Hi I recently bought a (new to me) OM1 and the light meter is jumping all over the place so after reading up on line I removed the bottom of the camera to access the battery holder and sure enough the small nylon screw had Brocken (very common problem on the OM1) . I have put it all back together and the meter is working OK but when the ASA setting turret is touched the meter needle jumps all over so it looks like the top plate has to come off so I can look for a dry /bracken solder joint .Has any one on here removed the top on a OM1 and has any tips .Thanks

Talk to John Hermanson about it. He's an APUG member and a retired Olympus service manager. He still repairs OM gear on his own. He would be the one to ask. His website is http://zuiko.com

The top plate is very easy to remove; I've done it a number of times to replace or clean prisms. There is a video here that shows how it is done.



The only caveat is that this shows using a spanner to remove the cover over the rewind lever. It does have the holes for this, but a slipped spanner can scratch the cover (first hand experience). Try using a rubber stopper first. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't. If it is too tight for the stopper method then you have no alternative to risk the spanner.

You are a life saver Tim. Just bought a really clean OM1 MD and noticed that the foam visible in the top of the mirror box at the sides is very soft. I believe this foam is the edge of the foam over the pentaprism so I am thinking I need to clean it off before it damages the silvering. This video has encouraged me to tackle it so many thanks.

I have completed the clean up without mishap, though I am amazed at how fragile the black insert in the wind lever boss is. The rest of the camera is such a solid instrument I can only assume this bit may be almost sacrificial and could be replaced as a regular thing after a service. Didn't do much harm and no scratches but it does show it has been removed. One thing I have read suggested it should be turned so that the holes line up with ones in the component below before applying a spanner but didn't have that at the time unfortunately. Can see it would work but what impression I made would have been made by the points of the spanner anyway. Maybe a finer spanner is needed than mine. The video shiows the same marks were made there too so I feel a bit better.
The foam in the top corners of the mirror box are not connected to the pentaprism foam so must be to give additional damping to the mirror. Having replaced them the only thing I can tell is that the mirror action might be a little quieter but marginally so. They are very fiddly indeed.