My new Ikoflex Ia

[Chirs Gregory]

So yesterday I went into my local camera shop to drop off a roll of Sensia and see what the fellow had on offer. I've been in the market for a passable medium format, and while I still covet a Mamiya SLR, TLRs are definitely looking more attractive due to my finances. I mentioned that I needed me some 120-format goodness, and the shop owner pointed me toward a lovely Yashica that was about $150 more than I had. So I picked up the next best thing: A cute $50 Ikoflex that's in need of some TLC.

The focusing knob is a bit stiff, but I prefer that to shaky and inaccurate. The diaphragm is very fluid, with no hint of oil or anything. And in spite of some thumbprints that I was able to remove with alcohol and a microfiber lens cloth, the lenses themselves are bright and clear of fungus.

Where the camera is having issues is the shutter, a Prontor SV. It's my understanding that, to cock the shutter, you pull the lever (9 in the diagram I posted) down. However, with my camera, the shutter won't return to the fully up position that's shown. Instead, it springs up about half way, where it gets stuck on something, meaning the shutter is left wide open. And it doesn't lock in the cocked (down) position either. I will say that it doesn't seem like there's anything gunky that's sticking, it feels more like the lever is being stopped by something rigid, as if the whole mechanism was locked into the "bulb" setting permanently. In fact, it takes a great deal of finger strength to move the shutter release button (2) down even when everything else seems to be set for exposure.

So does anyone have any idea of what might be causing this? I've been able to remove the front element of the taking lens, and I can see that the back part of it should come of with a spanner as well. But I'd rather avoid a complete teardown if the solution is something like "do one half turn on this screw and you're in business."

 

[Trask]

I've got a couple of Ikoflexes (Ikoflexi?) and find that sometimes the shutter cock lever will not come back up. My theory thus far has been that the slow speed gear train has gummed lubricant that requires cleaning. I've never felt that it was actually physically getting hung up on anything inside.

 

[Chirs Gregory]

That sounds pretty reasonable, since I've noticed that while most everything else on the camera moves fairly easily, the shutter speed ring is really, really difficult, to the point where it actually chafed a line into my fingertip. I also haven't been able to detect any "stops" while rotating it, which I think it should have as it goes over the settings. Once I get the other lens elements off I'll try soaking the whole assembly in some lighter fluid or valve oil, and see if that helps at all.

 

[Chirs Gregory]

Okay, I've gotten most everything apart now. I was having a seriously tough time getting the last lens elements out, but I determined that the problem was that, oddly enough, the things hadn't been unscrewed since Kennedy was president, so a little bit of elbow grease, along with a very loose pair of vice-grip pliers and some masking tape got them right out. In the next few days, I'm going to post some of my findings, as well as a preliminary guide to taking the thing apart and putting it back together.

I still haven't gotten the shutter unstuck, but when I pulled the front lens assembly I noticed that the release button on the top of the camera is coupled to the shutter on the lens by a rust-covered ring, so that could be at least a little bit of the problem right there.