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Monolith
Tinkerer
Username: Monolith
Post Number: 1
Registered: 01-2011
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, January 13, 2011 - 11:02 am: | 
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Hey guys,
thanks to the great manual by Henry Taber, I began taking my Oly 35 RD apart to get to the shutter. Over a year ago, so I don't remember exactly what I did why, but I took the aperture unit out without the shutter unit, probably because together the wouldn't move. The shutter blades came free then, so I took them out, but the shutter unit sits in the lens tubus and I can't get it out. I can move it some millimeters, but that's all. And somehow I can't put the aperture unit back in place eighter, wonder how I took it out.
This is where I gave up a year ago, and now I finally decided to ask for help. Any ideas how I might get it out?
Any help is greatly appreciated!
Regards
Johannes |
Monolith
Tinkerer
Username: Monolith
Post Number: 2
Registered: 01-2011
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, January 13, 2011 - 11:17 am: |
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And oh yes, I tried wiggling. A lot! |
Sevo
Tinkerer
Username: Sevo
Post Number: 75
Registered: 09-2008
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, January 14, 2011 - 09:59 am: |
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You are going in from the wrong side - IIRC you may already be one or two steps deeper than you can put together again from the front.
Pull off the leatherette and unscrew the front (lens) panel. Be careful you do not damage the exposure mechanism when you take it out or replace it, there is some wiggling involved there. |
Monolith
Tinkerer
Username: Monolith
Post Number: 3
Registered: 01-2011
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 15, 2011 - 11:29 am: |
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Thanks for your reply, Sevo. Do you know this manual: https://kyp.hauslendale.com/classics/oly35rdcleaning.html ? To me that reads like he is doing it from the front.
But if i don't get to hear encouraging posts for this method i will try from the back. |
Neuberger
Tinkerer
Username: Neuberger
Post Number: 13
Registered: 01-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, January 16, 2011 - 03:23 am: |
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Like others before, you went at least one step too far going in from the front, although the method itself is recommended. The most important picture in Henry Taber's repair tips is the one with yellow arrows pointing at the screws to be removed. If I understand you correctly you have experienced what happens when you take out all the screws and by doing so you cannot reach the clockwork of the shutter in an RD, as this camera is somewhat differently designed (similar to the RC). If you carefully study the next picture in the repair tutorial - the one with blue, green and red arrows - you will se what Henry calls the shutter activation arm. This part usually is the reason for all the trouble during (dis)assembly of the complete "aperture/shutter housing" (Henry's words). It is important for the whole operation to understand the difference between the shutter blades on the one hand and the aperture blades on the other.
If you follow his repair advice step by step full restoration of an RDs blade mechanisms is possible. The only obstace in the way is afore-said "arm", but I think that is a sort of difficulty any tinkerer can overcome. |
Monolith
Tinkerer
Username: Monolith
Post Number: 4
Registered: 01-2011
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, January 19, 2011 - 01:03 pm: |
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Thanks for your reply. You are right, I took all the screws out - I understood Henry Taber so in the worst case everything falls out in a heap. But NOT everything fell out - only the aperture (yes, I understand the difference aperture/shutter). The shutter (except the blades, they fell out) is stuck in the lens barrel.
I can see this shutter activation arm through a hole in the shutter mechanism and there is a part of the shutter unit behind it, probably being blocked by it. But I can move it only about 5 mm, which doesn't get it out of the way. Thanks for strengthening my belief that I can make it, but at the moment I have no idea HOW. Do you have a more detailed advice for me?
Thanks
Johannes |
Neuberger
Tinkerer
Username: Neuberger
Post Number: 14
Registered: 01-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, January 21, 2011 - 01:25 pm: |
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You wrote: "The shutter (except the blades, they fell out) is stuck in the lens barrel." So what is the problem? It should be easy now to clean them and put them back. The shutter, as I already said in my previous post, is not behind the blades, it can be accessed after taking off the complete frontpanel. Look here (third picture from above): http://homepage1.nifty.com/fukucame/tips/35rd_t.htm.
What was you problem in the first place, Johannes?
I am asking this because if there is something wrong with the clockwork of the shutter removal of the blades will definitely not solve that problem |
Monolith
Tinkerer
Username: Monolith
Post Number: 5
Registered: 01-2011
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, January 21, 2011 - 02:58 pm: |
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Hey, the shutter is slow, what appears to be typical for RDs. what I see in the 3rd picture on this site isn't what I refer to as "shutter", I'd rather call that the clockwork? But as I'm not a native speaker, maybe I misinterpret the English terms. Anyway, I mean the unit around the shutter blades when I write "shutter", that is the part in the left side of the 4th picture on the same site. Or do you mean that?
In the picture in my first post what you see inside the lens barrel is the surface on which the blades used to sit. I guess it is possible to reassemble the shutter while it still sits in the lens barrel, but I was irritated because Henry Taber seems to get all the stuff underneath out, too.
