Re-assembling an iris

[Terence]

Okay, I took apart a large brass barrel lens to clean all the glass surfaces, and when I unscrewed the rear set of elements the iris dumped out onto my bench. After three frustrating hours last night of trying to set the leaves into the body and then trying to line up their pins with the brass ring that rotates to close the iris, I have given up.

Trying to get all of the pins into the same exact radius is maddening, even using a film canister as a circular jig to close on. The task was made harder by the fact that a few of the leaves have a slight cup to them. It's barely perceptible until you try to reassemble the blasted thing and the slight cup pops adjacent leaves out of their pin-holes. Even if I succeed I can't for the life of me figure out how the ring's tab ties into the aperture lever. It seems like it can be anywhere along the length of the slot when I know it has to be at a particular place for a particular aperture.

So . . . . has anyone dealt with Professional Camera Repair on 47th Street in NYC before? Would they be the best folks in the city to go to? Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks in advance for any advice (besides beer, which I applied judiciously and generously after giving up).

 

[bobfowler]

Professional is out of business. IIRC, they were bought out by Photo Tech on 13th. Try Carol at Flutot's Camera Repair. She drops in here from time to time.

 

[Terence]

Dang. Carol or SK Grimes were my next option, but I was hoping to do it locally. It seems like a "simple" operation for somone who knows how to do it (and has the patience of a saint). I'd hate to send it across the continent for an hour of labor. Seems wasteful.

 

[resummerfield]

......I'd hate to send it across the continent for an hour of labor. Seems wasteful.

I had a similar problem, and spent hours and hours working on it, and finally solved it. I placed the ring into which the leaves fit, over the leaves and then maneuvered the axis pins of the leaves into the holes. But... If I had to do it again, I'd send it to CAROL.

 

[Terence]

Yeah, that's what I tried to do too, but it was the classic, "Get one pin in, two pins in, three pins in, four pins in, pin number two pops out, get pin two to pop in but now pin three pops out . . . "

Three beers later I stopped cursing.

 

[Claire Senft]

Well I wish that I could be helpful but I cannot allow myself to be distracted from putting Humpty Dumpty back together to waste my mental acuity on the reassemblage of the likes of that loose woman Iris. I am even doubtful that you will be able to find all of her pieces.

 

[Terence]

Luckily she was a simple woman (not many are) and when she went to pieces it was discovered that she was nothing more than an opening covered by a bunch of leaves. Surprisingly, this is how most men view all women, but we rarely are proved right.

 

[John Koehrer]

Gave up after only three hours? Wuss!

Usually it's easier to do one of two things.
1)Send it to Carol.
2)Assemble the blades in the full open position so they can rest on the blade operating ring and weave the last blade or two into position with a tweezers.

 

[vet173]

Gave up after only three hours? Wuss!
.

That is what I was thinkin, I finally got one back together by getting them all together the size they will be installed and tied them with dental floss. Not so tight that you can't shift them to drop pins in the holes. Once in place, cut the floss.