Information on precision mechanics?

[Andreas Thaler]

I'm looking for books or online sources, preferably with a camera connection.

Does anyone have any tips?

 

[koraks]

That sounds like a very broad question to me. I'm not very well at home in fine mechanics, but I do know that as such, it's a vast field. It depends a lot whether you're looking for information on the engineering of mechanical assemblies, the physics/dynamics underlying these engineering activities, manufacturing approaches, specific manufacturing practices such as machining (CNC or old-school manual) etc. etc.

One possible source of information would be to pick any university bachelor's program on mechanical engineering and figure out which literature is used in the courses that appeal to you. Then see if you can get hold of those books/syllabi/articles. E.g. see here: https://tiss.tuwien.ac.at/curriculu...html?dswid=5655&dsrid=749&locale=en&key=37173 - you'll notice that you can click the courses and some will list literature and/or sources to literature.

 

[Andreas Thaler]

@koraks

Thanks!

 

[Donald Qualls]

pick any university bachelor's program on mechanical engineering and figure out which literature is used in the courses that appeal to you. Then see if you can get hold of those books/syllabi/articles.

Also, try to get used paper copies of these books -- the principles won't have changed in the past century, though the manufacturing methods and computational tools have -- but old-edition college texts often go for used-bookstore prices, while current ones (or even one edition outdated) will make your eyes water. And PDF is no help, the professor/authors supplement their salary with profits from their texts and revise them frequently so students have to buy new, and they won't let digital take money from their pockets.

 

[ic-racer]

After reviewing the history and trainnig of Yoshihisa Maitani, and with my son entering engineering school this year, my impressoin is that mechanical engineers learn the basics priciples in school. The specifics, for example mechanical camera design, are learned on-the-job. Especially when working for a 'for-profit' organization in which engineering details of a product need to be kept secret and are not necessarlly published in journals or books.

 

[ic-racer]

Don't forget watchmaking. For whateever reason, mechanical cameras don't sell as well as mechanical watches. So, watchmaking is still a 'thing.' There are many books out there:

https://www.watchonista.com/articles/opinions/our-top-10-must-read-watchmaking-books

 

[Donald Qualls]

For whateever reason, mechanical cameras don't sell as well as mechanical watches.

Top-end mechanical watches have been a symbol of wealth since the first pocket watches were made in the 17th century, and they've never lost that quality. As long as people are willing to pay thousands for a watch that self-winds and shows date and day of week (and has to be reset for date every other month), there will be a market for the factory-made movements and cases and bracelets, and for the handwork or repairing or restoring these devices. Cameras have 1/4 the history of watches and with a few exceptions were mainly a tool for wage-earners or small businessmen rather than status symbols.

 

[koraks]

mechanical engineers learn the basics priciples in school. The specifics, for example mechanical camera design, are learned on-the-job.

This is true for most engineering fields, and indeed virtually anything in higher education (and probably lower education, too, but that's an area I'm less familiar with).

 

[Light Capture]

Another vote for watchmaking books and resources (and tools but not all as some are too small). There's a wealth of information there on almost any subject needed.
Repair, lubrication, gear making, tuning fine mechanics, spring making, heat treating in small workshop and many others.

Also, after working on a watch everything on the camera seems very large. Most clocks offer components in similar size. There's also wealth of information on clocks with specifics on how to work on them.
The vast amount of published literature can be really helpful. Even seemingly uninteresting books have sections that could be used.
I can't recommend anything specific since my few examples are probably 70-100 years old general introductory books. I'm using them more as a reference when I need ideas on some particular challenge.
There seem to be plenty of books still in print that would contain pretty much the same and likely updated information.

 

[4season]

I'd think German would be the ideal language for learning about feinmechanik! As far as learning to fabricate stuff, my understanding is that apprentices at companies such as E. Leitz were once given projects, such as crafting a precise metal cube using only basic hand tools. And I suspect something of the old traditions still exists in the form of not-for-sale items such as this magnifier, which were/(are?) occasionally presented as gifts.

