What did you fix today? (part 2)

Helios 1984 · Aug 18, 2021

I just finished cleaning the aperture blades of my Olympic Trip 35, I hadn't used it in a while, and a bit of oil managed to find its way to the blade and glue 'em together.
Note: The Contaflex IV is on the ice, I'm trying to put my hands on a small quantity of Rocol Dry Moly to lubricate the Synchro-Compur.

PS:
My condolence about your Mom, Kino

awty · Aug 21, 2021

Finally worked out how to adjust my Walz range finder. Has a little threaded hole to insert something to turn a ball thingy .

awty · Aug 21, 2021

Made a 8x10 back to fit the half plate camera

awty · Aug 21, 2021

Fitted a 3x4 adapter back to 4x5 frame.
These a much easier to use than other roll film holders Ive seen.

Nicholas Lindan · Aug 22, 2021

Nicholas Lindan said:
Before I can state what I fixed today, I have to state what stopped working today. Nikon F2A DP-11 finder pantograph mechanism is occasionally sticking. And the AI mechanism on an recently acquired (ebay) TC-300 extender is also occasionally sticking.

The DP-11 problem was the aperture ring in the ring-resistor assembly; the rollers it turned on were sticking. A wee bit of clock oil on the roller shafts set that right. A bit of work with a watch case opener (think short, smoothly dull butter knife) pried a slightly dented outer case away from from the AI mechanism. So, both fixed.

awty · Aug 24, 2021

A Horizon arived today, had to make a new button to fit a cable release and tripod attachment as they dont have a tripod mount or anywhere to fit a cable release.
...hope it works, can't send it back now.

4season · Aug 24, 2021

Helios 1984 said:
I used a tiny bit of Singer Sewing Machine on the pinions

A couple of years ago while visiting my mom, I was passing by a sewing machine shop and recalled that she was in need of oil for her sewing machine. I was given a colorless liquid in a plastic container, and told that if I had any of the older Singer oil in the green-and-white metal can, I should toss it out; I don't recall the reasons why.

Jonno85uk · Sep 22, 2021

Recently bought a cheap M42 lens - a Sigma 28-80mm F3.5-4.5. Cosmetically it's mint. No dust/scratches on elements but it had weird, splotchy hazing on the inside of 1 element.

3 tiny grub screws on the periphery held the front ring in place and the 1st lens group came out easily as 1 big lump.

The 2nd group was 1 element and was retained by a ring that came out easily. The haze cleaned up easily with some iso lens wipes.
All back together and looking through it on a camera is no longer a soft mist.

I don't expect much from this lens as its an old, cheap zoom with zero info about it via google, but should be ok for now.

Helios 1984 · Sep 27, 2021

-Sticky aperture on my CZJ Tessar 50mm f/2.8 which happened to be a wee bit of oil that crept between the aperture & guide rings. Also, I've installed new homemade mirror bumpers for my Spotmatics. The old ones decayed quicker than expected... 4 years? : / While I was inspecting the SP, I noticed that the curtains are 1/8 inch apart from each other when advancing the film. I'll have to investigate the matter.

Mr Flibble · Sep 28, 2021

CLA'd a Contax II, slow speed mechanism was dirty. It included shreds of film. It also needed a bit of extra roller spring tension to bring the slow speeds back into spec.

Helios 1984 · Oct 3, 2021

A few days ago, my Spotmatic II fell victim to the dreaded mirror lockup at slow speeds; Below 1/8 seconds, in my case.
Fortunately, I was able to fix the problem by applying a smidgen of lubricant on 2 spots under the baseplate.

Helios 1984 · Oct 9, 2021

During the past few days, I've re-attached curtain ribbons and adjusted the curtains of my Spotmatic. One of them had detached, which caused a 1/4 inch gap between the curtains, and the other one was a wee bit slack.

Below, you can see my curtain alignment tool (Pat. pending) that I made with a pack of matches. The bar on the left is 4 layers thick to fill the empty space inside the curtain channel and its length is how far behind the focal plane the curtain bar is supposed to rest. The idea is to pull the curtain from behind the focal plane and slowly push it back until the edge of the tool hits the edge of the other curtain bar. This way, both curtain bars end up superimposed & parallel before re-attaching the ribbons to the curtain wind shaft. I'm quite pleased with the result as the curtains are now more parallel and superimposed than when I bought the camera.

P.S: I highly recommend Shoe Goo for this job.

Helios 1984 · Oct 12, 2021

I got my adjustments right on the Contaflex IV, B mode is working

Helios 1984 · Oct 19, 2021

The Contaflex IV is finally back in one piece and 100% operational

In the past few days, I've adjusted the focus, installed new cushion pads for the mirror & metal curtain, repainted the arrows on the knobs & the numbers on the frame counter, straightened the crooked light baffle inside the mirror box, and fixed the selenium light meter. I thought the former was dead until I accidentally pressed the wires with my thumb and the needle started to move inside the window. After applying a dot of tin to join the wires, the meter works just fine. I'm assuming it's an assembly oversight that slipped through the quality control. I've also found the source of that very unpleasant stiff & noisy focus. It turns out that I had overlooked the lubrication of the shutter driving axle which is required to ensure a smooth focus when the shutter is cocked. After lubricating the axle with good old molybdenum, it operates smoothly. So, after all of this, the camera is ready to take its first picture in God knows how long. I'm very pleased with how this project turned out, it was a good learning experience that will serve me with future repair projects.

