What did you fix today?

[Lightproof]

I cleaned the old slide projector of my grandpa. It is a german no-name product, but on the inside I found "Rollei" on the circuit board. =)

Tomorrow I will re-lubricate the mechanics and overpaint the terrible orange of the case.

 

[Laurent]

Yashica mat 124 G. I bought it for €40, with a sticky shutter. For the first time I disassembled the camera, dipped the shutter in some "spirit" (not sure this is the exact term, it's almost lighter fluid) and had the surprise to hear the delayed release starting moving at some point...

I'll have a new "beater" camera in a few days (not sure I need it, but it was too cheap to pass on ;-) )

 

[Ralph Javins]

Good morning;

My most recent repair was a Vivitar 135mm f/2.8 Telephoto in Pentax/M42 mount. The front elements and their holder moved around about a millimeter in all directions.

Taking it apart to get to the offending pieces took a while. There is a discreet threaded ring screwed into the front of the cylindrical focusing tube. Finally getting that piece out quickly allowed access to the three small set screws that became visible and accessible when the focusing tube was turned to bring the lens elements mount out to the point of closest focus. Retightening those three set screws restored normal functionality.

 

[Monophoto]

When we arrived here in San Jose on Thursday night, I found that the elevator crank on my Slik U212 tripod had broken. The end of the handle had broken off, and the entire handle had come out of the tripod head.

Couldn't do anything about the broken end, but I borrowed a screwdriver from our son and was able to reinstall the crank in the head so that it still works.

 

[hoffy]

Finally, I can add something!

I fixed 2 lenses tonight. A Cosina 100mm F3.5 and a Minolta AF 28mm F2.8.

The rear element on the Cosina was badly fogged, from a bad cleaning job in the past (you could see streaks!). The Minolta had sticky iris blades.

The Cosina was the easiest to do, apart from getting the Iris back together.

THe minolta, well, I made the mistake of taking it off the helicoil. Do you think I could get it back together again? I forgot how hard it is to get a multi start thread going. And 3 out of the 4 attempts I made, I managed to get the wrong start.

But, I got there. Both lenses are working much better then when I started.

 

[darinwc]

One Canon FD 50mm f1.4 SSC with a sticky shutter. First I tricked the mount ring half closed. Then I removed the 3 screws holding the mount assembly. After that assembly was removed, I used the chance to clean it out, it was very grimy. After that I could get my fingers around the rear element end unscrew it. Dabbed some Ronsonol on the blades, actuated them a few times, wiped them off. Repeated a few times until oil removed. Then put everything back together. Note to check back in a few weeks, as oil tends to travel into the blades from other areas.

Did the same with a vivitar 28mm f2 (kiron make?), Except to get to the blades, I went through the front. The entire front half unscrewed with enough force around it.

 

[Dali]

Yashica Super TL

Well, I finally took care of a Yashica Super TL SLR camera I bought on E*** a few month ago.

So far, I could not remove the battery compartiment screw. I succeeded yesterday to remove it so I could check there was no corrosion at all and as I was in a good mood, I changed all the light seals. Last, I cleaned and slightly lubed the M42 screw mount thread. A bit of alcohol to remove some stains on the body and it is fully functional now!

 

[Curt]

I'm putting a lock/unlock on the table arm of my Durst 138 5x7 enlarger, I can't see how the foot pedal cable I just got attaches to the table support, it's missing some hardware so I'm designing my own. It's going to be more compact and won't be a dust collector like a cable and pedal setup.

 

[EASmithV]

Marlin model 60

 

[Toffle]

Still trying to fix the back on my GS-1... (does not register frame #1 and winds through the entire roll) It would be a lot easier if I weren´t several thousand km from home. So, I guess that would be something I didn´t fix... again. Oh, yeah... I´m on a tour in central Paraguay and 3/4 of our group got food poisoning last night... that´s something else I wish I could fix.

Cheers,

 

[Marc Akemann]

Still trying to fix the back on my GS-1... (does not register frame #1 and winds through the entire roll) It would be a lot easier if I weren´t several thousand km from home. So, I guess that would be something I didn´t fix... again. Oh, yeah... I´m on a tour in central Paraguay and 3/4 of our group got food poisoning last night... that´s something else I wish I could fix.

Cheers,

Tom, wish I could help with the film back but regarding the food poisoning, acidophilus is your intestinal fix on trips abroad. (You probably know that already.)
Good luck with the rest of your trip!

Marc

 

[GJA]

Last night in order to fix my boredom I fixed some PL100M in fixer that I know to be still pretty good. It cleared a piece of 35mm film in seconds, but the 4x5 sheet of PL100M took a while longer, and when it was cleared it was almost milky pink. Is this normal?

