First do not use 3 in 1 oil in cameras. It dries out in 2 to 3 months and leaves a sticky residue.
2nd. factory repair manuals are numbered in disassembly order or assembly order. Only adjustments that are necessary are listed, the rest the factory certified technician knows.
3rd. place rusted parts in cider vinegar for 15 to 30 minutes, remove and flush with water, dry and coat with oil or similar to prevent rust from forming. Untreated parts will start to rust within 30 minutes.
4th. electrical contacts should be bright and shinny not satin or dull. Polish with metal polish as needed.
Go to your local auto parts store, home depot and get a can or two of CRC QD Electronic Contact Cleaner https://www.homedepot.com/p/CRC-11-oz-QD-Electronic-Cleaner-05103/205021975
Flush out all the dried up lubrication and 3 in 1 oil and start over with a trace of TriFlow or white lithium grease. I switched to Finish Line FETT Grease, similar to white lithium but with teflon, available at bike shops ans Amazon.
http://arcticwolfs.net/ the F2 is in the SLR column.
I would have offered the seller $10 for it.
110%How thorough does the flushing out and cleaning need to be?
Thanks for your detailed response Robin. Your posts are probably the best F2 repair info on the internet! Hopefully this thread can serve as another resource. Thanks for the winder lockup article too - hadn't previously seen that one.Hi Mitcham, I've just finished putting another F2 back together that started out as a simple mirror bumper job, but turned into a 4 week mind bender trying to figure out the many faulty issues that sound similar to yours.
It sounds like your slow speed mechanism needs to be removed and thoroughly cleaned (I used lighter fluid) and then only oiled very sparingly and carefully on the bearing shafts of the cogs. It should react freely in your fingers. See a youtube of a guy working on a Nikon F slow speed mechanism. There are only 3 screws holding this in place and it slips out easily. Underneath remove the tripod bracket and you will see the 3 screws. Take pictures of it as soon as you pull it out as I spent 2 weeks getting this working again all because the leaf spring at the back was out of alignment. When it goes back in it has to connect with the fork of the shutter arm you have been triggering whilst the face is off.
Having to push down hard on the shutter button sounds familiar to the issue I had. It could be when you reassemble that the arm on the face is not sitting under the shutter button correctly. When you put the face back on just before it closes use a fine screw driver or paper clip to press that black arm down and the face will just close up easily. If still having an issue then try some slight bending of the plate at the bottom of the shutter button as it is quite flexible thin metal maybe for his purpose. Also check that the small round bolt like end of the shutter button is screwed on properly. Mine just fell off it was so loose. Check some details on this photo as it may help.
View attachment 199032
Underneath the camera are the shutter tension adjusters. The inside one adjusts the tension of the opening shutter curtain. The other one at the back of the camera adjusts the tension of the ropes to the closing curtain on the other side. I stuffed these right up by adjusting too tight and slamming the opening curtain right into its spool which took some prising out. I finally go these right (after I fixed the slow speed mechanism) by backing them both off till the opening curtain was so loose it would not retract and the ropes were sagging loose to the other curtain. I then used 1/4 turns till I got the opening curtain to properly retract and the closing curtain working to 1 second. Once you get these right then the other slow speeds should be close. I think the speed adjustments for speeds over 8 seconds are actually at the top of the camera and should only be touched by a camera technician. In the manual they specify a tension on the opening curtain to start with so this is why I got it really loose then just tightened slowly. This particular F2 will need to go to an expert for proper adjustments at some stage. I was disappointed to find it had been to a service person before and not put back together properly. My old black $40 beater is superb to use and in better shape than this $200 one.
This post may also be of help. https://www.photrio.com/forum/resources/nikon-f2-winder-lockup-or-double-winding-problems.359/ Good luck with it.
Robin
Sover is excellent, the best. I have a very early F2/DpII that were Soverised, both function as new, he's worth every penny.Can I suggest you look at the link to probably the finest Nikon F2 repairer - anywhere. He services and repairs ONLY Nikon F2 models. This has been on Photrio a few times before but is well worth repetition.
http://www.soverf2repair.webs.com/
He is so expert that he even makes replacements for the common failed F2 metering systems. He has a section called "Repairers from hell! Here he shows what damage can be done when the wrong tools are used. He has them all - the correct tools that is. Sometimes the damage is too great and the bodies are reduced to trash
The curtain tension can be set only with the aid of a shutter timer, which also measures the travel time; the specification is available in the service manual, iirc the manual specified what timing machine as well. All mechanism must be clean and correctly lubricated. Shutter speeds can be adjusted only after the curtain tension is set. The curtain tension/travel time is not altered to adjust the speeds, regardless of what you will read on the internet.
