First time ansco speedex repair:need help.

[Justinshawsteele]

Hello, I started to repair my Ansco Speedex due to the fact that the shutter wouldn't fire. I removed the shutter and realized I didn't have the tools needed to attempt a repair so input it aside and collected all the tools I needed. I'm back at it and have done some adjusting to get the shutter cock to fire correctly but the leaves move so slow and I feel like they are extremely gummed up. I soaked the entire shutter in methyl alchohol for a few days and haven't had any luck loosening them up. There is still one lens element attached to the shutter which I haven't been able to remove yet but am working on it.

Should I remove this last element and try to direct apply methyl or lighter fluid to the shutter leaves? Or am I missing something else entirely?

Also, if I can't fix the shutter where/who would have a shutter to part with?

any help would be greatly appreciated.

Justin Shaw Steele

 

[gone]

The last time I unfroze one of these, I set the shutter, lenses and all (couldn't get them out they were so stuck) in a coffee cup of 91% alcohol. 99% would be better, but 91% worked for me. After 4 days of soaking the shutter, and pulling it out once a day to give little taps to the side of the front element, it unscrewed w/ my fingers. Took a Q-tip to it, but there was nothing much to clean up. Worked perfectly. Before trying this, I had heated it, tapped it, used a gripper tool on it, etc and still no go.

 

[Mike Wilde]

I brought mine back to life by bathing it in a few long soaks of 'white gas' as we in north america use in portable camp stoves. Fresh solvent for each soak. Cover the dish between times you attend to the shutter to keep the solvent from evaporating away.

After two soaks I was able to remove the retainer for the rear lens element. I used snap ring pliers to manipulate the rear retainer ring off.
Take care to note the correct orientation of this element on removal, and if there are any spacers used as well.

Then after a few more soaks, I would shake the most liquid out as I could, and proceeded to blow dry the thing to speed evaporation.
Ever so gently adjust the aperture to dry those leaves out.

Then start with B, and excersise the shutter to get the shutter leaves dry.
Sometimes a very gentle touch with a dry q-tip can spread the remaining solvent while the shutter is closed to speed the drying.



Then I used the same solvent to get the mirror pivots and helical adjuster in the uncoupled rangefinder to move.

The next fight was with pin holes in the corners of the plastic bellows. I found a light smearing of RTV black gasket silicone worked best.

Good luck.

 

[mgb74]

FWIW: http://www.rolandandcaroline.co.uk/repair/frozenfix.html

 

[paul ron]

Beoffre you go any further.. check the bellows for light leaks? They were mae of plastic n almsot all I've worked on have holes a teh corners.

White gas is the way to go to losen that caked up green crud.

 

[elekm]

Some Agfa/Ansco models used leather bellows, rather than plastic. Hopefully, you have one of those.