I wish I could fix this fixing issue, if it is one, i might have to find a different fixer or mix up a new batch of fix.

 

[Toffle]

Tom, wish I could help with the film back but regarding the food poisoning, acidophilus is your intestinal fix on trips abroad. (You probably know that already.)
Good luck with the rest of your trip!

Marc

Thanks, Marc. My daughter and niece had to go to the hospital here in Filadelfia, and are resting quietly right now. My wife (and about a dozen others) spent the night suffering at both ends, but seem to be on the mend. I am only a little queasy, so I am counting my blessings. As for the bad back, (camera back, that is) it will have to wait until I return to North America. I always knew I should buy a spare, so the fact that I am stuck without one is my own fault.

Thanks again for the kind words, I will PM you on any developments. (as it is pretty much outside this thread)

Cheers,

 

[Roger Krueger]

I finally got the AF on my Hexar calibrated to actual film (by using res charts doing test sets at various settings.)

Lots of time with a pocket microscope and an Excel chart but well worth it.

Significantly different/better than the calibration-to-GG from my repairman on the CLA he did as part of the shutter-button repair. Just not enough depth of focus at 35/2 to make GG calibration good enough apparently.

Because really, dead-reliable active AF in f2-1/30th darkness is most of what I want this beauty for. Light good enough for a rangefinder/passive SLR AF/scale focus I've got plenty of other options.

But somebody please tell me why an elderly $500 compact has a lookup table to compensate for focus shift and shiny new $8000 DSLRs don't?

 

[nsurit]

No great task, however I was excited when I took my Brownie Hawkeye apart, applied a little lighter fluid to the shutter and it started working again. Dang, I wish my plumbing repairs went that easy. Bill Barber

 

[Thomas Wilson]

Two shutters.

First was the Ilex Acme # 3 to which my 8½" Commercial Ektar is mounted. 1" & ½" were D.O.A. Up to 1/25th were a crap shoot. This one was so easy I felt emboldened to try another.

Second was a Synchro-Compur #1. One second averaged around 7 seconds, ½" around 2" and so on. Same old low end lag. Three tries and the blades didn't fall off the pins upon remounting the back.

Both now work like champs, and sing like canaries. I almost hurt my shoulder patting myself on the back.

 

[mike c]

Cleaning house (darkroom) put a bracket on top of D2-V to stop vibration.

Mike

 

[GS_Jean]

Old foam removal, cleaning and, off course new, seal foam in a beautifull black Ricoh 500ME who just received a cleaner lens from a dead silver model.
New seal foam in a beautifull Ricoh Hi-Color 35 and cut second set for another one (less nice than the 1st one but older model with front release button) still to be cleaned (what a mess these old decomposing foam).

And directly after that a walk out for first shots with my "new" Hi-Color 35 ... what a funny camera!

 

[mhulsman]

Fixed 5 old 8x10 wooden film cassettes.
I renewed the tape hinges, and glued broken parts.
Still have to "grease" the darkslides with pledge.

 

[JohnArs]

I developed 9 8x10 and 6 35 mm B&W Films and Fixed them also!

Cheers Armin

 

[Shangheye]

Cleaned the haze out the 80 year old Kodak Ektar 190mm f4.5 on my Graflex Series D

 

[Iwagoshi]

I fixed my back after moving the Seal dry mount press (the Masterpiece 350), what a boat anchor.

 

[Rick A]

Tom, wish I could help with the film back but regarding the food poisoning, acidophilus is your intestinal fix on trips abroad. (You probably know that already.)
Good luck with the rest of your trip!

Marc

Cant help with the back either. Always pack liquid charcoal capsules on travels, take one or two at the first sign of distress. Guaranteed to clear what ever ails you nearly immediatly. Never leave home without them!
Rick

 

[Toffle]

Cant help with the back either. Always pack liquid charcoal capsules on travels, take one or two at the first sign of distress. Guaranteed to clear what ever ails you nearly immediatly. Never leave home without them!
Rick

Well, of the whole tour group I was one of the lucky few who didn't get deathly ill. My daughter and niece were hospitalized briefly. I'm not sure what kind of meds they pumped into them, but it worked like a charm.

Back on topic. I had to re-set the aperture blades on a wonky lens tonight. 2 1/2 hours of frustration, :rolleyes: and 1/2 hour to do it right.

Cheers,

 

[mwdake]

Actually a few days ago.
I had the bright idea of using a black film or paper bag to replace or supplement the damaged leather bag on my RB Graflex bag mag.
I haven't tested it with film yet but I thik it might work.