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Bomobob
Tinkerer
Username: Bomobob
Post Number: 4
Registered: 10-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, December 08, 2007 - 03:00 pm: | 
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I just picked one of these up at a thrift store, and its main problem is a sticky shutter. 1/250 looks more like 1/15. The rewind/open shaft seems to be stuck in the up position as well, but I'm going to go in anyway and try and fix it myself. The top is off, the hotshoe desoldered. Where do I head now?
Do I have to strip off the leatherette to get at the lens mounting screws?
Can I do this?
Thanks,
Bob |
Wernerjb
Tinkerer
Username: Wernerjb
Post Number: 221
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, December 10, 2007 - 10:01 am: |
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I have never really been inside a VF 135's lens/shutter. But it is constructed very much like the Konica C35, the Vivitar 35EE or the Mamiya 135 to name just a few of a complete buch of 35mm program shutter needle-trap metering compact cameras. For cleaning purposes on these you usually go in from the front.
On the VF's lens there is a ring with two notches right beyond the filter thread which can be screwed out, but my experience with this lens set-up (Color-Skoparex 2,3/40) is very limited, so everything you do is at your own risk here.
Are you sure you used the camera with the shutter in auto position and used a fresh battery, as without this the mechanical default time is 1/30 (for flash sync.)
The blades (shutter AND aperture bladers are identical, there are only two of them altogether; most probably a Copal program shutter) can also be accessed (and held open with a toothpick!) from the film chamber, as they sit behind the lens glass. If you use cotton swabs moistened with lighter fluid, softly and carefully cleaning the blades should be possible, W. |
Bomobob
Tinkerer
Username: Bomobob
Post Number: 5
Registered: 10-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, December 10, 2007 - 10:39 am: |
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Thanks.
I went inside yesterday, and I believe I may have repaired my first RF, albeit a simple one.
The shutter was very slow even at ISO400 and bright light (meter seems accurate, compared to a similar camera), and on bulb you could see the blades closing in slo-mo.
I don't have a tool for removing lens retainer rings yet, but the wires for the photocell were long enough such that I could remove the lens assembly from the mount and rest it beside the body while I worked on it. I cleaned the shutter blades, and cleaned and lubed the innards very carefully.
I disassembled the rewind mechanism to find the shaft had been forced up too far so the little spring was blocking its return. Fixed that.
Cut some thin slide glass to size to replace the broken VF glass, and glued the RF glass back into place.
The shutter speed "looks" good now, but only a roll of film with tell if I was successful or not.
Definitely a good learning experience, especially when I wondered why the RF prism wasn't moving anymore when I focused the lens.  |
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