Sears KSX 1000 Film Advance Lever remove

Hey there,

I bought a Sears KSX 1000 camera. Overall a cool piece, almost new, everything works, but the viewfinder and pentaprism need to be cleaned.
For this I must to remove Top Cover. I saw videos in YouTube, but in my case Film Advance Lever has no special two holes for remove it. Maybe everybody knows how to remove it?

Many thanks.

I can't find my repair manual for my KS-2, which may or may not be the same procedure. I'll look some more.

However, you can also look up the Ricoh version (that was rebranded as Sears), which I believe is the Ricoh KR-5 Super. That should give you more options in your search. There were a lot of Ricoh/Sears models that are virtually the same except for options.

For some cameras, the wind lever cap is unscrewed by friction - you press a piece of rubber (like a rubber stopper) down on the cap and turn to unscrew. However, I don't know this camera and I don't know if it is a normal or reverse thread. (I think wind lever caps are usually normal thread, but no guarantees.)

I have one of these with the Sears (Chinon) 50/2 pancake lens. It’s a pretty decent camera, and the lens is way better than expected. Whenever I need a lightweight camera with good image quality this one is perfect.

Here’s the trick: Partially advance the wind lever then turn the camera upside down. On the lever you will see a small screw. Remove this and the plastic cover will come off. Back up top you’ll see a disc with a small screw in it. Good luck from that point, I can’t get mine off in either direction and I’m afraid of deforming the screw.

Quick update- I just got the disc/screw out. The screw comes out CCW, the disc CW. If they are turned or locked against each other the screw binds. If so, back the disc away from the screw CCW direction, remove the screw, then finally remove the disc. The lever and a spring washer will then come off.