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Stevenoble
Tinkerer Username: Stevenoble
Post Number: 1 Registered: 09-2009
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Friday, September 11, 2009 - 10:12 pm: |
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Hi everyone - I'm new here, but this looks like a great site. I just got a Lynx 14 off EBay that is cosmetically excellent, but has a really nasty dent in the filter ring. I mean *really* nasty. The perimeter of the flange is almost bent at a right angle up against the front lens element hold down ring (a 10-15mm section). I plan to make some wood tools that match the ID and OD to try to hammer this out, but my guess is success will be futile. I read an article in this forum about using a radiator hose clamp as an OD form... that sounds like a good idea. Any other ideas out there for un-denting a lens? I have to disassemble the lens to fix the shutter that wont fire. Does anyone out there have a "junk" 14 that I could buy the lens barrel? I will keep trolling EBay for a junker as well. Worst case is I'll cut the section out to get the lens apart to see what else is broken inside. This critter must have taken a real hard smash since the little mirror that illuminates the light meter needle came off (its gone too - no sign of it) as well as the internal cover for the rangefinder was rattling around inside. Somebody before me had this apart. I can see evidence of using the wrong tools in many places to disassemble the outside pieces. I only paid $30, so I'm not feeling too bad. I knew I had a resto job on my hands but not this bad!! Meter is dead as well. However....the outside of this 14 looks *new*....so worth the effort to get it up and running. Lens glass is mint. Top and bottom covers are perfect. Thanks. --steve |
Harryrag
Tinkerer Username: Harryrag
Post Number: 106 Registered: 05-2008
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Saturday, September 12, 2009 - 04:52 am: |
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#1: Follow Henry's instructions here: https://kyp.hauslendale.com/classics/filterringtool.html This method is safe, cheap and it works, even with fixed lenses if a helper holds the camera while you are carefully hammering out the dent. #2: The meters in Yashicas are sturdy and reliable, the wiring plus battery cases, switches and LDRs are not, so I would check them first, in that order. #3. RF mirrors just drop off somehow because the glue fails. I often found them in all sorts of places inside the camera body, even in a remote area between gears in the bottom, not very often unharmed, though. #4: For shutter repair, study Daniel Mirtchell's excellent repair advice: http://www.pheugo.com/cameras/index.php?page=copalmxv #5: "Cutting out sections" is not very clever and should only be considered if all else fails. #6: No matter whether your camera is a Lynx 14 or Lynx 14E, searching the archives is highly recommended. |
Stevenoble
Tinkerer Username: Stevenoble
Post Number: 2 Registered: 09-2009
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Saturday, September 12, 2009 - 07:15 am: |
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Thanks Harry...I'll do some more reading. Yeah I noticed that the battery contact in the case is of poor quality. The meter mechanism itself is OK; it responds when probed by an ohm-meter - either the CdS is dead or there is an electrical problem in the lens. Cutting into this thing is a last resort and only if I have replacement parts to then build out a working unit; if I find another camera with a good lens but bad case then I'm set. The dent in this lens is *bad*; even if I'm successful straightening the dent out, the threads are so buggered I doubt the front retainer ring will come off. It appears this camera fell from waist height or higher and crashed onto a 'hard' round object about an inch in diameter, crushing the perimeter all the way until it is touching the retainer ring. It will be difficult to hammer this out without buggering the retainer ring as well. If I had a chance to inspect this camera before buying, I wouldn't have bought it (OK - so now it is a challenge to conquer the dent!). Thanks again --steve |
Chenard
Tinkerer Username: Chenard
Post Number: 33 Registered: 11-2006
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Sunday, September 13, 2009 - 05:36 pm: |
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Hi Steve, I followed Henry's instructions and removed a nasty ding in a lynx 14 just last month. It takes patience. I found that a *very* small amount of lubricant in the threads was helpful in getting the name ring out, as the threads in the filter ring were quite damaged. The trick was making sure the lubricant is on the threads, and not on the front surface of the name ring where your friction tool hits. While we're on the subject of lynx's, has anybody noticed that the only thing that keeps the filter ring rotating with the shutter speed ring is a little stud coming out of the top of the shutter's escapement? It was broken off on my camera, so the filter ring is now free wheeling wrt the rest of the camera. I know that it's not just my camera, too. On ebay, you can see in a lot of the photos that the little orange index mark on the filter ring doesn't line up with the main index mark at the top of the lens. I thought that this little pin is an Achille's Heel in an otherwise excellent camera. Mines a 14E, btw. Paul |
Stevenoble
Tinkerer Username: Stevenoble
Post Number: 4 Registered: 09-2009
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Sunday, September 13, 2009 - 05:59 pm: |
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Thx Chenard for your comments. You provided some encouragement. I plan to make a wood OD form and a wood chisel to attempt this. Also plan to warm up the area with a heat gun *very carefully* to make the aluminum softer - there is a high probability that the aluminum will crack as I attempt to reshape this, since at the apex of the dent, the metal is 90 degrees away from where it should be (ouch!) --steve |
Mikel
Tinkerer Username: Mikel
Post Number: 162 Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Sunday, September 13, 2009 - 08:29 pm: |
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And when you get your Lynx back into service, and I know you will, let me give you just a small bit of advice on the use of this camera (I have owned-repaired-used several). That huge, humongous lens barrel which is all aluminum will reflect an unexpected amount of light into the otherwise fine light meter cell just above it and you will get some severe underexposures if you are not aware of this only design defect in the camera. The lens is exceptionally good. |
Stevenoble
Tinkerer Username: Stevenoble
Post Number: 5 Registered: 09-2009
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Monday, September 14, 2009 - 05:45 am: |
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Thanks for the tip Mike. When I go camping I think the 14 would come in handy for driving tent stakes too! They certainly don't make cameras like this anymore..... |
Rlc
Tinkerer Username: Rlc
Post Number: 80 Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Monday, September 14, 2009 - 02:38 pm: |
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Steve; I have removed several filter ring dents using info from the archives. I would not recommend using a heat gun as the temperature required to anneal aluminum is far too great and damage to the lens may occur with the application of heat from a heat gun. A helper is needed to hold the lens firmly in place on the wood which you have cut out to the exact O.D. of the ring. Using a soft pine wood dowel rod (with rounded end) start hammering the dowel beginning at each end of the arc where the dent starts. I have removed some radical dents without damage to the threads using this method. Good Luck. Richard. |