Mamiya RB67 Won't cock! help!

[dills84]

I have a mint RB67 that i've been using for about a year. Everything worked great on it up until yesterday. One of my lenses got jammed on the body (this has happend before). I finally got it loose but now the body won't cock.

What I mean is... I push the cocking lever down, the mirror and light baffle go down, but it won't lock into place. It just bounces back up as soon as I let the lever go. It seems as though the lever isn't pushing far enough, because i can cock the body manually by using 2 small screw drivers on the lens mount.

has anyone else ran into this? any advice would be hugely appreciated!:confused:

 

[paul ron]

When you noticed the camera lens was stuck on, did you try to cock it?... force it?

How did you get the lens off?

This can be one of 2 things........

It sounds like the catch mechanism in the body is bent, the delrin bearing can be damaged as well as the govonor n mirror transport distorted. This happens if the camera is forced with a lens that was improperly mounted then wrenched off with a channel lock pliers.

Another not so serious problem is only the shear pin of the cocking gear is sheared, the gear is slipped out of alignment and will need replacing.

The only way to tell for sure is open her up.

Where are you located?

 

[Dave Wooten]

Check the position of the dark slde

 

[dills84]

When you noticed the camera lens was stuck on, did you try to cock it?... force it?

How did you get the lens off?

This can be one of 2 things........

It sounds like the catch mechanism in the body is bent, the delrin bearing can be damaged as well as the govonor n mirror transport distorted. This happens if the camera is forced with a lens that was improperly mounted then wrenched off with a channel lock pliers.

Another not so serious problem is only the shear pin of the cocking gear is sheared, the gear is slipped out of alignment and will need replacing.

The only way to tell for sure is open her up.

Where are you located?

thanks for the reply paul, when the lens was stuck I did force the lever a bit... i know it was a bad idea, big regret now! eventually the lens came off.

i just opened up the body, and i think i spotted the problem, however im not sure where i can get this part?

There's a small disk at the end of the rod that the cocking lever is attached too. the disk is round with a rectangluar hole in the middle that grabs the rod. the disk has an arm that pushes a nub on one of the gears to cock the camera. I noticed that the disk has some play in the center hole where its supposed to be tight against the rod. This small amount of play makes it not push the gears enough to cock the camera.

I attached a picture of the little disk. Does this make sense?

Anyone know where i can get this small part? Thanks! :confused:

 

[Sirius Glass]

dills,

You probably do not want to hear this, but this would be a good time to find a reliable Mamiya repairman.

Steve

 

[Jeff Searust]

I would suggest KEH and getting a couple of junk bodies... I bought a couple RB67 bodies from them a year or so back in the lowest condition that they have-- AS-IS -- they cost between 8 and 20 each, and are a great thing to have for parts. -- I see on their web site today one for $10 which would probably do just fine for your purposes.

 

[NormanV]

If you have the skills you could try tapping around the hole with a punch to spread the metal and close the hole slightly and the use a needle file to make it fit the shaft. If it is spoilt already you have nothing to lose.

 

[dills84]

I fixed it! I ended up crushing down the metal a little bit, and re-shaping it with a round hacksaw blade. Working 100% again. hopefully this holds!

thanks for all your help guys. glad i joined APUG earlier today. Its nice to have knowledgeable people in a forum for once!

 

[paul ron]

Did you not know about the tiny hole under the leatherete of the front right triange that says RB67? Do a search here and find the instructions I've left a million times for taking a stuck lens off the body?

Anyway, I'm glad to hear you fixed it. Squashing, or swaging it, is about the best way of making a metal hole smaller. If that didn't work, buying a junk AS IS body from KEH was the next recomendation. BTW if you see a body that is "inoperative bad foam," these are generally working cameras with minor damage, mostly cosmetic. With the junk body in your hands and the KEH junker, you should be able to make a good one.

Now that you have the body opened... check the non-crank side and replace the internal seals as well as lube n adjust the beast. That little bit of service will give you another 15 years of reliable use.

And whatever you do iun the next 15 years...

NEVER FORCE YOUR CAMERA AGAIN!


.

 

[Sirius Glass]

NEVER FORCE YOUR CAMERA AGAIN!

Good advice for any camera.

Steve