But this "shutter activation lever", as Henry Taber calls it, seems to be in the way for that (as you suggested in your first post). So if you don't tell me I should take those parts under the shutter (down to the rear element) out and how to do it, I will try to clean and reassemble without doing that. |
Neuberger
Tinkerer
Username: Neuberger
Post Number: 15
Registered: 01-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 22, 2011 - 04:11 am: |
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On the several RDs I opened up for repair the shutter blades were sticky as there was oil and grime on them, after cleaning them they were fully functional again. On one specimen , however, there was a problem in the escapement mechanism so it was necessary to go deeper, that is why I still find the Japanese repair site so useful. So if the problem you are facing sits right in the retard escapement it is of little use tackling the blades alone. In your case it may be useful to separate the front panel from the body, but reassembly may be a bit complicated. Usually slow shutters (or stick blades, to be precise) can be cured without stripping down the complete camera. |
Monolith
Tinkerer
Username: Monolith
Post Number: 6
Registered: 01-2011
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 22, 2011 - 08:56 am: |
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Yes, I hope the sticky blades were the only problem. Though they were not as greasy as some apparently are, as I've seen in the web.
It looks like I have to take it apart farther because there is this tiny spring (blue arrow in Henry's manual) which seems to be impossible to hook in otherwise. So I took the front plate off, but still cannot separate it from the back of the lens/shutter or rear housing (as H.T. calls it). I located the 3 screws that obviously hold them together and now I can wiggle around, but something around the axis of the shutter activation lever keeps them together.
This is about where the parts seem to be held together. Is it helpful or dangerous to unsrcrew this screw?
Do you have a tip how to do this?
Thank you for your help! |
Neuberger
Tinkerer
Username: Neuberger
Post Number: 16
Registered: 01-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, January 23, 2011 - 03:25 am: |
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Well then, no, I do not think that unscrewing this screw is dangerous. And as you were able to dismantle the camera to get to all its innards you obviously have more than basic tinkering skills, so why worry now? The only two things you have to be careful about not to break or bend are the very fragile needle of the meter which is at the bottom of the camera and the leverage that ends before the aperture indicator scale of the RF window.
The right-angled lever of the shutter activating arm has a punched hole that matches with the end of the protruding shaft so putting it back is easy. In my RD specimen with the erratic escapement I took this route of getting it apart.
If you work with confidence you will very soon be able to finish you project. Do not forget to put some sealant (thread lock fluid or nail varnish) on the screw head. |
Neuberger
Tinkerer
Username: Neuberger
Post Number: 17
Registered: 01-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, January 23, 2011 - 03:54 am: |
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Hi, Johannes, two things more:
- before you unscrew anything, take notes of the components' position relative to each other thus documenting the status quo
- just found this: http://forum.xitek.com/showarchives.php?threadid=276083 |
Monolith
Tinkerer
Username: Monolith
Post Number: 7
Registered: 01-2011
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, January 27, 2011 - 01:23 pm: |
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Hi, Thanks for this link, was very helpful. So far it worked, I successfully disassembled and reassembled the shutter stuff. It was a lot of trial and error and god luck though.
Right now I found out that there is some problem with the aperture, it doesn't close properly. So I think I'll clean that, too. And it moves when I focus sometimes (not set to auto flash mode) - I'll try to find out why this is.
Different question: 
I was just wondering what this lever is good for or if there is something wrong with it in my camera. It isn't driven or moved by anything. It is only pressed against one of the rods that move the aperture. |
Neuberger
Tinkerer
Username: Neuberger
Post Number: 20
Registered: 01-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 29, 2011 - 03:05 am: |
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It's been a while since I had the last one apart, so, frankly, I do not really recall what this lever does. Maybe some other more experienced forum member can help out here.
I do know there are no parts in those vintage cameras that are superfluous. I faintly remember I had some problems putting the assembly back together because I did not put the spring-loaded brass lever on the thin steel bar like shown in the pictures and that was why the aperture mech wasn't working like it is supposed to. That is why I usually take notes before disassembly. |
Monolith
Tinkerer
Username: Monolith
Post Number: 8
Registered: 01-2011
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 29, 2011 - 05:42 am: |
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Ok thanks anyway. I put that spring that closes the aperture, if you mean that, back in place; after all that was the reason why I took the front plate off. But this little lever actually appears to be the reason why the aperture is unwilling to close. it causes friction. if I hold it away from the rod, it works! Strange...
One more question, if you don't mind: is the shaft that transmits the shutter speed supposed to turn smoothly? On my specimen the friction is very inhomogenous. So much, that turning the speed ring is verv hard sometimes. But I guess there is little I can do about it except lubricating a bit. |
Neuberger
Tinkerer
Username: Neuberger
Post Number: 21
Registered: 01-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 29, 2011 - 10:23 am: |
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On my user, and on the other RDs I have tried out, the friction one can feel is somewhat bumpy. I guess this is because of the long travel of either the serrated shaft by which the movement of the speed ring is transmitted to the shutter or the escapement's cam disk (nylon plus metal) itself. Lubrication - I put very little light grease to pivots and cogs - can be a problem, because lube attracts dirt. So after a while of working smoothly the bumpiness may return. |
Monolith
Tinkerer
Username: Monolith
Post Number: 9
Registered: 01-2011
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 04, 2011 - 04:43 am: |
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Hey, ok, I can live with a bit of bumpiness. Thanks for the help! It works again! I'm very proud I made it ;-) I learned a lot while working on it, and I guess I have to buy one more now and do it again so I don't forget everything again! I'll put a roll of film through it soon.
THANK YOU! |
Neuberger
Tinkerer
Username: Neuberger
Post Number: 25
Registered: 01-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 04, 2011 - 12:23 pm: |
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Congrats! If you've been bitten by the bug, you should try a more difficult one now, say a Hi-Matic 7 or 9 or a Canonet, as long as repairable ones can be had for little money! |
