    
Steve_roberts
Tinkerer
Username: Steve_roberts
Post Number: 49
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, September 22, 2010 - 09:42 am: | 
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Had a problem with an MX's slow speeds which, although cured, I thought I'd mention here in case anyone should be looking for information. The problem was the usual - slow speeds too slow and 1 sec struggling to get there at all. As I've done before on Spotmatics (and as described in postings here) I removed the escapement (easy on the MX - just two screws once the bottom is off) and gave it the usual swamping with fag lighter fluid. It seemed to respond to that, so I reinstalled it (noting that the two retaining screws are slightly different sizes). Sure enough 15th, quarter, half and one second speeds were all restored, but at an 8th the camera was firing at something around a 30th. Slackening off the two screws that secure the escapement, I discovered that the mechanism could be moved a small amount relative to the body and depending where it was when the screws were tightened, the 8th would come and go and the whole range of slow speeds be made to vary. The bigger screw seemed to have the most adjustment in it (owing to the clearance between it and its hole).
This all struck me as a bit strange - I'd have expected the mechanism to be made to a much higher degree of precision than it clearly was and presumably this was an adjustment that would have been performed during manufacture, yet there was no red sealing paint as there typically is on other adjustments such as shutter curtain tension, etc..
Perhaps someone has a more scientific explanation for this, but the bottom line is that if you remove the escapement from your MX and the speeds aren't what you hope for when you replace it, slacken the screws and try it in different positions.
Steve |
