How can one remove the cemented lense doublet from the old brass ring around it? The lens dates around 1910-1920. I would like to have the rear element disassembled without braking the lenses or the brass ring.
here are some notes by the late Steve Grimes on the subject.... he was probably about as good as anybody at this sort of thing. Unfortunately, he did cut the brass ring.
He also includes a copy of an old article suggesting that the ring can be safely opened with a knife blade, but he sounds very dubious about its chances of success:
Thanks for the links...It took me a while to think how to do it and I ended up trying the method with the knife blade. What most likely was missing from the old article was that you have to cut away or remove a couple of mm of the bent part of the rim as to break the circle. After this I used a small hobby knife and bended the edges of the rim upwards. In the end the lens came out with a light push with one finger. During the process I protected the glass surfaces with scotch tape and used a piece of cardboard over the tape to protect lens from the knife blade. But still it wasn't easy...
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