What did you fix today? (part 2)

Mr Flibble · Mar 11, 2024

Figured out why the shutter had gotten uncoupled from the winding lever on the Graflex Century 35 I worked on two weeks ago.
It seems the focus is WAY off on this thing. The focus lies about a centimeter behind the film plane. So that was a wasted roll of film.

I'm guessing the rear lens group is out of position in the tube. Or it might be a missing or flipped element.
I'll get back to this one some time in the future.

Currently got a 1937 Contax II on the workbench in need of a good clean

dxqcanada · Mar 11, 2024

Minolta-35 rangefinder camera ... Tore it apart ... cleaned view/rangefinder ... cleaned gears ... replaced both curtains ... re-adjusted gears ... tested shutter speeds ... new leather ... more cleaning ...

nosmok · Mar 12, 2024

Put a brand-new bellows on an old Seneca 8x10 that's been lying fallow forever, it seems. Process was slowed down by me buying the wrong Seneca bellows-- for a Competitor instead of the Improved Seneca View that I have. But I built an extra wooden plate to join the bellows to the front standard, and it works. A couple test shots proved it to be light-tight. Very chuffed with the outcome!

Felix Georg · Mar 12, 2024

Fixed a Contax AX with the well-known mirror-slip by applying some heat. And I found a way to simply power it via a usb power bank instead of the 5CR2 lithium battery. That was the real improvement for me.

Mr Flibble · Mar 14, 2024

Mr Flibble said:
I'm guessing the rear lens group is out of position in the tube. Or it might be a missing or flipped element.
I'll get back to this one some time in the future.

After some more faffing about with the Century 35, I figured out the front element was flipped.
Spent some time calibrating the lens , verifying the focus with a ground glass and adjusting the focus scale to match.

Only calibrating the rangefinder remains. it is out by about half a foot.

kl122002 · Mar 20, 2024

I got 2 Asahi Pentax AP from junk, one of it could have been in fire with burnt marks with some ? White powder stuff there . These white powder removed almost all black paintings on dails. And the inside has lost many gears , there is nothing I could do and so I just keep it as spare . Thank heaven for the lens, it is Takumar 58 f/2, not at the best condition but workable.

And the another one, this , has successfully restored as much as I can.

An interesting area is the low speed timing gear from AP is unique. Actually ech generation has it own design on this gear, particularly from model K to S2. They look very similar but in fact the large copper wheel installation is reversed among these 2 models.

Don_ih · Mar 20, 2024

kl122002 said:
the low speed timing gear from AP is unique

Looks very similar to the one you find in a Leica III.

FlyingO · Mar 20, 2024

I have literally hundreds of 35mm cameras, (pic is just a few of my Nikon F and F2 cameras), so each day I’m fixing something.. light seals, electrical issues, etc.
Today however I’ve been trying to figure out why a Mamiya C220 I just got needs to have the bellows racked out almost 26mm in order to achieve infinity focus.. that’s more than just a few shims under the focusing screen could fix. If anyone has ideas, read my thread on the “Mamiya C220 odd focusing issue”.

MattKing · Mar 20, 2024

Don_ih's post about the C220 moved to the thread about the C220.

kl122002 · Mar 21, 2024

Don_ih said:
Looks very similar to the one you find in a Leica III.

Yes . The interior construction is like a LTM camera with a mirror box added, particularly from AP to K models.

The flaws , especially with model K , is from it's early design that the 1/1000 speed is actually an additional speed added on the original 1/500 speed design . And this very first generation of auto-aperture trigger rely heavily on user to quickly press and hold the shutter release button.

Ian Grant · Mar 23, 2024

Just serviced a Speed Graphic, for a lurker here. Disassembled the shutter mechanism freed up the Front/Rear shutter slider which was missing its washer, removed slight corrosion, lubricated the shutter before reassembly. Fixed the Graflok back which was not locking into place, disassemble the back and removed corrosion before repainted it. and the ground glass holder frame. About to finally reassemble everything, and will film test as there were slight light leaks, but I think this may have been because the frame was not locking tight.

Also final repair to pinholes on my Eyelid shutter.

Ian

kl122002 · Mar 24, 2024

Fixed 2 lenses today, : Auto-Takumar 105/2.8 and Super-Takumar 24/3.5

The 105/2.8 has a stiff focusing unit. I found it been serviced before and there were some damages left behind : the screw for aperture control has been over tightened and loose , one of the metal guide for focsuing is lost. I cleaned and replaced the grease . of all the parts. Removable screw seal is added to the loosen screw to prevent further loosing .
This "Auto" version is old but I am dlad the previous technician didn't loose any washers otherwise I would be headache .

The 24/3.5 is another story. It has never been opened but the aperture blades not working .
To service a 24/3.5 one must beak the factory seals and remove the core unit completely with the focusing helicoids.

The aperture unit seems hold by 3 screws as if it could accessible from the bottom. It is not. These screws are just there to hold the non-tunable base of the aperture.

To take the blades out for cleaning , one has to remove the upper lens group, and a *sealed* retaining ring .

Before taking off the ring, make sure to mark its position . This ring is not tightened by default so that there are space for the aperture blades driving plate to move .

This driving plate also has 2 screws for the lever . The lever has to be taken off before the driving plate.

This is the area (the slit ) this this lever to comes out.

So after cleaning , just put all back in order. It is nothing special there.

Mr Flibble · Mar 26, 2024

Making some process on restoring this (Aerial?) Cameraman's Repair Kit.

