Fairchild K-18 possible maintenance document identified

Murrayatuptown

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I found a Worthpoint record of a 70-page document sold on eBay. It's a 1941 (updated 1945) document of improvements to the K-18 camera and some amount of mechanics of the camera. https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/technical-orders-type-18-aerial-1871581425

The document is Technical Order T.O.10-10-2830. I checked several sites and asked a couple people familiar with USAF & NAVAIR & it's no longer found. NewportAero sells current T.O.'s & says if it doesn't appear on their website it may have been cancelled or rescinded.

I mention it in case anyone has seen it and knows if it's of use in disassembly.

Still scarce, but it would be nice to know it's really worth pursuing, or just maybe.

I don't look for them on gov't sites where I do not have an account or a need to know...rather play it safe.

Old US Army docs are easier to find.
 

mshchem

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9x18 inches, roll film magazine.
 

AgX

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Back then people where not yet into wording and hairsplitting...
 

AgX

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But in any case both manuals are no repair manuals, as the thread title made me think. (Back to wording again...)
 

MattKing

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AgX said:
Back then people where not yet into wording and hairsplitting...
Click to expand...

Haven't read much Shakespeare, have you ?
 
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Murrayatuptown

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To read, or not to read Shakespeare, that is the question.

I have not. I don't understand the live performances, so I think I'll pass on reading. I sat through a play about a play about a play I think was Shakespearean...Rosenkrantz & Gildenstern are Dead. I found it hard to follow, frustrating, and really didn't get why the theatre students were laughing like hyenas.

I ordered the manual on CD. I will find that less frustrating. Throwing a little more good money after bad might be my last chance on getting the 24" Aero-Ektar out of my house.

I think I figured out why the male actors played female characters in Monty Python's Flying Circus material. I sometimes know my limitations. Shakespeare and using lenses that are a significant fraction of my body weight share that category.
MattKing said:
Haven't read much Shakespeare, have you ?
Click to expand...
 
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Murrayatuptown

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...and both of these scanned 10-10-28 T.O.'s are different versions of the same document's formal number. May be totally coincidental 10-10-28 and 10-10-2830 are related. But discussing three docs that all reference K-18 the same week? I don't think I'll get much closer.
 

MattKing

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FWIW, I posted about Shakespeare the day after seeing an absolutely wonderful production of Midsummer Nights Dream - wonderful music, wonderful sets, wonderful acting, funny, energetic, ribald, beautiful - all in a huge open air tent on a gorgeous late summer evening, with views of the Vancouver harbour visible behind the stage.
And yes, full of "wording" and at least plays on words.
It was part of the annual Vancouver "Bard on the Beach" Shakespeare festival - back after two years of hiatus.
 
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Murrayatuptown

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Got the document. More verbal instructions than visual, but some nice photos of the beautiful shutter & diaphragm assembly...and lube instructions...but just zero about how to get inside to do anything.

That must be in another manual, like basic aerial camera overhaul training (?).

There are multiple taper pins used in the housing assembly. I can look up their dimensions, but cannot even see them...maybe a couple under the paint. They are supposed to be replaced when reassembling. Worse than set screws.

So I did learn it is seriously outside my skill set. So I abandon the disassembly goal. The lenses aren't pristine, but they are much better than most of the trash on eBay (especially the half-lenses!).

Plan C or D or wherever I am with this is continue studying the springless operation of the shutter. I figured out a couple ways to open and cycle it without cocking the shutter but there is still the problem of reaching the shafts INSIDE the bellows or box.

Down to 180 degree finger rotation of the shaft to open the shutter about 95%, then another 180 degree rotation in same direction to the stop.

Next step is lensboard question, so I'll probably start a new thread for that.
 

AgX

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The issue we got now is that so far you only had it about the maintenance manuals and their probable content, but now you are talking about bellows and lensboard, two things lacking at the K18...


Could it be you want to built a camera yourself, using that lens, or modiyfing another camera to take that lens?
 
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Murrayatuptown

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Yes...could be...
 
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