Yashica D - stuck shutter

[CamShaw74]

Well, I've gone and done it.

I bought a Yashica D and thought i'd be clever and test the shutter speeds with my trusty shutter speed tester, so I set the shutter speed, opened the back, cocked the shutter and tried to fire. Nope. Worked fine before.

So, I closed the back and shutter still won't fire. I guess it did not like being fired with the back open.
Is it completely knackered or can it be repaired do you think?
I would imagine it's going to be a similar problem to changing the shutter speed after cocking the shutter?
Thank you for any assistance you can give!

 

[Fixcinater]

I don't think those have any idea whether the back is open or not. Do you have something soft and round like a rubber drain plug that you could press against the front of the taking lens to screw it off? If so, you could get access to the shutter blades and with some Q-tips clean them of the oil that is likely causing it to stick and not fire.

http://ratfactor.com/yashica-d-tlr-copal-mxv-shutter

 

[paul ron]

thats an excelent tutorial link. it covers everything a d very nicely n well organized.

 

[summicron1]

You didn't do anything wrong -- yur sort of like the lady on the Andrea Dorea who flipped a light switch at the precise instant that the Stockholm sliced into it. The ship was sinking but she ran around telling folks that she thought she must have accidentally hit a brake switch, or something.

50-year-old shutters do this at times. If the unscrewing of the front element and accessing the shutter don't work, a service is in thy future. Camera is worth it.

 

[CamShaw74]

Fixcinator, Thank you so much for your helpful words and the link. I must admit, I raised an eyebrow when I read the article and thought I can't possibly do this, but after re-reading it over the last day or so I am more comfortable with the idea now so I will have a go. Thank you so much.

summicron1, Right! well, that's good to know! I though it was because I had opened the back as there is a (what looks like) a release plunger so the mechanism can detect when the back is open. I guess I was just unlucky and the camera has a sticky shutter. I'm glad you said that the camera is worth a service. I really do love it but have not shot it yet!! I also have a Yashica 44 and just wanted it's bigger brother with the much cheaper 120 film. Having said that, I will soon be having a go at cutting down some 120 to 127 size with a cigar cutter so I can load some FP4+ and Tri-X into the 44.

It's all good fun isn't it!

 

[Randalcav]

I bought a beautiful Yashica A about 5 years ago. It had a new gray leatherette and cosmetically looked great. The shutter seemed broken...until today.
Fixcinator mentioned the ratfactor link and I read buried in the comments about moving the old film spool from the bottom, back to the top sometimes fixes problems. I did this but my shutter still would not fire on any of the 4 shutter speeds. As a last resort it finally opened on B (bulb). I was able to open and close the f stops and finally it free'd up and is working on all shutter speeds and f stops. Thanks CamShaw 74 for giving me the inspiration to at least pull this back of the shelf and look at it. I'm going to finally take it out tomorrow and give it a go!

 

[StanMac]

For Yashica service try Mark Hama (http://www.markhama.com/), who worked in the Yashica factory assembling Yashica TLRs.

He's CLA's several Yashica 35mm rangefinders for me and always did great work.

 

[CamShaw74]

Hi all,

Just an update. I finally decided to bite the bullet an open the Yashica D.

I followed the instructions from the link earlier in the thread and it went mostly to plan but I did make a couple of small mistakes. I took the screw out of the speed regulator top plate when you are not supposed to and this caused a lever to become disengaged with a slot on the main quarter cog (for want of a better description) which I did not spot. More on this later.

I found that for some reason the part of the mechanism that controls the firing of the shutter was on the REAR of the little lever that it pushes and not the front so in that configuration it could never fire. This confused me as to why that was there as I HAD fired it previously before it jammed up. I think, looking back I may have turned the speed control AFTER cocking the shutter in my panic after the shutter jammed originally. Not too sure, but I can't see any other explanation. It was quite easy to reset to the correct location though which I did.

