Ricoh 519 restored to function

[Kino]

Finally got my Ricoh 519 operational.

Cleaned the shutter, aperture, rangefinder and dissolved the petrified grease of the helicoil. It should be a fun camera to shoot; better be after all the grief it gave me!

I love the Ricoh 500 series of rangefinders, but they are the WORST for using the green grease that turns to stone in the focus helicoil and are a PITA to restore.

 

[David Lyga]

For the green grease Japan will suffer an eternity in hell. Why this was done makes no sense, whatsoever. It was ONLY NIkon who had the temerity to abstain from 'too much helicoid grease'. (Nikon will not suffer an eternity in hell.) - David Lyga

 

[bernard_L]

For the green grease Japan will suffer an eternity in hell.

Green grease is Agfa; they will suffer in hell. Japan will also suffer in hell, for a different reason: volatile fraction in helicoid grease that condensed on shutter blades.

 

[bobriess]

Hi all, I'm new here, joined because I found really encouraging posts about Ricoh rangefinders! I recently found a 519 with an issue or two, but surprisingly clean. The lens is pristine, no visible fungus, smooth aperture ring, shutter speed and focus rings. Some stiction in the shutter button and a bit rough in the film advance, with an extra little release and pull needed to cock the shutter. Bigger issue is the rangefinder vertical sync is off. Horizontal moves and aligns, seemingly ok, but vertical not. Is this something I could hope to adjust? Maybe I could live with zone focus, but much obliged for any help, please! (I've reading kino's posts, hopeful for a word of advice… ) Thanks in advance!

 

[Heapcoup]

Mr. Kino, How did you dissolve the helicoil grease? Did you disassemble the lens? Is there a way to get solvent in there without such disassembly? I guess I could immerse them...seems a tad dangerous. I have two beautiful machines, both frozen; and two junky ones, not frozen. I have tries injecting solvent in from the backside because one can see the lens move. No luck.
Any advice?

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

If you can get the lens down to its naked helicoid(s) - no shutter, no glass, no aperture - then you can try softening the grease with some gentle heat. Put the oven on warm and bake for 15 minutes and see if that allows you to unscrew the helicoid elements. Sometimes you can only get the threads to move a little bit. If so apply some light oil or Ronsonol and try and work it in, reheat, re-apply repeat ... curse, cut finger, etc..

Be sure to scribe lines between the helicoid elements and the focusing ring. As you carefully unscrew the helicoids scribe more marks so you know on which thread to reassemble the lens.

Regrease the helicoids with, of all things, helicoid grease, available on Amazon; I use "Japan Hobby Tool #10", can't say it is anything special.

 

[Heapcoup]

Thank you. Mr. Lindan. That is my last resort solution. I am hoping that there is a less invasive procedure.

 

[Kino]

Mr. Kino, How did you dissolve the helicoil grease? Did you disassemble the lens? Is there a way to get solvent in there without such disassembly? I guess I could immerse them...seems a tad dangerous. I have two beautiful machines, both frozen; and two junky ones, not frozen. I have tries injecting solvent in from the backside because one can see the lens move. No luck.
Any advice?

I had to remove the lens/shutter assembly entirely, disassemble it and use acetone and other nasty solvents to clean it off. It is very hard to do this properly. Alignment of certain pins and levers internally is hard to obtain properly.

If you have the money; sent it off.

However, you might be able to get it unfrozen by heating the lens barrel with a hair dryer to the point you can hardly touch it, and then applying some pressure to get it rotating, but NOT TOO MUCH or you'll break the brass pins that allows the helicoid to move in and out but not rotate; and then it becomes a pretty paper weight.

As Nicholas Lindan says, you can see the slot where the helicoid resides through the rear of the film aperture. Take a syringe with 91% alcohol and put a few drops around the grooves and allow it to soak. Gently work it as far as you can but don't use a lot of force. The syringe needle is resting against one of those two important guide pins I speak of above. They can shear off if you apply too much pressure!

Typically if you get it hot, it will move a bit and then you can work from there. When it starts to break free, the green grease will begin to migrate to the rear of the lens. Be sure to clean this edge of the helicoid often, mopping up the foul junk with small sheets of paper stuck down into the slot where the syringe resides. DO NOT FLOOD THE HELICOID! It will get into the shutter and then you'll have a mess.

Do this all at your own risk; there are simply too many problems that can arise from this sort of "hobo-repair", but sometimes it works. You may find you have to clean it many, many time for it to work.

 

[Kino]

Hi all, I'm new here, joined because I found really encouraging posts about Ricoh rangefinders! I recently found a 519 with an issue or two, but surprisingly clean. The lens is pristine, no visible fungus, smooth aperture ring, shutter speed and focus rings. Some stiction in the shutter button and a bit rough in the film advance, with an extra little release and pull needed to cock the shutter. Bigger issue is the rangefinder vertical sync is off. Horizontal moves and aligns, seemingly ok, but vertical not. Is this something I could hope to adjust? Maybe I could live with zone focus, but much obliged for any help, please! (I've reading kino's posts, hopeful for a word of advice… ) Thanks in advance!

Sorry I missed this post! It was a while back when I worked on the 519, so I don't remember much about the viewfinder, but I do recall there were some tear-downs elsewhere on the web. Google-foo on all the combinations of Ricoh and rangefinder you can think of; something should pop up.

 

[4season]

Finally got my Ricoh 519 operational.

Good job! I am in the midst of restoring an Agfa Isolette, and the nasty green grease in that camera seems to have completely polymerized. But I happened upon some repair videos by Chris Sherlock, and at one point, he reaches for an aerosol can of CRC Lectra Clean, so I had to try it. A few drops applied to the lens helicoid did not magically loosen things up, as in his video, so I ended up doing an overnight soak. But I knew it was having an effect, because the solvent bath turned green with bits of old lubricant. This morning, on my second or third try, the lens helicoid started to turn, maybe for the first time in decades! And once it did, the remainder of the cleanup operation was easy. And now to unfreeze the rangefinder assembly.

 

[Kino]

Yeah, if you can ever get the helicoid to move a tiny bit, you can generally work it free as long as you don't deform any metal attached!
Alternating heat (hair dryer) solvents and PATIENCE are my best tools for that!

Someone needs to do an analysis of that green goo! It can't be from this World!

 

[Heapcoup]

Thank you. I do have one more idea: Remove the bottom of the exposure box. That should at least expose some of the splines. I have only been using lighter fluid, but I will also try alcohol, love potion #9 and maybe spit off an Ever-lasting Gobstoppper.
Of all the old rangefinders I have, these are the only one that have this problem...and I am also an AGFA collector!
The green goo: I am thinking it is a kind of soy oil which is also used to make plastics. Time will polymerize any oil, but this stuff is nasty.
I will take a picture if I succeed.
God bless you all.
Harry

 

[Heapcoup]

Ok. that was dumb. Removing the box plate did nothing. Never say, "Dye" is what the blue hairs at my mom's salon always said.