What did you fix today? (part 2)

Kino · Nov 28, 2020

Helios 1984 said:
I've just finished revamping the case of my newly acquired Gossen Lunasix 3.

Great job! Looks like new!

Helios 1984 · Nov 28, 2020

Kino said:
Great job! Looks like new!

Thanks
It sure looks better now than before, the poor thing held together with several layers of duct tape, and the old lining was all dirty.
Special mention to my Fiskar rotary cutter, it makes things so easy when it comes to cut fabric. I just laid the old lining over the felt sheet and followed the lines, took me about 3 minutes.

ProgramPlus · Nov 29, 2020

Got a Minolta 16 QT off EBay. Film advance and shutter worked except shutter would hang open on 1/30th. Opened up the camera, lubed it and and shutter works on both speeds now. Unfortunately electronics were dead. Made some repairs such that the "overexposure" light comes on, but unfortunately it comes on in all lighting conditions so the meter is useless I guess.

Coincidentally a QT I "watched" on eBay was offered at a significant discount by its seller. It arrived in rougher condition than the first one. Shutter wouldn't open at all. Electronics corroded and dead. Opened it up again and got the shutter working at both speeds. Also took apart, tested and cleaned up the electronics and HURRAY, the meter seems to work appropriately. I'll be testing it with film tomorrow along with my first QT (manual). Also got what appears to be a working Minolta 16 MG-S recently. Loaded up 20 or so frames of 16 mm film I cut down from Kentmere 400 into a Minolta cartridge to do the testing.

awty · Nov 29, 2020

Ron (Netherlands) said:
'Contact adhesive' (e.g. from Pattex) is the way to go: you have to put it on both surfaces, let dry for a few minutes, and then put both surfaces against each other and put pressure on them....

...and better get the drums out to make it easier to glue the curtains and ribbons on...

NKDV FED repair & cla XIII by Ron (Netherlands), on Flickr

For the whole restoration of the FED see here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/zorki_2007/albums/72157631569483687

...and here's one I did on a Zorki:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/zorki_2007/albums/72157627921991695

Thanks Ron
I hope to find time over Christmas to do some curtaining.

Mr Flibble · Dec 4, 2020

Doing shutter curtains as well today. On a Dallmeyer Reflex.
Unfortunately not enough material to do both at the same time.

I haven't figured out how to take the shutter crate out of the body yet, so I'll have to do it like this for now.

More shutter material is underway from Japan and a new ground glass is underway from Lithuania.
Haven't found a good source for 1mm thick first surface mirrors yet.

Donald Qualls · Dec 4, 2020

I know where to get a formula for plating actual silver on glass, if you can find glass but not mirrors. Less durable than aluminum, but easy enough to redo every few years (at least in telescopes).

Ron (Netherlands) · Dec 4, 2020

Mr Flibble said:
More shutter material is underway from Japan and a new ground glass is underway from Lithuania.
Haven't found a good source for 1mm thick first surface mirrors yet.

Great work Rick! ..... but I thought you already did your own ground glass its quite easy: https://www.flickr.com/photos/zorki_2007/albums/72157660810886723

...I also ordered the shutter material from Japan, quite expensive don't you think...

Mr Flibble · Dec 4, 2020

Donald Qualls said:
I know where to get a formula for plating actual silver on glass, if you can find glass but not mirrors. Less durable than aluminum, but easy enough to redo every few years (at least in telescopes).

I've also seen someone stripping the paint off the back of a regular mirror to turn it into a FSM.

Ron (Netherlands) said:
Great work Rick! ..... but I thought you already did your own ground glass its quite easy: https://www.flickr.com/photos/zorki_2007/albums/72157660810886723

...I also ordered the shutter material from Japan, quite expensive don't you think...

Well, I'm no good at cutting glass yet, Vist Kamera cut it to the right size for me.

As for shutter cloth, haven't really looked if there's a cheaper choice. Have seen people making their own with textile paint, though.