I then dismantled everything down to the shutter blades and shims and I was quite pleased to find that they were gummed together with some unknown substance.
My original plan was to clean these with a Q-tip and some iso-alcohol but I did not have any or any lighter fluid so I used automotive brake/carb cleaner and it cleaned them beautifully without any marks and got rid of all the weird substance which was yellow on the Q-tip so I'm guessing it was some sort of oil/grease originally. I managed to reassemble the blades and shims on the second attempt. On the first attempt the blades fell out into the middle of the assembly!

I also cleaned the lenses and blew out any dust while I had them apart. I managed to get the assembly back together but realized that the four retaining screws are all different and it does actually tell you to mark them in the article (must have missed it), but you can soon see which goes where by inspection.

I also had an errant flash contact spring on the table but thanks to the diagram I put it back in place.

So, with the shutter assembly back together I tested it and it fired! shutter snapped sharply open and then closed again. Brilliant! So, on with the speed control ring and fixing ring. It seemed to fire at top speed (1/500) but it did this no matter what I set the speed to! dismantle again...

I found the culprit which was the disengaged quarter cog and lever on the speed controller, so I carefully took the screw out and lifted the top plate just enough to re-engage the mechanism, then reassemble again and test. This time the speeds seemed to work ok.

Reassemble the camera, solder the flash wire on and test. She seems to fire on all speeds now smoothly and with nice clean lenses too!

It took me five hours in total (including mistakes and a few cups of tea!). Really pleased now and I can't wait to load up some film and go shooting.

The only issue now is that the original front leather effect covering has gone brittle and broke off in lumps, so I now have a very scruffy front which is ok, but I would like to replace it if possible. Does anyone know of a source for this material that I can cut to shape and glue on?

Thank you for reading and I hope I have not bored you too much.



p.s. apologies for the terrible cell-phone pictures!

 

[GregW]

Hugostudio.com has a covering kit for these. I just recovered mine.

 

[CamShaw74]

Thank you for the link. Very useful.

 

[Charles O'Connor]

Can someone advise where to get proper screwdrivers for opening the cover and working on the shutter. i purchased a set of watch tools but the blades are too thick. Are those of you working on these grinding them down or is there a set you can recommend.

 

[Tel]

I use this set..

 

[albada]

Tel, your link is missing.
Anyway, here are some good screwdriver sets:
https://www.micro-tools.com/collections/screwdriver-sets

 

[henryvk]

Can someone advise where to get proper screwdrivers for opening the cover and working on the shutter. i purchased a set of watch tools but the blades are too thick. Are those of you working on these grinding them down or is there a set you can recommend.

I just pull the ends across some sandpaper at a flat angle until they fit.

 

[Tel]

Tel, your link is missing.
Anyway, here are some good screwdriver sets:
https://www.micro-tools.com/collections/screwdriver-sets

Weird; looking at it now the link is there. Anyhow, it's a Wera 8-piece Kraftform set #2035/2050. I have a set of Moody screwdrivers that I got from Microtools years ago. The blades were a little soft and got bent over time so I decided to go with either the Wiha or Wera. I guess Wera had a better-looking handle!

 

[Charles O'Connor]

Thanks Everyone.

 

[250swb]

I have some Wiha screwdrivers for work and the tips are very, very fine, such that they aren't suitable for any old, stuck, or threadlocked screws, they are more like screw drivers made only for precision assembly and not disassembly. But this is the case with many fine tipped screwdrivers. So have a cheap set on hand to customise for tricky jobs, and when it comes to applying controlled force without slipping have a set with large handles that you can get a good grip on, not the pencil thin type.

 

[Tel]

On the subject of stuck screws, you should have a supply of other tools handy. Get some acetone (drugstore makeup aisle) and a soldering iron with a clean tip. For me, these are the most useful tools for loosening stuck screws. If you're bending screwdriver blades, it's time to try different solutions. Acetone can dissolve thread lockers and heat from a soldering iron can be very useful for freeing stuck screws. A heat gun or a hair dryer can be very helpful when you're trying to remove leather(ette) from the camera body. I never put WD-40 into cameras or lenses, or any other solvent that contains oil.