Shutter curtain for Primar Reflex 9x12 SLR (aka Benzin/Mentor/VEB Primarflex)

[blee1996]

Hi,

I have a Primar Reflex 9x12 SLR that has a lot of wrinkles and pinholes on the shutter curtain. I patched them up using liquid fabric paint, but now the curtains are a bit stiff. Only a few shutter speeds (1/300, 1/200, 1/100) are usable, and they are slow. And at T/B the curtain sometimes cannot finish the travel thus hang in the middle.

I really like the camera, since it is very light for handholding and the lens board is much bigger than Graflex RB thus suitable for bigger barrel lenses. I have a few options

1) Use it as is and be happy with just a few shutter speeds: right now 1/300 works as 1/100s and reasonably consistent
2) Replace the shutter curtains myself: if some of you have done this, can you tell me about its feasibility and difficulty level? I know NobbySparrow on eBay sells larger sheets of shutter curtain material.
3) Send to a professional who can replace the shutter curtain for me: I contacted graflexparts and awaits their response. I'm based in California thus not practical to send to Europe.

Any other suggestions? Thanks!

 

[blee1996]

As a reference, this is the camera I have. I already fixed a broken shutter ribbon.

 

[OAPOli]

The only focal-plane camera I worked on was the Reflex-Korelle. It actually was reasonably simple! Your camera has probably a similar design.

I suspect the added stiffness from the patches isn't the issue, but rather dry lubricants in the sprung take-up shutter rollers. New curtains wouldn't hurt of course. Make sure they are the same thickness as the original.

Going in blind can be daunting but my guess is that isn't an overly complex camera. The bigger the camera the easier it is figuring out how it works. You would need a proper tester however to make sure there is no capping (this looks like a double curtain shutter?).

I'm sure most repair persons could handle this. I've heard that Frank Marshman (CameraWiz) often works on older cameras.

 

[blee1996]

The only focal-plane camera I worked on was the Reflex-Korelle. It actually was reasonably simple! Your camera has probably a similar design.

I suspect the added stiffness from the patches isn't the issue, but rather dry lubricants in the sprung take-up shutter rollers. New curtains wouldn't hurt of course. Make sure they are the same thickness as the original.

Going in blind can be daunting but my guess is that isn't an overly complex camera. The bigger the camera the easier it is figuring out how it works. You would need a proper tester however to make sure there is no capping (this looks like a double curtain shutter?).

I'm sure most repair persons could handle this. I've heard that Frank Marshman (CameraWiz) often works on older cameras.

Yes it is a double curtain shutter. So the good news is that the curtains are not very long, while the bad news is that the mechanism to sync the two curtains as well as maintaining the proper slit are more complex.

Good suggestion about checking the "dry lubricants in the sprung take-up shutter rollers". I don't see easy ways to clean and lube that part without complete disassemble, but will check again.

 

[OAPOli]

It's possible to work on the take-up rollers without disturbing the timing. In the released position you can lift the rollers, unglue the curtains and clean + lube the rollers. Mark where the curtains ended and reglue at the same position. Slowly increase the tension on the rollers until you get good speeds without capping.

This is what I did on the Korelle. On a prior attempt I de-synced the supply side but even that wasn't too hard to reset. But your camera could be different.

 

[blee1996]

@OAPOli you are right that the issue is not in the stiffer curtain but in the winding mechanism. I opened up a bit more, cleaned up as much as I can, and added some sewing machine oil. Right now all the speeds seem to be working. Let's hope it won't gum again...

And I'm waiting for my new shutter speed tester to arrive from Romania so I can test the curtain shutter properly.