Hello friends,
finally after a long delay I decided to peek inside my Vito CLR to fix the sticky shutter blades. Though the work is not completed yet, the main thing is over, so I can write about it. Please don't do it if you are not experienced with camera repair, or don't have basic instruments - I don't want you to ruin your Vitos
First of all, the camera is more complicated mechanically than it looks - that's because there is a rangefinder and a coupled meter, and thanks to cell focusing system. Also there is a couple of nice gifts from Voigthlaender, described later
To get inside, you must peel the leatherette off the sides of front panel and remove the top cover. Under the leatherette, after the release button removal, you find four screws. Remember how the "beak" on the left (transferring the aperture-speed combination to exposure meter) is engaged. Undo the screws, and carefully remove the whole lens assembly. Remember where are the driving pins - they easily fall away, three pieces. Two stacked of them transfer the frontal lens movement to RF assembly. Undo three screws on a frontal lens ring, remove the ring. Unscrew the frontal lens and the lens underneath. Using a spanner with long tips, remove the back lens. Remember or write down the positions of all those endless engaged rings from the front of shutter, remove them. Unsolder the wire from sync terminal, remember how it's laid. There comes the worst surprise: you would need a special key (with angled wide tips) to remove the shutter from the lensboard! Usual spanner might damage something. Well, I used it anyway and made then just the regular spanner points with a needle file. It can't be seen on an assembled camera, but it makes your life quite easier. The shutter is not too complicated, but remember how to put there a synchro contact, kept with the same screw as the speed governor. Wash the gears well, dry and lubricate with oil just a tiniest bit on the axes. The access to the blades is made by unscrewing three screws, 1 long and 2 short - remember where the long one goes (it's engaged with spring). The timer release is kept on place just on a single pole. It's easy to re-assemble the blades, because one pole there has a cutout to accomodate the last one. It's easy to adjust the rangefinder afterwards - by rotating a cross-headed screw. Don't forget to reinstall the back lens before reassemblying the camera. The main headache is the right connection of transferring pins and the cams - one for aperture-shutter value, one for the rangefinder. After aligning the cams inside the lens assy, the pins can be put in from the backside of lensboard. Don't forget to re-engage the exposure meter driving lever with the rack. Its calibration should be checked (with top cover on), as well as one of the rangefinder.
The re-assembly should be done in a reverse order
Good luck, and regards from Moscow - Zhenya
finally after a long delay I decided to peek inside my Vito CLR to fix the sticky shutter blades. Though the work is not completed yet, the main thing is over, so I can write about it. Please don't do it if you are not experienced with camera repair, or don't have basic instruments - I don't want you to ruin your Vitos
First of all, the camera is more complicated mechanically than it looks - that's because there is a rangefinder and a coupled meter, and thanks to cell focusing system. Also there is a couple of nice gifts from Voigthlaender, described later
To get inside, you must peel the leatherette off the sides of front panel and remove the top cover. Under the leatherette, after the release button removal, you find four screws. Remember how the "beak" on the left (transferring the aperture-speed combination to exposure meter) is engaged. Undo the screws, and carefully remove the whole lens assembly. Remember where are the driving pins - they easily fall away, three pieces. Two stacked of them transfer the frontal lens movement to RF assembly. Undo three screws on a frontal lens ring, remove the ring. Unscrew the frontal lens and the lens underneath. Using a spanner with long tips, remove the back lens. Remember or write down the positions of all those endless engaged rings from the front of shutter, remove them. Unsolder the wire from sync terminal, remember how it's laid. There comes the worst surprise: you would need a special key (with angled wide tips) to remove the shutter from the lensboard! Usual spanner might damage something. Well, I used it anyway and made then just the regular spanner points with a needle file. It can't be seen on an assembled camera, but it makes your life quite easier. The shutter is not too complicated, but remember how to put there a synchro contact, kept with the same screw as the speed governor. Wash the gears well, dry and lubricate with oil just a tiniest bit on the axes. The access to the blades is made by unscrewing three screws, 1 long and 2 short - remember where the long one goes (it's engaged with spring). The timer release is kept on place just on a single pole. It's easy to re-assemble the blades, because one pole there has a cutout to accomodate the last one. It's easy to adjust the rangefinder afterwards - by rotating a cross-headed screw. Don't forget to reinstall the back lens before reassemblying the camera. The main headache is the right connection of transferring pins and the cams - one for aperture-shutter value, one for the rangefinder. After aligning the cams inside the lens assy, the pins can be put in from the backside of lensboard. Don't forget to re-engage the exposure meter driving lever with the rack. Its calibration should be checked (with top cover on), as well as one of the rangefinder.
The re-assembly should be done in a reverse order
Good luck, and regards from Moscow - Zhenya