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David_nebenzahl
Tinkerer
Username: David_nebenzahl
Post Number: 266
Registered: 12-2009
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 08, 2010 - 08:04 pm: | 
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Some cameras were apparently never intended to be repaired.
At least that's my conclusion after stripping down my latest basket case, a Perfex fifty five I got very cheap on eBay. I managed to puzzle out how to get everything apart, except that you can't really get everything apart on this camera.
Once disassembled, the shutter assembly that holds the shutter drum and the curtain spindles can't be completely taken apart. The drum is pressed onto its shaft, and the spindles are retained by split ends that are crimped over a spring. So the whole assembly that holds the curtains and ribbons cannot be broken down further.
No doubt a skilled and determined repair person could do something major on this camera like replacing the curtains, but it's really beyond me at this point. (I probably have just enough skill to do it, though not the experience, but to be honest I just don't have the energy to undertake such an operation.)
Seems like the manufacturer decided that their camera was so well designed and built that it would never need to be taken completely apart and rebuilt. Heck, even Leicas can be (almost) competely stripped down. And this ain't no Leica.
It's too bad, because except for one of the curtains that has a slit in it, the edge of which is rubbing against the rollers, it looks pretty repairable. It may end up being a somewhat dowdy shelf queen. (Plenty of corrosion on the chrome parts of the body.)
Does anyone here have experience repairing this camera? Rick Oleson, are you around? It certainly is an interesting one, and it's an important piece of American camera history. |
Rick_oleson
Tinkerer
Username: Rick_oleson
Post Number: 1082
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, April 09, 2010 - 08:58 pm: |
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I have some experience with it and some notes on it, but it doesn't include replacing the curtains. As you have seen by now, the curtains are not real robust: the ribbons are just strips of curtain material with the middle cut out between them (not such an uncommon practice back in those days).
Before you get too hard on this camera and its details of construction, you should remember that this was a camera that matched the Contax III feature for feature (except for the self timer), at a price of less than $40, and did it well enough that a good number are still usable - despite their having been 'unrepairable' in some respects - 70 years after they were made. To accomplish a feat like that may well require some unorthodox assembly techniques. Sure, they could have assembled it the same way that Leicas were assembled, if they were going to charge Leica's price for them... but that's not the way it was.
If you'd like a copy of my notes, drop me an email at rick_oleson@yahoo.com |
David_nebenzahl
Tinkerer
Username: David_nebenzahl
Post Number: 269
Registered: 12-2009
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, April 10, 2010 - 10:26 am: |
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Rick: thanks again for your kind offer of help. I have it all apart and getting cleaned up awaiting reassembly.
You're right: I shouldn't be too hard on the camera (particularly since this is water under a long-disappeared bridge). I was just expressing frustration with working on something that seemed not to be designed to be repaired.
I don't like working on any camera that requires the removal of the body covering to reveal screws. I guess I got spoiled since most of my experience has been with the SovCam Leica copies (FEDs and Zorkis). There, the commies wisely chose to just let their fasteners be visible on the outside of the camera, so no peeling up of Vulcanite is required.
You can bet that trying to peel off 50- or 60-year old leatherette is going to be a losing proposition, no matter how careful one is. I got one side off intact, but ended up shredding the other side, so now I'll need to look for some replacement "skin" if I want to complete this repair. (I guess I'll look at Micro Tools first.)
Since the curtain spindles are permanently attached to the shutter plate, there's no way to retension them that I can see. (Perhaps a more intrepid tinkerer or repair person has a method for this.) So I'm stuck with whatever tension is left in those aging springs.
Other than that, it's not too badly built a camera. Well, a couple of things are rather funky: the outside shutter enclosure is flimsy sheet metal, not a nice diecast piece like on the SovCams, so film-plane distance and squareness is iffy at best. (I'm going to have to carefully re-bend mine to get it flat.) One odd thing is that the plane of curtain travel is at an angle to the film plane; shouldn't make any difference, I suppose, and is probably a design constraint.
But it's a cool-looking camera, so I'm plowing ahead with it. |
Rick_oleson
Tinkerer
Username: Rick_oleson
Post Number: 1083
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, April 10, 2010 - 11:13 am: |
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If you don't like to have to peel leather to reach screws, you've pretty well ruled out Zeiss Ikon and Rolleiflex, Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Pentax ..... |
Silversurfer
Tinkerer
Username: Silversurfer
Post Number: 17
Registered: 08-2009
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, April 10, 2010 - 04:18 pm: |
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Hi Guys, if a novice tinkerer might add a comment or two. I have a Perfex 44, the earlier model and would back up Rick's opinion. Over here in UK it is a rare beast and real quirky. Lot's of things that are made down to a price are not really made to be fully dismantled (ever tried to repair a toaster!).
I guess for $40.00 it was a steal compared to a Contax or Leica. After all,100mph in a Ford is the same as 100mph in a Ferrari, it's just the latter sounds sweeter!
My Perfex, along with my Mercury 2 are prime examples of American product design of the period. With nice die cast bodies they have survived well, mine polish up a treat! And in the Mercury's case can be torn right down like a dragsters engine in less then an hour! Great cameras, you should be proud of them! silversurfer. |
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