Repaired bad joints, replaced missing corner protectors, patched up and replaced parts of the upholstery and added new 'feet'.
Fresh coat of olive drab and still working on painting the hinges and latches black.

Will probably get round to restoring the inside somewhere during the week. Mainly repairing some loose dividers and re-glueing some of the leatherette coverings.

88E30M50 · Mar 29, 2024

The only thing I did today was to calibrate the rangefinder on a Leica IIIf.

mshchem · Mar 30, 2024

I cleaned up some scraps of wood leftover from darkroom builds. Put up a shelf in the garage and organized. Ready for next project.

kl122002 · Apr 1, 2024

Changing the Pentax SV shutter curtain. Now I am adjusting the 2nd curtain( closing curtain) 's opening.

Also I am testing with double sided tape as well, this is 3M 300LSE , which believed to be the strongest I could ever found. The width here used is 5mm .

To draw the curtains ends over the rollers I just used a paper memo stick . It works better than a plastic film.

forest bagger · Apr 2, 2024

Yesterday I made an old Nikon MICRO-NIKKOR 105/2.8 useable again - the aperture was sticky with oil and the focussing was absolutely impossible due to hardened grease.

Donald Qualls · Apr 2, 2024

forest bagger said:
old Nikon MICRO-NIKKOR 105/2.8

I need to get some more lenses for my Nikkormat(s) and that would be a great one...

Ian Grant · Apr 2, 2024

Made a lens board for mt Squire & C,o, Shepherd Maker 6" f4.5 Carte D'Visite Petzval lens. Initially I made a board to fit my 10x8 Agfa Ansco but found there was an issue focusing with my 5x4 reducing back. I could only focus without a Waterhouse stop,

The original Waterhouse stops would have had folding tabs. I'm missing the pinion fittings. Shepherd also began making cameras in the mid 1850s, these were sliding box cameras., Squire & Co appearto have taken over in 1864, going bankrupt in 1867.

So I then made a lens board for my wide angle ore-Anniversary Speed Graphic.

The lens was given to me attached to a 1930s professional Ensign lantern slide projector, along with a few hundred lantern slides, there is only one image with an early car, there's a Royal Mail coach in one shot, they seem to will date to the 1890s early 1900's.

The owner/photographer F.W. Pilditch, was a neighbor of my friends father's family, he was secretary of Aston Photographic Society in 1898.

The lens itself is a well corrected Petzval with no swirliness Now to get some Waterhouse stops made and shoot with it.

Ian

Mr Flibble · Apr 10, 2024

Received this Bell&Howell 71-Q Eyemo last week, used by the US Army Air Corps in 1941 as the A-3 Bombspotting camera.

It was starved of fresh oil, suffered from hardened grease and a bit of oxidation.
So I spent a few hours up to my neck in Eyemo guts. Luckily I had the technical manual at hand.
It is missing a set of screws, the ball bearings for the turret lock and the gear and cover for the external motor drive / rewind crank. Nothing that prevents it from working though.

Looking for a viewfinder to mount on the film door. Preferably a WW2 B&H 'Illuminator' reflex finder.

Mr Flibble · Apr 11, 2024

Revived this Super Paxette II, before I send it off to a friend who's daughter showed some interest in old cameras.
It seems to have suffered from moisture damage at some point in its life.

Cleaned off a lot of surface dirt.
I freed up the slow speed escapement which brought the thing back to life.
Reapplied the shutter speeds, printed on a strip of paper covered with tape.
Cleaned the haze out of the lens

VF is still a bit murky due to the deteriorated half-mirror.
Also sending along a Voigtlander Vitomatic and Vitoret and a couple of rolls of expired film.

Kino · Apr 11, 2024

Mr Flibble said:
Received this Bell&Howell 71-Q Eyemo last week, used by the US Army Air Corps in 1941 as the A-3 Bombspotting camera.

Looking for a viewfinder to mount on the film door. Preferably a WW2 B&H 'Illuminator' reflex finder.

Very nice! Still quite a capable camera; very steady movement and durable! The Spyder Turret model is very desirable.

I may still have an original drive belt and magazine clip for that model if you would like them, but they are for the 400 foot capable model.

You can have them if you need them. PM me if interested.

Mr Flibble · Apr 12, 2024

Thanks for the offer, Kino.

I do have a number of 71-Q models that have the access cover for the 400' magazine, but only one magazine so far.
I have some drive belts, but none that are specifically for the Eyemo/Filmo

kl122002 · Apr 12, 2024

I don't like rust on copper and so as the old solderings that can't be desoldered. Thank for today's teach I can remake it work in this way:

Single sided copper tape with electric conductive adhesive that do this job. It is not a perfect but still works.

It is a Pentax Meter (round shape, with batter check function) designed for old S3/S2 models.

Helios 1984 · May 4, 2024

I acquired this Minolta-16 MG, a few weeks ago, and didn't notice that the sliding lens cover was missing its knob. So, I made another one with a piece of hard plastic that I shaped with my rotary tool and glued into place with a minute dab of Shoe Goo.

What did you fix today? (part 2)

Mr Flibble

dxqcanada

nosmok

Felix Georg

Mr Flibble

kl122002

Don_ih

FlyingO

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MattKing

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kl122002

Ian Grant

kl122002

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Mr Flibble

88E30M50

mshchem

kl122002

forest bagger

Donald Qualls

Ian Grant

Mr Flibble

Mr Flibble

Kino

Mr Flibble

kl122002

Helios 1984

What did you fix today? (part 2)

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