Sirius Glass · Dec 4, 2020

My credit card. The last few days I have been exercising it at KEH, B&H, Adorama and the other usual suspects. Damn it someone has to stimulate the economy so it might as well be me.

Helios 1984 · Dec 9, 2020

I had nothing to do last night so I disassembled my Jupiter 21M 200mm for the 15th time (might 20th, I lost track) and re-adjusted the Stop Down Lever Stoppers, and secured them with a wee bit of blue thread locker.

Note: The drawing below represents, from right to left, the Automatic/Manual Tab pushing the Actuation Lever on the Stop Down Lever which hits the stoppers (the blue area represents the A/M slot on the side of the barrel). Both stoppers need to the lineup to prevent an eventual misalignment of the Stop Down Lever (Fig 03) or an offset in the f/Stops ( Fig 02).

Kino · Dec 11, 2020

Fixed the floppy shutter release on my Yashicamat 124G. The slot in the release piston had opened up so far it allowed the cable release pin to drop down into the body of the camera. Careful bending of the face plate and the release piston to reform the slot with pliers and a bit of lube and it's happy and solid again. Someone must have dropped it or bumped the camera with a cable release inserted to have bent the piston and face plate so drastically. I've been living with it like that for a decade, so it's nice to finally get it fixed!

Helios 1984 · Dec 16, 2020

I've repaired the worn-out screw mount of my Velbon PH-256 which stripped a few days ago. My first idea was to purchase an E-Z Lock thread insert and a drill tap kit to do the repair but it would have cost more than half the price of a new tripod head... Instead, I went to Home Depot and bought the 1/4-20 connector nut cap pictured below which looked quite promising. Back home, I started by enlarging the stripped screw hole with successive drill bits until I reached a very tight fit ( 23/64 ). Then, I reduced the circumference of the head of the connector nut cap with my rotary tool so that it would tightly fit inside the recess inside the base. Finally, I used a ratchet extension & my favourite ball-peen hammer to punch the connector cap nut through the new hole until it was flush with the bottom. This thing won't snap off anytime soon, I tell you.

Time: 30 minutes
Total cost: 1.47$

Paulin 1/4-20X17Mm Connector Cap (Open)

mshchem · Dec 19, 2020

I did a little plumbing work. We have very hard water. So we have a water softener. I added a couple valves and plumbed a hard water line to my thermostatic mixing valve. This is only the cold water feed. I have it set up so I can choose both hard or soft cold water.
Trying to reduce my salt consumption, soft water is essential for dishwashers, bathing and laundry. Washing fiber prints, I can use cold (hard) and hot (soft).

When you're the person who carries the 50 lb bags of salt, this is a terrific change.

removed account4 · Dec 19, 2020

im fixing a camera I built myself. its kind of fun

Wayne · Dec 19, 2020

My first sheets of Fuji Crystal Archive in matte finish. Now that I've seen the matte, I may never use glossy again...

Helios 1984 · Jan 4, 2021

I've disassembled, cleaned, and re-greased the dial of my Lunasix 3. Now, it's butter smooth.
To remove the logo, I've used a piece of cellphone battery adhesive and a button cell battery. The trick is to lift from one side until the whole thing comes off.
The beauty of this adhesive is that it is super sticky yet can easily be removed when you pull a corner.

Mr Flibble · Jan 5, 2021

Nice jobs on the meter and the tripod head Helios!

I had to wait a few weeks to get the replacement parts for the Dallmeyer Reflex, only the replacement mirror and ground glass showed up after Christmas

1.1mm thick FSM in the correct dimentions from China, through Ebay.

New Ground Glass from ViSt Camera in Vilnius, through Ebay

Not the clearest photo without the hood on it, but the reflected image looks fine

Still waiting for the replacement curtains from Aki-Asahi, despite them reaching the Postal Service Customs Office back on the 9th of December...

