Restoring Ensign Special Press Reflex

Tobychrome · Oct 1, 2015

A few weeks ago I purchased what has become my favourite camera in my collection, the Ensign Special Press Reflex. The seller described this rugged beauty as being in a non working condition and in need of total restoration. So far I have really only cleaned the mirror and given some parts a light oiling. However I need some help in repairing the focal plane shutter as it appears to have deteriorated and is crumbling, any help would be greatly appreciated and I will be attaching photos in my next post.

Tobychrome · Oct 1, 2015

Pictures of my Ensign Special Press Reflex

shutterfinger · Oct 1, 2015

I just love having to log in to see the photos in a post, NOT.

I can't tell squat about the shutter other than the curtain is shot, too tight of closeups.
See:http://www.graflex.org/helpboard/viewtopic.php?t=5624
The material I recently ordered from the only online source I could find has charcoal gray rubber coating and a beige cloth backing that has to be dyed to a dark color.

http://www.cameraeccentric.com/html/info/soho_1.html may be similar to yours.

Sirius Glass · Oct 1, 2015

I agree get information at www.graflex.org

Tobychrome · Oct 2, 2015

First Update

So I have begun the process of restoring my camera. So far I have started removing the exterior fittings such as the shutter speed control dial and the parts that hold what used to be the hand strap.
I have decided that this project is going to be a full restoration as opposed to a localised repair of the shutter

shutterfinger · Oct 2, 2015

Curtain roller shafts wear to their support bushings, swapping top with bottom may make the shutter run slow. Excessive wear on the roller shaft or its bushing can be somewhat corrected by adding shim stock to the bushing or in severe cases sleeve the bushing. Graflex FPS require .002 to .003 inch clearance between the roller shaft and the support bushing to run properly. The adjustment plate end rarely wears.
The aperture stays are usually copper, .010 to .020 inch thick, and can be opened with a 1 inch wood chisel pressed into the gap where the curtain is/was. The stay can be crimped onto new curtain material with the flat section of needle nose pliers.
Knobs and dials of that era were attached with taper pins, large end usually at the top so they are driven out from the bottom. Some seize into the shaft/knob and require a day or more in penetrating oil to come out.

Straight on pictures are usually best for camera part pictures, side angle pictures hide details and distort the assembly.

Tobychrome · Oct 7, 2015

Does anyone know how to set the shutter?, I found a repair manual and I have repaired the shutter, however in order to remove the shutter it was necessary to remove it and by doing this the shutter becomes disconnected from the dial that you turn to set it. So now it doesnt have any set speeds. Does anyone know how I calibrate the shutter to its corresponding speeds on the dial?

shutterfinger · Oct 7, 2015

Springs and gears were the technology of the day. Does the manual not show it? Had someone else disassembled it?, if not then reassembly should be the reverse of disassembly.

Tobychrome · Oct 8, 2015

I am able to re assemble it, however the manual only covered repair of the camera body itself and replacing the parts, not setting the shutter. I'll explain what happened to clarify.
when I unscrewed the side panel to get the shutter out, the tension being applied from a gear to keep the shutter at the selected speed was removed, causing the shutter curtain to be released. How do I know if the shutter has been tensioned to the correct tension and is there a way to test that this is correct.

shutterfinger · Oct 8, 2015

From your pictures there appears to be 2 controls for the shutter, I cannot read the information on their plates. The large one has Time and speeds and the smaller one ?
The shutter should close once opened for a Time exposure.
The tensioning spring is most likely weaker now than it was when new so getting the speeds correct will be near impossible.
Start with getting the shutter to close at the end of a Time exposure and the slowest speeds of the large dial correct then test the rest.

On Graflex SLR's the slowest speeds frequently are 1/2 to 1 stop fast when the curtain closes after open for a time exposure and the fastest speeds 1 to 2 stops slow due to the tensioning spring weakening.
There are shutter speed tester diagrams available on line and testers for smart phones. Sound is not a reliable indicator of correct shutter speed on FPS.

Tobychrome · Oct 8, 2015

The smaller knob controls the mirror and has nothing to do with the shutter, the small knob has Time, Mirror and Instantaneous settings. Time is to keep it open during time exposure, mirror keeps the mirror locked in the up position and Instantaneous puts the mirror up at the start of the exposure and releases it at the end

Tobychrome · Nov 18, 2015

So I have now replaced the shutter curtain but I noticed that inside the shutter mechanism there is an arm that is moved when the shutter is released. This arm is supposed to move back and another arm moves in and stops the arm moving any further. However the first arm is returning very slowly which means the 2nd arm moves into position leading the 1st arm to sit on top of the shutter.
How would I go about fabricating a replacement spring or speeding up the movement of the first Arm?

Restoring Ensign Special Press Reflex

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Restoring Ensign Special Press Reflex

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