This week I really lucked out on a 1971 500C body, which incidentally; was really a CM that year. Anyway, I won this body-only for 50 dollars on EBAY. It needed a crank knob of some kind, so I won that for 10 bucks a day later. Sixty clams total for a 500CM body (in actuality). Not bad, eh? The problem with the body is that the rear top curtain only went 1/2 way up. No big deal--happens a lot. You know what causes that? Simple: the foam at the top of the mirror box was all gone. Deteriorated years ago I'm sure. So what does that have to do with it? I'll tell you. With the foam gone, the mirror is allowed to over-travel its prescribed distance. When that happens, the gears, levers and dooflotchies in the works get out-of-whack. Apparently everything jumps out-of-time. But as out-of-time as it gets, if you just cycle it, a lot of times everything just gets itself right again by magic. EXCEPT that the mirror has been pulled down, but the trap doors are still up. That moves the upper door on its axle, which is a simple friction-fit. So the answer is to hold the end of the axle with a pair of pliers and "bend" it back up. It FEELS like you're bending it, you WOULD THINK that you're ruining it, but it doesn't. It simply just moves around on its axle. It is a very tight fit--you have to bend up so hard it scares you.
So you do that, then you lube the works. Half the reasons these things jam is that the whole thing is dry as a bone. Then here's what you do. Go to a hobby store and get a few of those foam strips that the model railroad guys put under the tracks. And a bottle of contact cement, some acetone to thin it a little, and a tiny paint brush. Spend some time with the camera and study the way the mirror closes upward, Then slit well-crafted slits of the foam. You're not trying to make a dadburn big foam pillow--you're just trying to make something softer than metal for the mirror to slam into. By the time you've made all 5 pieces, you'll know you cut it too thick. But don't keep cycling it like that. If you don't let your mirror come up enough, you're asking to tear up your camera. You're just trying to give the edges of the mirror a little something to "kiss", just to keep it from hitting naked metal.
Of course this means removing the top panel of the camera chassis. But every time I've ever miked a body and put it back together, it miked out exactly the same. Result: Beautiful Hasselblad 500C (CM) body for 60 simoleons. I'm happy. Works perfect.
So you do that, then you lube the works. Half the reasons these things jam is that the whole thing is dry as a bone. Then here's what you do. Go to a hobby store and get a few of those foam strips that the model railroad guys put under the tracks. And a bottle of contact cement, some acetone to thin it a little, and a tiny paint brush. Spend some time with the camera and study the way the mirror closes upward, Then slit well-crafted slits of the foam. You're not trying to make a dadburn big foam pillow--you're just trying to make something softer than metal for the mirror to slam into. By the time you've made all 5 pieces, you'll know you cut it too thick. But don't keep cycling it like that. If you don't let your mirror come up enough, you're asking to tear up your camera. You're just trying to give the edges of the mirror a little something to "kiss", just to keep it from hitting naked metal.
Of course this means removing the top panel of the camera chassis. But every time I've ever miked a body and put it back together, it miked out exactly the same. Result: Beautiful Hasselblad 500C (CM) body for 60 simoleons. I'm happy. Works perfect.