As far as designing and understanding how mechanisms work, much of that is physics, specifically, Newtonian physics.

 

[reddesert]

Also, try to get used paper copies of these books -- the principles won't have changed in the past century, though the manufacturing methods and computational tools have -- but old-edition college texts often go for used-bookstore prices, while current ones (or even one edition outdated) will make your eyes water. And PDF is no help, the professor/authors supplement their salary with profits from their texts and revise them frequently so students have to buy new, and they won't let digital take money from their pockets.

Apart from a few most widely assigned textbooks, I believe professors who write texts make a fairly small amount of money from the royalties, and they aren't the main driver of high textbook prices. The revision cycle is driven by publishers and has to to with (perhaps roughly in order): publishers' desire to make money; the need to revise included homework and exam questions as solution sets are spread/sold on the internet; and occasionally, even the need to keep up with new subject matter - nobody wants to be the text that omits the hot developments from the last few years. The latter depends on field, of course. There was a professor at either my college or a friend's (I forget which), who assigned his own text because he thought it was the best. He refunded each of his students for his royalties on the book so that he wouldn't make money off them - but it was just about 2 or 3 dollars a copy.

For a reference book on mechanical applications - more a machinist's perspective than a mechanical engineer's, I suggest "Machinery's Handbook." One used to and maybe still could find a copy in any well equipped machine shop. It's got a lot of stuff that is impossibly old fashioned (trig tables?) and a lot of things that are basically the machinist's bible (advice on screw threads, gears, fabrication, welding, metal properties, feed rates, and so on). https://books.industrialpress.com/machinery-handbook/ It's gone through a zillion editions just like a textbook, with some updates, but with patience you can find an older edition at used book sites at a discount.

 

[Tel]

Apart from a few most widely assigned textbooks, I believe professors who write texts make a fairly small amount of money from the royalties, and they aren't the main driver of high textbook prices. The revision cycle is driven by publishers

Largely true. I’ve had three textbooks published and the royalties from none of them reimbursed to me the costs associated with the research necessary to write them. There are notable exceptions—a very few of the many academic textbooks published achieve widespread sales and adoptions sizable enough to return any sort of profit to their authors. In my case, the first book was part (not all, just part) of the application package that got me tenured and the second one helped with promotion (but I wrote it because I was interested in the subject anyway) and those were the only tangible benefits to me. As I recall, the publisher of the first one—a large and well-known publisher—paid me 10 percent of the net profits (i.e., a couple of bucks per sale).

 

[ic-racer]

There are a couple Leica books that look promising. I'd like to have them myself.



"Barnack's Firsrt Leica" by Gunter Kisselbach

"Oskar Barnack - From the Idea to the Leica" Ulf Richter

The book contains many photographs of the early Leica cameras, pictures associated with Barnack’s life, illustrations from Barnack’s workbooks, and detail drawings of the camera mechanisms. The Appendix contains copies of selected patents and an extended selection of references

 

[Andreas Thaler]

I'd think German would be the ideal language for learning about feinmechanik!

German-language books from my collection.

The insidious circlip even made it onto the cover of the book in the middle!

I asked this question here a while ago, but couldn't find anything else on the topic.

Excellent discussion by the way!

 

[Donald Qualls]

"Machinery's Handbook."

Good suggestion. I have a copy (got it when I got my lathe) from the 1950s. A few things are unclear (like what's "lard oil" that's called for as cutting lubricant?) but most obsolete terms can be reconstructed from context and then translated to current (or at least less outdated) practice. If you have manual machines, any post-WWII edition is likely to be useful for picking up the tricks and tips of metalworking.

 

[4season]

After reviewing the history and trainnig of Yoshihisa Maitani, and with my son entering engineering school this year, my impressoin is that mechanical engineers learn the basics priciples in school. The specifics, for example mechanical camera design, are learned on-the-job. Especially when working for a 'for-profit' organization in which engineering details of a product need to be kept secret and are not necessarlly published in journals or books.