Can I suggest you look at the link to probably the finest Nikon F2 repairer - anywhere. He services and repairs ONLY Nikon F2 models. This has been on Photrio a few times before but is well worth repetition.
http://www.soverf2repair.webs.com/
He is so expert that he even makes replacements for the common failed F2 metering systems. He has a section called "Repairers from hell! Here he shows what damage can be done when the wrong tools are used. He has them all - the correct tools that is. Sometimes the damage is too great and the bodies are reduced to trash
Crikey Sam, too much of a rap up. I will be on Sover's hit list soon. I'm more of a strategic tinkerer and like a surgeon, I've buried a few mistakes along the way.Say "Nikon F2 repair" 3 times into a mirror and @Robin Guymer will appear...
I took up the slack first on both. Then adjusted the opening curtain tension till it felt similar to my other F2. After that it was a matter of tweaking both till the photo resistor setup was measuring accurate at 1 second. My slow speeds are now all pretty accurate but the top end seems a bit slow and fixing them is above my pay scale.............
I'm not sure I completely understand the process for the curtain tensioning. Did you do 1/4 turns for each of them at the same time, or tension one first?
I took up the slack first on both. Then adjusted the opening curtain tension till it felt similar to my other F2. After that it was a matter of tweaking both till the photo resistor setup was measuring accurate at 1 second. My slow speeds are now all pretty accurate but the top end seems a bit slow and fixing them is above my pay scale.
For a lubricant you might want to try WD40 Dry PTFE spray used sparingly. It gets into tight places and I've had a lot of success getting old jammed up cameras working again without major surgery. I've just sparked an old banger F3 back to life using this stuff.
Robin.
Lighter fluid's main ingredient is NAPHTHA. While a fast acting solvent it will damage plastic and rubber parts in a camera. It should be a last resort cleaner for cameras. Dilute it 1:2 or 1:3 with 90% alcohol for a safe in cameras cleaner or use the 90% alcohol without the naphtha.
I took up the slack first on both. Then adjusted the opening curtain tension till it felt similar to my other F2. After that it was a matter of tweaking both till the photo resistor setup was measuring accurate at 1 second. My slow speeds are now all pretty accurate but the top end seems a bit slow and fixing them is above my pay scale.
For a lubricant you might want to try WD40 Dry PTFE spray used sparingly. It gets into tight places and I've had a lot of success getting old jammed up cameras working again without major surgery. I've just sparked an old banger F3 back to life using this stuff.
Robin.
It's weird because I had it working at all speeds once before... Am I doing something wrong?
I'll gladly mail it across the Atlantic if you pay. Want my PayPal?Yes, you didn't send it to Sover Wong!
No, its because you crawled under a rock and poured liter fluid in it.
Study focal plane shutter operation and electronic timing once you crawl out from under that rock.
Horizontal travel shutter curtains are usually rubber coated silk, vertical travel are titanium. Timing solenoids are plastic housings with their coils varnish coated copper wire.
Tension is adjusted so that both curtains travel across the film plane at the same rate.
Mechanical and electronic timing release the second curtain so that a slit is formed between the curtains which travels over the film plane exposing the film or sensor for a specified time.
The faster the time the narrower the slit, the slower the time the wider the slit until the entire film plane is exposed to light with the second curtain closing and ending the exposure.
http://www.kyphoto.com/classics/shutterspeedtester.html
I used this how to and some others then modified them as posted in this thread
https://graflex.org/helpboard/viewtopic.php?t=6105&highlight=shutter+speed+testing
Now that Radio Shack is dead try other local or online electronic parts suppliers.
I have tested speeds up to 1/1000 on leaf shutters and focal plane shutters in large format cameras and it is accurate.
If you can read and understand it here then you should be able to understand tech manuals/ books.
I only used Radio Shack as the post was written for the average Do It Yourselfer that had little or no electronic experience.The world didn't end when Radio Shack went out of business - it just changed a lot.
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