SX-70 won't close / Mirror problems?

[Ariston]

I have a nice looking SX-70 that has developed an issue where it won't close all the way. I think the motor kept feeding, too. It felt like the mirror was stuck in a middle position, so I took off the little side plate and worked with the gears to adjust the mirror position. But still no luck.

Has anybody else dealt with this?

I thought about sending it to BFC to get it fixed and altered to use 600 film, but I really just don't like the quality and price of (new) Polaroid film, so if I can't fix it I will probably sell it as-is or stick it on the shelf.

 

[SafakOncu]

I have the similar issue, from my searches it is about the plastic coupler broken between motor and gear. They described some solutions, I opened the camera removed the plastic coupler (it was broken) but could not fix the spring to gear shaft back. Now it is waiting in a box, for me to spend some more time and fix it. I hope to fix it in future, but I need to remove the motor and it is difficult. I need some new tools to be able to remove the motor (I need soldering iron and need to learn how to solder first). There are lots of sources in internet and many people discusses same issue (in Flickr, some websites, etc...).

Inside of the SX70 camera is quite impressive and complicated for me. I hope I can fix it as I love SX70 cameras. I can post some photos of it if needed.

 

[Ariston]

Yes, it's a beautiful camera and an amazing piece of engineering. I have a soft spot for these things, and feel a certain responsibility to do my part in preserving them; on the flip side, though, I hardly use it because I don't like the film, and am not generally fond of keeping "shelf queens" around. I'm still deciding...

 

[Nicholas W]

Yes, mirror is more than likely jammed. There’s a video on Facebook that comes up if you search “unjam sx70 mirror”. Shows how to fix it quickly.