Yashica Campus - Stiff speed ring on Copal shutter

What ho one and all,

A friend has asked me to have a look at his Yashica Campus. The most obvious issue is that the rangefinder window is not attached. In due course, i will remove the top and see what is necessary to re-attach it.

But the secondary issue, that he has not asked about but, in my humble opinion, could do with some 'work' is the shutter speed dial around the lens. It feels unnaturally stiff to turn. I am not proposing to dismantle the lens to clean and lube the shutter dial, but wondering if the application of a bit of alcohol and working the dial back and forth may ease it? Or is that likely to cause bigger problems?

Thanks for your thoughts and toodle pip

Rex

I'd be very hesitant to start dripping fluids into a lens - or camera in general. So no, I wouldn't recommend that. Obvious reasons when talking about alcohol (in the sense of ethanol) are that the little amount of water (always 4% v/v or more, since alcohol generally isn't pure) may cause corrosion, and (regardless of the fluid you use) you risk washing some dirt from the outer regions of the camera deeper into the shutter and aperture assembly. Any oil or grease may be dissolved and carried away only to be deposited as a fine vapor on aperture blades, lens elements etc.

The proper way is to disassemble the shutter and clean the parts that have become sticky. If you don't want to go this route, try exercising the shutter ring until it starts to move more smoothly. If matters don't improve after a few minutes of doing so, then I'm afraid it's going to take some proper cleaning.

While the aforesaid is absolutely correct, there are situations where a tiny drop of solvent can free up such a shutter speed or apreture ring in a camera of that general design. I did that for a couple of Canonets that had sticky aperture rings. Being concerned about inadvertant solvent/lubricant migration is so important that you might want to be a bit of a fanatic. Very tiny amount of solvent and also have some absorbing paper on the ring to wick out both solvent and any dissolved debris. At the same time, turn the ring from one end to the other, repeatedly. If the stiffness is from elderly grease ther may be some relief. If it is dirt, possibly not. But definitly not alcohol, especially if referring to what we call isopropyl, denatured or rubbing alcohol in the US. That has way too much water in it. Better to use napha (lighter fluid; white gas) of you choose to try this approach. It may work and it may not, and if it works the problem may recur.

Yes, I was thinking isopropyl alcohol but will perhaps use lighter fluid. The shutter appears to be working just fine. I have a phone app that measures the sound, and the slow speeds appear to be very good. It is just the setting ring that is very stiff.

Was not planning to get into the lens, but I can remove the name ring and perhaps see what is what. My guess is that the speed indents are slightly gummed up and making the ring difficult to turn.

What ho one and all,

Intending to 'ease' a very stiff Copal SV shutter speed dial on a Yashica Campus. I have done the obligatory Google research and see that removing the dial is not so complex.

But that is not my question; I am interested in how a shutter actually works. I kinda understand how the slow speed escarpment works but how do the higher speeds works? 1/500th second for example; what is the mechanism, that allows the shutter to open and close do fast?

Thanks and toodle pip

Rekusu said:

What ho one and all,

Intending to 'ease' a very stiff Copal SV shutter speed dial on a Yashica Campus. I have done the obligatory Google research and see that removing the dial is not so complex.

But that is not my question; I am interested in how a shutter actually works. I kinda understand how the slow speed escarpment works but how do the higher speeds works? 1/500th second for example; what is the mechanism, that allows the shutter to open and close do fast?

Thanks and toodle pip

Click to expand...

a spring and a speed cam with varying depth slot

This might be useful, but it likely won't discuss the part about disassembling the camera and (with luck) correctly reassembling it. My experience with that aspect of similar camera leads me to never try it again.

Campus shutter dial heads-up,

Removed the shutter speed dial today as well as the rotary thing that holds it all together. Bit of lighter fuel on the various dial contact surfaces, followed by a micro drop of oil and reassembled. The dial selection dial now feels considerable better; not as I would think perfect, but certainly rotates reasonably freely.

So kinda job done. However, I can neither wind on nor trip the shutter. Did think it is the pad of death, but this camera does not have one, or if it does, certainly not easy to access. There is s little cam that is depressed with the shutter button, and if that is manually pressed, then I can wind on. But the shutter button is not depressing this sufficiently.

And although I can then wind on, the shutter itself is not tripping. Obviously, some little lever is not doing what it should but I have n idea where that lever can be.

Grateful for any suggestions.

Thanks and toodle pip

Today, I have removed the lens from the body and opened it to try and find the problem. First time inside a Copal shutter.
Checked the self timer and that seems OK; removed the timing mechanism, and that seem OK too.
But cannot see why the shutter, which is fully tensioned, will not actually trip. The lever that connects to the shutter release moves freely but is hitting something that will not actually activate the shutter.

Guess the next stage will be to go deeper. Cannot be anything too complex. Given that one problem had been that the viewfinder bright line frame marking glass mirror was broken, there is a chance that a shard of glass has found its way inside.