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Skor
Tinkerer
Username: Skor
Post Number: 1
Registered: 08-2008
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, August 03, 2008 - 01:59 pm: | 
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I'm glad to see this forum is still active with people, after seeing a few vintage camera repair forums that were dead since 04.
I just bought a Ciro-flex with a Alphax Wollensak shutter from a flea-market for 30 bucks(please don't tell me I got ripped off). I guess it's a Model B judging by this old brochure thing.
The only thing wrong with it, aside from some missing paint and a little dust inside, is the focus knob is completely off, and doesn't even adjust ANYTHING within the camera. The focus shaft is entirely stationary. I'd love to unscrew that pesky hex nut that's holding the shaft in place, but I need to take of the front plate first and to take of the front plate I need to take out the shutter and to take out the shutter I need to unscrew the retaining ring *phew*. So I've been having trouble locating/turning the retaining knob of the shutter. Which ring thing is it, and how the heck can I turn it.
Any help would be appreciated! Thanks. |
Rick_oleson
Tinkerer
Username: Rick_oleson
Post Number: 633
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, August 03, 2008 - 05:19 pm: |
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First, for $30 you got a lot of bang for the buck, no worries there.
Now for the focus. I think you've overestimated the complexity of this machine, but maybe I'm just not understanding. You can see the entire focus mechanism inside the camera when you open the back, there's a cam on the end of the shaft from the knob, which pushes on a bar that comes back from the lens panel. That's all there is. The shaft is attached to the knob with a cone shaped locking collar, which is tightened by the big screw (it's actually a nut, but it looks like a slotted screw) in the center of the knob. If the knob turns without turning the shaft, then either the screw is loose, or the conical collar is missing... can't think of a third possibility.
I've got to be missing something, I don't see a hex nut anywhere in the camera (other than the one holding the tripod socket onto the left side) |
Skor
Tinkerer
Username: Skor
Post Number: 2
Registered: 08-2008
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, August 03, 2008 - 05:44 pm: |
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I realized the mechanism of the focusing after looking through this guide prior to posting, but after your reccomendation of tightening the screw, it only came unscrewed as I tried to turn it, as the shaft will not move due to a lack of lubrication or a build up of gunk(I'm guessing). I'd also love to get this front faceplate off to release the hood so I can dust of the reflex mirror completely. A screw seems to be hidden under it, securing the hood in place frustratingly well  . |
Skor
Tinkerer
Username: Skor
Post Number: 3
Registered: 08-2008
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, August 03, 2008 - 06:18 pm: |
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The Hex nut is behind the front faceplate btw, and isn't visible from the "inside" of the camera where the film is exposed. The guide I linked to shows photos of what lies beneath the Ciro-flex's tough exterior, if you're worried about hurting your baby. |
Rick_oleson
Tinkerer
Username: Rick_oleson
Post Number: 634
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, August 03, 2008 - 07:41 pm: |
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So the cam is turning as you turn the knob, but the focus panel doesn't move? or you can't turn the knob at all?
The retaining ring for the shutter is that great big tube that sticks through into the film chamber. You'll notice it has spanner slots in the back edge, just unscrew it.
I don't know why you have to remove the faceplate to release the hood (I must be missing something again) - the hood is only held on by 4 screws on top. If you have an early B model without the Fresnel focusing screen, it has automatic parallax correction which doesn't particularly work but which does involve a link to the focusing panel to the right of the viewing lens, so in that version you have to remove a screw behind the focusing panel fascia to get the hood out to clean the mirror.
i don't think it's my baby, it was your thirty bucks. |
Rick_oleson
Tinkerer
Username: Rick_oleson
Post Number: 635
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, August 03, 2008 - 07:52 pm: |
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Here's a picture of the front panel and the parallax correction linkage in the early Ciroflex B and C. |
Skor
Tinkerer
Username: Skor
Post Number: 4
Registered: 08-2008
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, August 03, 2008 - 08:10 pm: |
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What tool can I use to unscrew the retaining ring? I can't get my fingers in nearly enough to unscrew it, and I don't have any "spanners" (crescent wrenches?) that would work in this application.
And by your baby, what I meant is I thought you were looking at your own when you couldn't see a hex nut. |
Rick_oleson
Tinkerer
Username: Rick_oleson
Post Number: 636
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, August 03, 2008 - 09:49 pm: |
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What I do is get a pair of cheap long nose pliers and grind the points down with a bench grinder to fit whatever ring I have... however, in this particular situation it's hard to keep that kind of tool in the slots in the ring, and a real spanner works better.
Another thing you might try is to get a piece of steel the correct thickness to fit in the slots, file notches in the end so it can't slip out, and grip it with a pair of pliers to turn it. |
Skor
Tinkerer
Username: Skor
Post Number: 5
Registered: 08-2008
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, August 03, 2008 - 10:11 pm: |
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So is it the larger or smaller ring? bosh of them are impossible to budge. |
