- Joined
- May 26, 2018
- Messages
- 366
a little hack.
I received a Horseman 985 and was about to go take pictures sunday. Then i noticed the thumb screw holding the release cable on the lens board by the trigger was missing:
I could find sone online, but I don˝t want to wait. Typically these kind of screws are similar to ones holding hard disk trays and some other devices inside 1990's and 2000's workstation, but I have to longer this kind of junk to try out. Regular screws have too big threads, and in my box of junk and spares cameras and lenses no screw big enough.
I wondered if a cable release could go. They have a conical thread starting very small, and tiny size, so along the path it would be enough that it screws one to two turns, it would hold.
Indeed:
now, that's not practical to use two cables like like. But the idea for a fast hacked thumb screw replacement, was then obvious:
nut must be wide enough around , so there's room for the epoxy. Some grinding/sanding in order to smooth the hexagonal shape, et voilà. But I did this in a hurry and forgot about the thickness of the replacement, and the bed can't close:
no big deal. Just sacrifice another of the cheap soviet release cables i have around, cut shorter, glue the nut closer to the tip, or use a tiny wheel from some old Zenit3 or whatever tinier, so the resulting thumb screw will be much lower profile and allow the bed to close.
BUT, at this moment it did hit me, that the thread for the thumb screw on the board, is an insert with two small notches, which means it is screwed in. My lens spanner doesn't close down enough to grab the notches, I grab a circlip pliers and unscrew the insert:
now it's all damn easy: put a thin round slice of metal in the hole, and screw it down with the insert, so it pressures against something that will hold the release cable.
I cut a slice of a long bolt of same diameter than the hole
and I pick the shutter button of some broken Zenit 12. I have lot of soviet cameras and stuff and they are excellent for tinkering parts. Here for illustration the shutter button of my Zenit 122 (this one is one of my main 35mm user, I didn't touch it, just for illustration):
so:
Done:
well almost. i noticed then by looking at the other cables i have, that cables are different:
because the head collar of the Zenit TTL/11/12 shutter button, the shorter cable could not hit the trigger on the Topcor lens. Minor annoyance, the universal solution is to cut that collar or just use a shutter button from the older Zenit (3 to V/E) or even from a Smena. It makes for a small insert, a bit recessed, but any cable will work:
Final result:
I received a Horseman 985 and was about to go take pictures sunday. Then i noticed the thumb screw holding the release cable on the lens board by the trigger was missing:
I could find sone online, but I don˝t want to wait. Typically these kind of screws are similar to ones holding hard disk trays and some other devices inside 1990's and 2000's workstation, but I have to longer this kind of junk to try out. Regular screws have too big threads, and in my box of junk and spares cameras and lenses no screw big enough.
I wondered if a cable release could go. They have a conical thread starting very small, and tiny size, so along the path it would be enough that it screws one to two turns, it would hold.
Indeed:
now, that's not practical to use two cables like like. But the idea for a fast hacked thumb screw replacement, was then obvious:
nut must be wide enough around , so there's room for the epoxy. Some grinding/sanding in order to smooth the hexagonal shape, et voilà. But I did this in a hurry and forgot about the thickness of the replacement, and the bed can't close:
no big deal. Just sacrifice another of the cheap soviet release cables i have around, cut shorter, glue the nut closer to the tip, or use a tiny wheel from some old Zenit3 or whatever tinier, so the resulting thumb screw will be much lower profile and allow the bed to close.
BUT, at this moment it did hit me, that the thread for the thumb screw on the board, is an insert with two small notches, which means it is screwed in. My lens spanner doesn't close down enough to grab the notches, I grab a circlip pliers and unscrew the insert:
now it's all damn easy: put a thin round slice of metal in the hole, and screw it down with the insert, so it pressures against something that will hold the release cable.
I cut a slice of a long bolt of same diameter than the hole
and I pick the shutter button of some broken Zenit 12. I have lot of soviet cameras and stuff and they are excellent for tinkering parts. Here for illustration the shutter button of my Zenit 122 (this one is one of my main 35mm user, I didn't touch it, just for illustration):
so:
Done:
well almost. i noticed then by looking at the other cables i have, that cables are different:
because the head collar of the Zenit TTL/11/12 shutter button, the shorter cable could not hit the trigger on the Topcor lens. Minor annoyance, the universal solution is to cut that collar or just use a shutter button from the older Zenit (3 to V/E) or even from a Smena. It makes for a small insert, a bit recessed, but any cable will work:
Final result:
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