Leica IIIf - Slow speed adjustment - lock screw is frozen.

[Ned Matura]

Welcome and good luck. It's been quite a while since I've serviced and restored Leica's, so I wasn't sure about this typical screw anymore. Here a picture of one of the later samples I did - I always took them apart completely
https://www.flickr.com/photos/zorki_2007/albums/72157633280286499/with/8664139350/

Very impressive and very brave of you to do all that work. It seems like people who are patient, careful and organized are able to work on screw mount Leica's. I'm hoping I'm one of them!

 

[Ron (Netherlands)]

It seems like people who are patient, careful and organized are able to work on screw mount Leica's. I'm hoping I'm one of them!

tnx, well part of the work is to - be able to - get the right tools, not always easy ....and I didn't immediately start with working on Leica's but first trusted my hands on zorki's and the like...

 

[Ned Matura]

tnx, well part of the work is to - be able to - get the right tools, not always easy ....and I didn't immediately start with working on Leica's but first trusted my hands on zorki's and the like...

Good to know. I plan on reporting how things turn out. I'm hoping they turn out well!

 

[Ron (Netherlands)]

Good to know. I plan on reporting how things turn out. I'm hoping they turn out well!

Wish you good luck.....just for your inspiration here's another picture, of a black Leica III, I gave a thorough CLA:

 

[Ned Matura]

Wish you good luck.....just for your inspiration here's another picture, of a black Leica III, I gave a thorough CLA:

Hey Ron, Thanks for the "blue" photo & encouragement. Your IIIf is the later version with the simplified slow shutter speeds. And it is interesting that it doesn't have the locking knob on the slow speed dial! My camera has the earlier slow speed dial with the locking knob at 1/30 which is similar to the late IIIc I believe.

 

[Ron (Netherlands)]

Hey Ron, Thanks for the "blue" photo & encouragement. Your IIIf is the later version with the simplified slow shutter speeds. And it is interesting that it doesn't have the locking knob on the slow speed dial! My camera has the earlier slow speed dial with the locking knob at 1/30 which is similar to the late IIIc I believe.

Yep blue shine from my desk lamp - but it isn't a IIIf, just a III from a fellow member who asked me to repair his camera (years ago btw), with quite a low serial as I remember. What I found so typical with this III were all the shims under the lens mounting ring....

For a user camera you are better of with a later IIIC or IIIF since they had become ball bearing shutters...they are therefore I my opinion smoother in operation than the earlier leica's. Here a IIIF from a fellow member which I made some new shutter curtains for (and it seemed to have a broken spring in one of the curtainrollers) - it has also the knob on the slow speed shutter dial (apparently I tried to change the white balance...):

 

[John Koehrer]

For tools I believe Microtools has a site in the EU.

 

[Ned Matura]

Yep blue shine from my desk lamp - but it isn't a IIIf, just a III from a fellow member who asked me to repair his camera (years ago btw), with quite a low serial as I remember. What I found so typical with this III were all the shims under the lens mounting ring....

For a user camera you are better of with a later IIIC or IIIF since they had become ball bearing shutters...they are therefore I my opinion smoother in operation than the earlier leica's. Here a IIIF from a fellow member which I made some new shutter curtains for (and it seemed to have a broken spring in one of the curtainrollers) - it has also the knob on the slow speed shutter dial (apparently I tried to change the white balance...):

Thanks. Yes, I mis-read your earlier post! It's really good to get all this info and see the parts. Makes me slightly less frightened! I just received the IIIc front plate spare part. I will start checking it out tomorrow to see how to approach the frozen screw on my IIIf body. An online tech that posts to YouTube suggested a touch of oil, waiting a few days, then using a hairdryer to heat up the screw and try unscrewing it with a large screw driver that fits well. He didn't think the front plate needed to come off the body but I'm concerned about the oil dripping down onto the curtains. Hmm...

 

[Ned Matura]

For tools I believe Microtools has a site in the EU.

Thanks John! I think I have what I need for the part I'm dealing with but will check out Microtools.

 

[Ron (Netherlands)]

Thanks. Yes, I mis-read your earlier post! It's really good to get all this info and see the parts. Makes me slightly less frightened! I just received the IIIc front plate spare part. I will start checking it out tomorrow to see how to approach the frozen screw on my IIIf body. An online tech that posts to YouTube suggested a touch of oil, waiting a few days, then using a hairdryer to heat up the screw and try unscrewing it with a large screw driver that fits well. He didn't think the front plate needed to come off the body but I'm concerned about the oil dripping down onto the curtains. Hmm...

My method for taking out frozen screws is using a dremel with the smallest drill and drilling out little by little the frozen screw.
Of course you should not damage the screwhole itself, therefore only use the smallest drill.
Sometimes I make only a hole and put in a tiny screwdriver in, in order to get more grip to unscrew.

I wouldn't heat the screw: it would expand the metal, and therefore the screw would even become sitting faster. Heating is only done for parts sitting outside other parts like nuts.

 

[Ned Matura]

Ok here's where I'm at with the screw extraction effort. Just got my spare part and tools this past week.
The spare part looked very nice and better than the eBay photo! I love the date someone at the factory etched into the front plate!
The 3.5mm screwdriver barely fit into the lock screw slot but it worked. Took a little hand pressure effort but it came loose easily.

Once loose it was easier to use the 2.4mm screwdriver to keep loosening and re-tightening the screw. The 2.4mm fit much easier and there was less of a chance of slipping. Now I know how my lock screw should work and how much effort it should take to loosen or tighten it.

In my IIIf camera, I couldn't fit the 3.5mm screwdriver. The mangled screwhead slot wouldn't allow it to settle in. I was ablle to clear the slot slightly with the 2.4mm screwdriver tip and get the 2.4mm tip to settle in but it wouldn't turn. I put a good amount of pressure on it but it wouldn't turn. I placed a drop of WD40 with the tip of a tweezer on the screw head and will wait a day or two and try again. I'm tempted to take the slow speed dial and front plate out of the camera to be able to really lean into it. Let's see how it goes. Something is definitely odd about how frozen this screw is. Hmm...