Praktica Frankensteining

toxx · Jun 10, 2022

I own both an LTL and a MTL5B Praktica cameras however, the LTL has a corroded battery inside which effectively closed the camera compartment shut as mercury oozed and dried along the little cover.

The Mtl5B has seen way better days, i bought it in rough shape, all the leather being held with some cheap super glue, the hot shoe is barely attached and wobbles, it has cracks on the plastic etc.
BUT the light meter works fantastically.
So, given how very similar they look and perform (save for the timer that the mtl5 has) i want to try and take off the bottom plate and frankenstein the mtl5 light meter into the LtL body.

Any idea if anyone ever tried this successfully? Any tips /ideas?

Thanks in advance !

gone · Jun 10, 2022

I managed to get a mercury corroded battery cover off an old Leicaflex once, had to chisel a slot into it and get it off w/ an impact screwdriver. Cleaned it up inside, things went well until the little piece of metal that contacts the battery broke and fell into the camera.

toxx · Jun 10, 2022

fair, sounds like a good idea too but, the light meter in the mtl5 is superior, and that camera is in pretty bad shape as it is..
i will however consider this, thank you

chuck3565 · Jun 10, 2022

I've done it. Desolder the 3 or 4 wires being careful to note where they were attached. Remove the one or two screws. Then do the opposite to install the circuit board. You will have to do an alignment. Try to find the alignment instructions. If you can't find them, I'll see if I can dig them up.

AgX · Jun 10, 2022

Welcome, Tox !

Both cameras are from the famous L-series. It had many, models which often only differed in minor details. There is
a nearly-complete service manual on the net, and here at this forum some repair hints too.

toxx · Jun 10, 2022

chuck3565 said:
I've done it. Desolder the 3 or 4 wires being careful to note where they were attached. Remove the one or two screws. Then do the opposite to install the circuit board. You will have to do an alignment. Try to find the alignment instructions. If you can't find them, I'll see if I can dig them up.

thank you! i thought they looked very similar and that there is a chance they're about the same size on the inside. i'll give it a look once i finish the last roll in them and i'll update/ask for help later

AgX said:
Welcome, Tox !

Both cameras are from the famous L-series. It had many, models which often only differed in minor details. There is
a nearly-complete service manual on the net, and here at this forum some repair hints too.

Perfect! thank you for the info!

toxx · Jun 14, 2022

toxx said:
thank you! i thought they looked very similar and that there is a chance they're about the same size on the inside. i'll give it a look once i finish the last roll in them and i'll update/ask for help later

Perfect! thank you for the info!

Update: i have drilled two small holes around the battery slot (only way i could free it) and took out the corroded battery. the battery cap and the enclosure it has to screw into are sitting in an industrial chemical which seems to have eaten away almost all the mercury (don t ask, not even i know what this forsaken, hungry chemical is).

now remains the issue of the electronics, they have a bit of a blue mercury coating, pretty thick too. I am kinda scared to clean it. What shall i use? 99% rubbing Alcohol?
i am too scared to use my wonder chemicals there, they may destroy the electronics..they are marked as caustic after all.

Thoughts?

Don_ih · Jun 14, 2022

You couldn't get the battery out by removing the bottom of the camera?

toxx · Jun 14, 2022

Don Heisz said:
You couldn't get the battery out by removing the bottom of the camera?

sadly no, it was too corroded at the time. the chemicals however managed to melt the mercury oxide into a fluid state so i could free the battery and the cap from the plate.

chuck3565 · Jun 14, 2022

toxx said:
Update: i have drilled two small holes around the battery slot (only way i could free it) and took out the corroded battery. the battery cap and the enclosure it has to screw into are sitting in an industrial chemical which seems to have eaten away almost all the mercury (don t ask, not even i know what this forsaken, hungry chemical is).

now remains the issue of the electronics, they have a bit of a blue mercury coating, pretty thick too. I am kinda scared to clean it. What shall i use? 99% rubbing Alcohol?
i am too scared to use my wonder chemicals there, they may destroy the electronics..they are marked as caustic after all.

Thoughts?

Use naphtha. Isopropyl alcohol will melt the plastic gears that drive the large meter potentiometer. They are coal based and will turn to goo almost instantly. I had repaired a L series camera and decided to do a final cleaning using alcohol. Bad, bad mistake.

Praktica Frankensteining

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