers

Good luck,
Eli

 

[88E30M50]

I have good eye sight and great restraint for not putting my hands where there not supposed to be. I didn't power the amp up till after it was cleaned. I think that would give the caps plenty of time to discharge.
It's a nice solid well built amp I thought might be interesting for someone.
I've been building and repairing amps, record players, tape players, pre amps, tube amps, projectors etc. as a hobby long before I started photography.
It was just a basic clean up, I'll make sure to put up a warning if I show anything real scary.

One of these days, I need to try to figure out the source of the buzz that comes from my 1980s vintage stereo system.

 

[88E30M50]

Someone gave me a Graflex Century 35 / Kowa Kallo 35 earlier this week. They missed the fact that it wasn't working when they bought it.

Winding crank was jammed, shutter release was blocked.

The push bar linking the crank with the charging lever on the back of the shutter barrel had become disconnected somehow.
Then someone probably had tried to crank it, HARD, bending the lever and jamming the push bar between it and the rangefinder unit.
This in turn prevented the crank from unlocking when you press the release.

View attachment 362523


After bending it back and hooking it back up, it seems to work as it should.
The bar needed a little adjustment to fully cock the shutter.


View attachment 362524

One part in the shutter itself was a little sticky as well, but that cleared up easily enough with a little TLC and exercise.
So now I have a working Century 35. The Film Gods demand that I feed it some film soon.

That is very cool. The feeling of satisfaction that comes from making something broken work is really good for the soul.

 

[88E30M50]

Go to Amazon and buy some Swiss clock/watchers cat's whiskers oilers, which are very small, tapered with a tiny flattened ball in the tip, probes.

While designed for delivering minute amounts of oil, in several sizes of droplets, you can use these to apply a solvent like acetone/fingernail polish remover or alcohol to the loctite screws with precision that will not soak/wet unintended areas.

Search "Bergeon 55-710" a set of four oilers

Good luck,
Eli

Thank you. That's a really good tool to have that is missing from my workbench.

 

[kl122002]

Just want to ask,
is there any way that could re-install the 8 or 10+ aperture blades faster? I was doing a Auto Takumar 55/2 that has 10 blades. It was real painful even I managed to make them all flat again to reinstall . I am really amazing by the workers who made this lens who could do it fast and flawless.

 

[Cholentpot]

Got a Yashicaflex (the one with a meter and a 1/200 top speed) in a pile of junk a few months ago. I tried to clean it out with some lighter fluid, and while it freed up some of the moving parts it fogged the lens, couple that with the frame counter didn't work and I put it aside.

I found it a few days ago and the lens had cleared up and after some tinkering and poking around online I figured out how to reset the film counter. The meter obviously is shot but the rest of the camera seemed to function fine. I ran a roll trough it and am waiting for a development day to see if it worked.

I didn't manage to re tension the shutter of the Zenit though. Looked simple enough but now it's just jammed.

 

[kl122002]

I lost my track with the auto takumar 55 f/2.

Managed to clean the aperture blades, put back then found out the focus it not right. After setting the infinity then found out the swinging auto-aperture lever was blocking the release trigger plate from the camera. Ugh

 

[88E30M50]

I lost my track with the auto takumar 55 f/2.

Managed to clean the aperture blades, put back then found out the focus it not right. After setting the infinity then found out the swinging auto-aperture lever was blocking the release trigger plate from the camera. Ugh

I find that in camera repair, it's the journey that can be rewarding more so than the result. Sometimes that journey can take us in circles. Those are the times that the result really pushes the journey aside. That first picture from a camera that resisted repair makes it all worth the effort.

 

[Oblidor]

Someone gave me a Graflex Century 35 / Kowa Kallo 35 earlier this week. They missed the fact that it wasn't working when they bought it.

Winding crank was jammed, shutter release was blocked.

The push bar linking the crank with the charging lever on the back of the shutter barrel had become disconnected somehow.
Then someone probably had tried to crank it, HARD, bending the lever and jamming the push bar between it and the rangefinder unit.
This in turn prevented the crank from unlocking when you press the release.

View attachment 362523

Great work!

I bought a Kowa Kallo 35 for $13 2 weeks back. The problem was the film advancer. After tinker with it I found that the small spring that forces the hook around the shutter didn't have enough tension to engage. I see now from your photo that I was missing the grey piece on it too. I took a spring from another type of camera I have for parts and that fixed the issue. Had also to fix so the film advancer wouldn't slip and now it is working.

I just love the sound and feel of the film advancer on this camera. Will for sure put film through it.

 

[kl122002]

I find that in camera repair, it's the journey that can be rewarding more so than the result. Sometimes that journey can take us in circles. Those are the times that the result really pushes the journey aside. That first picture from a camera that resisted repair makes it all worth the effort.

I don't like the word "luck" but ironically that's sometimes I need it most when I am working on the gears. Sometimes it's just happened and there is no reasons behind, like putting back the helicos for a correct infinity.

