Straightening a folder standard

[cptrios]

Hi all,

Last year, I dropped my favorite camera (a Super Fujica Six) and damaged it beyond repair. The lens and shutter assembly survived, however, so I've been on the hunt for a cheapo one with a fungusy/whatever lens I could swap out. I finally found one from a Japanese eBay seller, but alas...when it arrived, I noticed right away that the front standard was slightly misaligned left-to-right. I recalibrated the rangefinder and ran a roll of film through it anyway, and there is unsurprisingly a serious side-tilt effect going on. It's a shame, because the in-focus bits seem to be noticeably better than my old one!

The seller, in a pleasant surprise, refunded my money and did not ask for the camera back. So now I've at least got something I can screw up with nothing to lose! First of all...is this a hopeless cause?

I've identified what seems to at least be the most likely culprit - the right 'arm' doesn't fully extend to a straight position:


You can also see that there's some serious wear in the groove on the upper part of the arm...let's call it the 'humerus.'

Now, I do have an intact humerus from my old camera (and a radius/ulna that could use some de-bending), but I can remove neither it alone nor the entire arm thanks to the joints being connected by whatever you call those rivet-like fasteners.

Does anyone know of a way to extract those?

 

[nosmok]

Any rivet can be extracted by drilling out the center of the small side, or grinding off the top of the large side. I usually go for the former, it's easier. Replacement rivets must be available somewhere (mustn't they?), my guess is you'd go up a size. Or you could turn your own with a lathe... (just spitballing here, I have only taken out riveted arms of folders, never tried to reassemble them)