In the meantime I've freed up the pin that activates the mirror lock-up when the viewfinder hood is closed.

ciniframe · Jan 6, 2021

Since I found a reliable way to modify the feed chamber to take 120 rolls (take up on 620 spool since I do my own developing). Had hope that I could have a useable 6x9 by mix-match of Kodak Tourist cameras. But out of the 4 I have every-single-one has pinholes in the bellows corners, some with many, some with few. Have looked at Liquid electrical tape as a possible solution. Has anyone tried this to cover pinholes in the corners?

Donald Qualls · Jan 6, 2021

ciniframe said:
every-single-one has pinholes in the bellows corners, some with many, some with few. Have looked at Liquid electrical tape as a possible solution. Has anyone tried this to cover pinholes in the corners?

I've used liquid electrical tape, but I wasn't very happy with the outcome. Depending how old it is, it may fail to fully cure, and remain permanently sticky (though dusting the sticky surface with plumbago -- a foundry product, graphite dust, probably available at larger welding suppliers -- will likely correct this less visibly than the talcum powder I used). In addition, the cured material adds thickness and stiffness exactly where the bellows can least tolerate it, and even with talcum or plumbago, the repairs will tend to stick together when the bellows are folded closed.

The best outcomes I've had were with black masking tape -- a single layer inside and another outside will be less thick, less sticky, and less stiff than liquid electrical tape and will be opaque enough to do the job. Another that works very well is to get a piece of very thin split-grain black-dyed leather (I got the one I had from a Tandy leather store, if you can find one they'll probably still carry stuff like that), applied on the outside with rubber cement (contact cement would be better, but I used what I had at the time -- and on my Zeiss Ideal plate camera, the repairs still still holding up, fifteen years of very light use later). One advantage of the leather is it can be taken off and redone without further damage to the bellows.

Mr Flibble · Jan 8, 2021

Not so much fix as 'sexify' with a new Red (fake) Lizard Skin from Aki-Asahi.

Took nearly a whole month to pass through my country's postal system, because of the Christmas Crunch Time.

radiant · Jan 8, 2021

3D printed "spacers" to my 5x7" cut film holders to keep standard 5x7" sheet film in middle of holder (and not slipping around).

nosmok · Jan 24, 2021

Gluing some failing woodwork together on the back of a Century 8x10 that is about twenty years older than its name. Front standard is next.

tokam · Jan 24, 2021

Removed and cleaned the haze from the rear element of the taking lens of my Yashicamat 124G. I have to do this about once every two to three years. It cleans up easily with Kodak Lens Cleaner fluid and a Kimwipe. Apparently the hazing is caused by outgassing from shutter lubricant and is well known as a problem with the Yashicamat.

I toyed with the idea of leaving the lens element out for a month or two to (hopefully) 'dry' out the lube a bit but didn't like the prospect of losing or damaging the lens element. The hazing does appear to be diminishing over time so perhaps in 10 years this ritual cleaning won't be necessary.

Truzi · Jan 24, 2021

Plugged a hole in my mom's minivan's tire in 28^ F weather today. She gets a COVID vaccination tomorrow, so the tire was more important than cleaning the battery contacts in a flash.

Donald Qualls · Jan 25, 2021

I finally got the second LED headlight locked into place in my car, reflowed the solder on the striking arm in my antique clock (so the arm will stay in striking position), and scraped/filed/sanded enough material off a 3D printed agitator rod for my Yankee Clipper II tank to develop the Orca 100 film from my Pocket Instamatic 60 (spoiler: all the exposures look good, from bright sun to well lit indoors without flash). Got a roll of Fukkatsu 100 in there now, we'll see how that does (that film is not as fresh, but the cartridges are easier to open for reloading). Math problem for the day: how much Xtol replenisher do I need for a 24 exposure roll of 110 film? I guessed it at 1/4 the 70 ml I'd use for a 135-36.

What did you fix today? (part 2)

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