Has anyone tried to disassemble a Dacori Daci box camera?

I have one in very nice cosmetic condition, and with a clear lens, but there is a loose piece of metal that swings down into the light path unless the camera is upside down. The "shutter" appears to just be a sheet of metal that swings out of the light path for as long as you hold the shutter lever down, so I don't think it's the shutter, but everything seems to say there is an "instant" shutter of about 1/40th of a second, so it might be that blocking the light path.

There are no apparent screws to remove to get at the internals between the front plate, and the film assembly. The only thing I can see holding the two together is the film wind knob. The knob doesn't seem to press out of the sheetmetal easily, so I can't find any easy way to disassemble it. I'm not sure if there is a press fitted piece on the film wind knob holding it in place.

knob

knob assembly with front plate to right, and film assembly to left

right

left

side view

front left

front right

There might be a threaded ring around the backside of the lens - unscrewing it might release the front assembly with the lens and shutter. -Or- it might not come apart - a common problem with plastic cameras that have been glued together.

Nicholas Lindan said:

There might be a threaded ring around the backside of the lens - unscrewing it might release the front assembly with the lens and shutter. -Or- it might not come apart - a common problem with plastic cameras that have been glued together.

Click to expand...

The film assembly/inner box, just has a hole on the inside face, so you can't see or get at any of the internals, or any lens ring. From the outside, the lens bezel is internal to the face plate, so there's nothing to grab there either.

View from inside with loose metal/instant shutter partially blocking light path. I shook it so you can see the main shutter, and the instant shutter with crescent shape of round cutout.

Damnation - quite a puzzle.

I take it there is a tripod socket in the front part - a long shot, as it doesn't look promising, but might it screw out?

There is a long tradition of hiding screw threads behind things - but the only thing I can see is the little chrome name plate.

Another thought would be a press fit between the two front bits, but that seems unlikely. Is there any wiggle between the two?

I can see your concern about the wind knob - it looks like it goes through the inner and outer sheet metal and nothing is going to happen without it being removed. The knob might connect to the drive shaft with a left-hand thread.

Looking at some web pictures (of an albeit later model) it looks like there is a nut under the winding knob. Now - how does the winding knob come off? In one of the pics it looks like there may be a set screw holding the knob to the shaft.

For a simple camera they made in droves it has to go together without much fuss. Which implies there has to be an easy way to take it apart once the trick is found.

Page 8 of the following link has a drawing from a Spanish patent for the shutter mechanism.

Nicholas Lindan said:

Page 8 of the following link has a drawing from a Spanish patent for the shutter mechanism.

Redirect Notice

Click to expand...

Thanks. I left the camera at work, so I'll take a look tomorrow. These are all great suggestions. I agree, it HAS to be simple. It's just a question of finding the simple answer.

Nicholas Lindan said:

Damnation - quite a puzzle.

I take it there is a tripod socket in the front part - a long shot, as it doesn't look promising, but might it screw out?

There is a long tradition of hiding screw threads behind things - but the only thing I can see is the little chrome name plate.

Another thought would be a press fit between the two front bits, but that seems unlikely. Is there any wiggle between the two?

I can see your concern about the wind knob - it looks like it goes through the inner and outer sheet metal and nothing is going to happen without it being removed. The knob might connect to the drive shaft with a left-hand thread.

Click to expand...

Tripod socket doesn't seem to screw out. No set screws on any part of the rewind knob/shaft. The larger diameter piece on the inside does not spin, and seems to have a mechanism in it to allow the shaft to spin in only the direction of winding. The knob does not seem to unthread in the opposite direction under even fairly decent force. The shaft does not slide lengthwise at all. I think I might be SOL. But I'm going to keep tinkering with it.