AZD · Oct 20, 2021

Helios 1984 said:
A few days ago, my Spotmatic II fell victim to the dreaded mirror lockup at slow speeds; Below 1/8 seconds, in my case.
Fortunately, I was able to fix the problem by applying a smidgen of lubricant on 2 spots under the baseplate.

BOTH of my spottys did that in Yellowstone last year when it got real cold. I had a screwdriver but no oil or graphite. The kids had a #2 pencil though... It worked well enough under the circumstances.

Today's (partial) fix - A Nikon MD-12 that always kept the meter on and would only shoot in continuous mode. This particular MD-12 is beat. Lots of worn paint, cracked plastic trigger housing, and who knows what else. I wish I could see the camera that had been with it. Anyhow, that cracked housing was responsible for the meter. A tiny contact switch had come loose. Instead of intermittent contact, everything was kind of jammed together in the ON position. Plastic glue, screwdriver, easy fix. Also, one of the micro switches was stuck shut (continuous mode on) and couldn't be freed. So instead I bypassed the switch and permanently wired it to single mode. Film isn't exactly cheap these days.

Mr Flibble · Oct 20, 2021

Not so much today as in the last month

Patched a few pinholes in the curtains, cleaned the body, cleaned the prism, cleaned the lens.

lobitar · Oct 22, 2021

Helios 1984 said:
The Contaflex IV is finally back in one piece and 100% operational

In the past few days, I've adjusted the focus, installed new cushion pads for the mirror & metal curtain, repainted the arrows on the knobs & the numbers on the frame counter, straightened the crooked light baffle inside the mirror box, and fixed the selenium light meter. I thought the former was dead until I accidentally pressed the wires with my thumb and the needle started to move inside the window. After applying a dot of tin to join the wires, the meter works just fine. I'm assuming it's an assembly oversight that slipped through the quality control. I've also found the source of that very unpleasant stiff & noisy focus. It turns out that I had overlooked the lubrication of the shutter driving axle which is required to ensure a smooth focus when the shutter is cocked. After lubricating the axle with good old molybdenum, it operates smoothly. So, after all of this, the camera is ready to take its first picture in God knows how long. I'm very pleased with how this project turned out, it was a good learning experience that will serve me with future repair projects.

Impressive craftmanship! And thanks v.m. for sharing.

Helios 1984 · Oct 22, 2021

lobitar said:
Impressive craftmanship! And thanks v.m. for sharing.

Thank you

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Yesterday, I used radiator/gas tank repair putty to fix the broken eyepiece of my Topcon 35-L. It's not perfect but it will keep the dust outside the viewfinder.

Helios 1984 · Oct 23, 2021

Here's a little evening project.
I've made 2 push-on caps for my Topcon 35-L & Contaflex IV using leather from my old wallet.

4season · Oct 25, 2021

This was my first encounter with Agfa's green grease, and it certainly lived up to it's reputation! Lens focus helicoid, rangefinder wheel and it's adjustment screw were frozen solid. Had previously tried loosening them using naptha, heat (not much, as I was wary of cracking glass parts) penetrating oil, acetone and other solvents had no obvious effect. Taking a hint from Chris Sherlock's Youtube videos, I then tried a multi-day soak in CRC Lectra Clean, and that loosened things up just enough to be barely moveable. Some of that foul green grease even seized up the front lens element retaining ring, and oozed out along the edges of the front lens element itself. But once the assemblies were apart, the remaining green grease wiped away readily enough with my regular solvents.

Mr Flibble · Nov 2, 2021

Jupiter-12 bought for parts, turns out it was relatively complete except for a broken pin screw in the aperture control ring.
Also the spring-loaded ring that engages with the rangefinder on the camera was to tight.

All back together now. Will check the focus later this week.

AnselMortensen · Nov 2, 2021

Mr. F.,
Your adjustable spanner/filter-thread fixer is a beautiful, beautiful piece of equipment.

Jonno85uk · Nov 3, 2021

Looks like this one. I've been eyeing it up too.

Mr Flibble · Nov 4, 2021

It is! It was totally worth the investment too. The cheaper ones tend to flex and the bolts unscrew while in use.

In the meantime I'm servicing a Nikon S2 for someone. Slow speeds were not firing reliably. The rangefinder needed adjustment and the advance lever was sticky. After the initial round of cleaning it's already behaving a lot better.

Helios 1984 · Nov 4, 2021

Mr Flibble said:
It is! It was totally worth the investment too. The cheaper ones tend to flex and the bolts unscrew while in use.

+1
I have a cheaper one, it served the intended purpose but, boy, what a hunk of cheap scrap metal. I had to file down the tips because the would bend, and the screws always loosen up. To use with a gorilla grip or else bye-bye lens multi-coating :-/

What did you fix today? (part 2)

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