Why oh why.. Broken synchro-compur-p

klarifon · Aug 5, 2010

Hi!

I'm new to LF and I've just bought my first crown graphic with a Schneider-Kreuznach Xenar 135mm f/4.7. I had Carol Flutot CLA it so the speeds were accurate etc, and she had done a very nice job with it so I don't blame her for anything.
I picked it up from the customs the day before yesterday and I've just played around with it on the camera as I don't have any film yet and this morning I just put it to 1/500 and fired away just for the joy of hearing it when something awfull happened.. The shutter blades somehow cut into each other and two of them got small cuts in them and the three other got a bit bent!
As I said it was recently CLAd and I've just fired it some 10-20 times just to check the speeds and practicing a bit with it. To my knowledge I've not done anything you'r not supposed to do with a LF lens so how could this happen? Old age or something? What should I do now, can it be repaired or what? I'll take some pictures of it later tonight or tomorrow morning, I'll just have to borrow my sisters Nikon D80 first.

/Jonas

domaz · Aug 5, 2010

Only thing I could think of is the shutter blades were reassembled incorrectly. There is usually an upturned tab on one (or more?) synchro-compur blades and if the upturned tab doesn't rest on top of the other blades when reassembled then I expect bad things could happen at higher speed. I kind of doubt Carol would make that kind of mistake though- also possible some dirt or metal shavings got in the blades that would wreck havoc too.

klarifon · Aug 5, 2010

Ok, thanks for the information. I'm with you on the part that it's hard to believe Carol would make a misstake like that, I've only read great things about her. I have fired it several times at the top speed and the other quite high speeds so I don't understand why it didn't happen the first times then if there would have been something wrong with the blades. And I've not dropped it or anything like that either.

fotch · Aug 5, 2010

Send it back, however, the shipping has got to be a killer.

klarifon · Aug 5, 2010

Now I've taken some pictures.

klarifon · Aug 5, 2010

Situation under control, will get it fixed free of charge.

Ian Grant · Aug 5, 2010

klarifon said:
Situation under control, will get it fixed free of charge.

They are rather robust shutters so it's good to hear that it's being re-repaired FOC. A CLA in the UK means a total strip down & re-build.

Ian

AgX · Aug 5, 2010

You mean disassembling the clockwork??

Ian Grant · Aug 5, 2010

AgX said:
You mean disassembling the clockwork??

No, but some US CLA's are so cheap (not referring to Flutot's) and speeds aren't re-adjusted properly instead they seem to just clean without disassembling the main shutter components, re-lubricate and then give a print out of the actual shutter speed against the marked speed often a stop out. That is quite different to Europe where a lens comes back from a CLA with the shutter speeds within tolerance.

Ian

fotch · Aug 5, 2010

You cannot clean nor inspect for wear or damage, unless you take it apart. Dunking the whole item is what some call cleaning, but it is not, by any stretch of the imagination, a cleaning. I work on clocks and watches, and dip and dunk is often passed off for cleaning. Like cleaning your toes with your shoes and socks on, not effective.

AgX · Aug 6, 2010

Fotch,
So you, in opposite tió Ian, advocate to dissaassemlre the clockwork of a shutter and not only the blades during CLA?

Why oh why.. Broken synchro-compur-p

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