Thanks for reminding me about Maitani: In his own words, this is how he learned the craft:
https://www.olympus-global.com/technology/museum/lecture/vol1_02/?page=technology_museum

 

[ic-racer]

Andreas, if you want to learn what every lever and spring in a 35mm SLR does, the answer is hidden in the NatCam manual "THE SINGLE-LENS REFLEX."

Kind of hidden in that book every aspect of the Nikon F is deatailed. From disassembly, to function of every part in health and disease, and re-assembly. I have never encountered anything so thourogh for any other SLR. Not even Nikon F2.

Now you know why I got a Nikon F.

Also, that book details the Pentax Hv3 in a similar manner. The Rollei SL35 is somewhat a copy of the Hv3; now you know why I started working on Rollei SL35.

 

[Certain Exposures]

Following, thank you.

 

[Andreas Thaler]

Andreas, if you want to learn what every lever and spring in a 35mm SLR does, the answer is hidden in the NatCam manual "THE SINGLE-LENS REFLEX."

Kind of hidden in that book every aspect of the Nikon F is deatailed. From disassembly, to function of every part in health and disease, and re-assembly. I have never encountered anything so thourogh for any other SLR. Not even Nikon F2.

Now you know why I got a Nikon F.

Also, that book details the Pentax Hv3 in a similar manner. The Rollei SL35 is somewhat a copy of the Hv3; now you know why I started working on Rollei SL35.


View attachment 391200

Thank you!

 

[Andreas Thaler]

Andreas, if you want to learn what every lever and spring in a 35mm SLR does, the answer is hidden in the NatCam manual "THE SINGLE-LENS REFLEX."

Kind of hidden in that book every aspect of the Nikon F is deatailed. From disassembly, to function of every part in health and disease, and re-assembly. I have never encountered anything so thourogh for any other SLR. Not even Nikon F2.

Now you know why I got a Nikon F.

Also, that book details the Pentax Hv3 in a similar manner. The Rollei SL35 is somewhat a copy of the Hv3; now you know why I started working on Rollei SL35.


View attachment 391200

Found in my archive, author is Larry Lyells!

 

[Andreas Thaler]

For a reference book on mechanical applications - more a machinist's perspective than a mechanical engineer's, I suggest "Machinery's Handbook." One used to and maybe still could find a copy in any well equipped machine shop. It's got a lot of stuff that is impossibly old fashioned (trig tables?) and a lot of things that are basically the machinist's bible (advice on screw threads, gears, fabrication, welding, metal properties, feed rates, and so on). https://books.industrialpress.com/machinery-handbook/ It's gone through a zillion editions just like a textbook, with some updates, but with patience you can find an older edition at used book sites at a discount.

Thanks for the hint!

I have just invested in the current edition and ordered it.

As a German native speaker for me it is an advantage that I have all the terms in English, which is the common language when repairing and in the service manuals. Actually it would be Japanese, but I will not overcome this hurdle

German is of help here at best with the photo equipment up to the end of the 1960s and of course with the available technical literature on technology in general, like any other language.

It will be interesting for me that I will be able to name parts of an SLR in English, but not in German. For example, the circlip, which in German is called „Sprengring“ or „Sicherungsring“ according to the renowned LEO dictionary.

Englisch ⇔ Deutsch - leo.org: Startseite

LEO.org: Ihr Wörterbuch im Internet für Englisch-Deutsch Übersetzungen, mit Forum, Vokabeltrainer und Sprachkursen. Natürlich auch als App.

dict.leo.org

Since I have all my posts here translated from German into English by Google and then edited, the language boundaries are constantly blurring for me. It is always a parallel thinking in two languages.

English is definitely the smarter language, more to the point than German, which always tends to complicate things

For example:

Today I used side cutters to cut the purple cable from the main board to the flash shoe on the Nikon F3 and then re-soldered it using lead-containing solder and a lot of flux.

Ich habe heute bei der Nikon F3 mit dem Seitenschneider das lila Kabel von der Hauptplatine zum Blitzschuh getrennt und danach wieder mit bleihaltigem Lot und viel Flußmittel angelötet.

English keeps it shorter