Repairing a Box Brownie

[bwakel]

My wife inherited a Box Brownie from her grandmother many years ago and used it for some time. She's recently taken an interest in using the camera again as it has great sentimental value. The issue is that there is a film apparently stuck in the camera and it's proving impossible to turn the film winder crank or to open the camera body to remove the film.

Does anyone have any experience of repairing these cameras or know anyone in the UK who might be able to help? The camera has no commercial value but plenty of sentimental value.

Thanks

Barry

 

[juan]

I don't know about your specific camera (Brownie was on a lot of models) but many box cameras were opened by pulling out on the film winding knob. That was not obvious to me on the first box camera I used.
juan

 

[bwakel]

Hurray

Juan

Many thanks - I hadn't worked this out. The lever was very stiff and didn't seem to move out but with some brute force we've got it open! You've saved the day.

 

[noseoil]

Just did a repair on my "new" box brownie (#2, see post in gallery). The film transport rollers were tight and scratching the film emulsion. It turns out that the two rear rollers were jammed against the body. After using a little time and plier work on it, things are fine now.

Fortunately, I have the "delux" model with three apertures and a good shutter. It is also a 120 film size, which makes things easier to use in general. The Efke 25 was a bit slow, so I'm thinking that the 100 or Ilford's FP4+ might be just the ticket for this camera. Best, tim
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)