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John
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, March 30, 2005 - 01:46 am: | 
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My old QL17 has had an erratic contact for some time, so I decided to clean the battery contact properly.
Having removed the bottom plate, the contact came out of the camera easily and broke off the blue wire as it did. After cleaning the contact, I gently pulled on the wire with a pair of tweezers to get enough slack to solder it back on the contact.
Catastrophe - the wire broke off inside the camera! I have seen an article on replacing this wire for the GIII version by using the pcb at the front corner of the body, under the bottom plate. However, my camera is not a GIII and does not have that board.
Is there any easy way to get the power into the body, or do I have to take the major step of removing the front plate?
I suppose I could always use it in manual mode, but I have had this camera a long time (25 years or so) and would like to have use of all its functions.
Any ideas would be most welcome. |
Winfried
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, March 30, 2005 - 02:08 am: |
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I think on the old QL17 it is even easier to remove the front assembly. If I remember correctly, it is a standard design, i.e. the front plate of the body holds the lens and shutter - on the newer QL17 (with 40mm lens) there are front panels to remove.
Wiring of the old model should be quite straightforward, I think everything will be obvious once you took off the front assembly. As you noticed, the battery wire is often corroded much further than at the solder point, and if possible it should be replaced completely. |
John
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, March 30, 2005 - 04:44 am: |
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Winfried, many thanks for your thoughts.
My QL is not the original with the 45mm lens, it is the smaller 1969 - 72 model that has the 40mm lens and is the same size as the GIII.
I have a feeling that the construction is the same as the GIII, and just as complicated. I cannot see any way out of my problem, apart from removing the lens.
I wonder if the wire acts as a wick to draw the corrosion along the individual strands? |
Winfried
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 03:29 am: |
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I see - the 'new' Canonet is pretty similar to the QL17-GIII, the main difference is the battery test circuit.
I think there is no other way to get access to that wire than removing the front panels and the lens board. Most difficult part of this work is removal of the leatherette, it is very thin and the glue is very strong on the Canonets. It is almost impossible to tear it off without any cracks. The other operations are quite straightforward. One screw of the lens board is partially hidden by the cocking slider, you have to move the advance crank to get access to that bottom corner screw. |
John
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 04:27 am: |
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Winfried, I did the job last night.
As predicted, the leatherette came off in small pieces, and I had to half wind the advance to clear the bottom screw.
Apart from that, the only thing to watch for is the bright-line frame shooting out of place, powered by its return spring. A small patch of masking tape kept it in place for reassembly. Of course, you have to ensure that the new wire does not foul on the focus mechanism at infinity, but that's not too hard.
I now have a working QL17 in need of recovering - I'm off to the thrift shops looking for a leather purse!! |
Jan Dvorak
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 02:06 pm: |
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John,
You will save yourself a lot of time by trying this site: www.cameraleather.com
Good luck,
Jan |
rick oleson
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 02:59 pm: |
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John, your guess about the wire is correct... typically the corrosion is greatest at the battery box junction and continues up the wire for some distance before you get to clean wire. I don't know if this is corrosion wicking up the strands or if it is related to the electrical charge differential between the wire and the surrounding atmosphere at any given point along the wire, but in my experience by the time the end connection fails you generally have an inch or two of corroded wire inside the insulation, and it's always been at the (-) end of the charged circuit.
: ) = |
charlie
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, March 31, 2005 - 07:35 pm: |
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I bought a Yashica GSN that had corrosion in the battery compartment that had travelled up to the pad on the battery test switch board. From there it had followed another wire to the battery test lamp where it had corroded through completly. I replaced the first wire but decided I could live without the test lamp for a while. |
John
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, April 01, 2005 - 12:54 am: |
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Thanks for your thoughts guys - most interesting. I seem to remember that the electrolytic corrosion effect is one reason that car battery circuits were changed to -ve earth many years ago.
I have been to cameraleather on the net and may fall back to that if my own efforts don't work out (I'm just tight with cash!). |