Other than this Auto takumar, there is another C.Z Ultron 50/1.8 ( concave) with the same issue. It happened before reaching my hand, the infinity is not at right position and I am now to exhausted to continue.

 

[Mr Flibble]

Great work!

I bought a Kowa Kallo 35 for $13 2 weeks back. The problem was the film advancer. After tinker with it I found that the small spring that forces the hook around the shutter didn't have enough tension to engage. I see now from your photo that I was missing the grey piece on it too. I took a spring from another type of camera I have for parts and that fixed the issue. Had also to fix so the film advancer wouldn't slip and now it is working.

I just love the sound and feel of the film advancer on this camera. Will for sure put film through it.

Great! Glad my photo was some help with your own repair.

I crafted a replacement of my 1940s Kodak Jr Film Clip box No.1 to go in my US Army Photographic Set. A friend created the printable-PDF for it based on my original. He made PDFs of several 1940s film and chemistry boxes for me as well.

I also fixed the two spring clips back into shape that are inside the Kodak Timer so that it sits a bit tighter inside the bracket and no longer tends to falls forward all the time.

 

[Melvin J Bramley]

I have an Ilford/CP 900 touch timer that will not show #3 or #5 when setting time, the #3 defaults to #1 and the #5 defaults to #7!
But; when counting down from 10+ numbers the #3 and #5 appear!
Does anyone know if there is a worthwhile fix for this?

 

[Oblidor]

Repaired a broken Olympus Pen (original version). I am not sure it is 100% calibrated so will be interesting to see after 72 shots

 

[kl122002]

Fixed a Minolta SRT 101 black this morning .

It was given up by a young teen who just stepped into photography a year before pandemic. He kept the lens but left the camera because "it is acting unpleasantly" . He admitted he has opened it once and attempted to follow "advices " from internet but failed. The "analogue weird wire connections" terrifies him so he just put all back for a year and decised to pass it to me , as " fix it or scrap it".

Originally it was working but the film speed range disk inside the shutter speed selector is not right. Once rotate the numbers went out and hide, and can't not go higher than ISO 100. The shutter was working but jammed as soon as the weather getting warmer here. The old grease has started to melt, going around, and hence jammed.

I have taken off the upper and lower covers, using needle to give alcohol and naphtha wash , added new Nyeoil the shutter worked again
.
The most "WTF!? " moment was the film speed selector. After I removed the wires and checked, the whole set was supposed in right order but just display disk was out in put a reverse order . I used alcohol dissolved the old glue and put at the right position, everything just back to what it supposed to be now .

 

[bernard_L]

Just want to ask,
is there any way that could re-install the 8 or 10+ aperture blades faster? I was doing a Auto Takumar 55/2 that has 10 blades. It was real painful even I managed to make them all flat again to reinstall . I am really amazing by the workers who made this lens who could do it fast and flawless.

Not sure about your Takumar, but the following trick may help. As you install the blades, dip them in naphta. The capillary effect will help keep them together why you complete the assembly. Then carefully blot and patiently wait for the naphta to evaporate, including the liquid hidden between the blades. Do not try to operate the aperture action until the blades are completely dry: capillarity can be quite strong.

 

[kl122002]

Not sure about your Takumar, but the following trick may help. As you install the blades, dip them in naphta. The capillary effect will help keep them together why you complete the assembly. Then carefully blot and patiently wait for the naphta to evaporate, including the liquid hidden between the blades. Do not try to operate the aperture action until the blades are completely dry: capillarity can be quite strong.

Thanks for the tip! Well try in next time.

 

[kl122002]

Finally I got a chance to touch the original Rolleiflex SL35 ( Germany) . There is a mold inside the view finer and else are just fine.

I must admit the mechanics inside are really a beaut, especially when compared to my previous SL35M . The SL35 is neat and nothing than that makes me feel extra inside.

 

[Mr Flibble]

Currently working on restoring a Junghans laboratory tabletop timer that I picked up for peanuts from a flea market last Sunday.
So far it involved a lot of epoxy and sanding and some rattle cans of paint, should have most of it back together this weekend.

 

[88E30M50]

Today, I fixed a Nikon N2000. This is my sister's camera and had sat for over a decade, possibly two, with batteries left in. The battery holder needed cleaned and the battery tray that serves as a bottom cover had to be removed and cleaned. One side of the contacts were corroded enough to have broken the contacts off, so I had to solder in some material to make contact with the camera body. Once it was all cleaned up and reassembled, it is now working well again. I'd like to source a new bottom cover for it but have not seen anyone offering one on eBay. I'll keep my eyes open at the camera shop for a broken parts camera.

This was the first Nikon that I've really held. I might have to pick one up one of these days. Seems like a decent camera.

 

[kl122002]

Finally I found out why my Auto Takumar 55/2 lose the infinity focus. It is all about a retaining ring at the end of front lens group.
The is ring was loosen a bit and insignificant as the last lens was looking from. But in fact there was a few millimeters out from it original place. I have to use my rubber tweezer to push this lens back and close + seal (with wax) .

Now the lens is ready again