| Author |
Message |
    
Tobias
Tinkerer
Username: Tobias
Post Number: 1
Registered: 03-2011
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, March 27, 2011 - 07:24 am: | 
|
I'm currently attempting a repair on an Ikoflex Ia. It's mainly the focus mechanism I'm trying to fix, although I might see if I can do something about the self timer too, while I'm at it! I've done some disassembly but am unsure how to proceed. It appears that quite a lot of the camera has to come apart. I've taken off the sides and have been trying to take off the front, but the shutter levers are blocking the front plate.
Does anyone have any pointers on how to get to the gummed up parts of the focus mechanism for cleaning?
Here's where I'm at with the disassembly:
http://washout.dyndns.org/ikoflex/ikoflex_01.jpg
http://washout.dyndns.org/ikoflex/ikoflex_02.jpg
http://washout.dyndns.org/ikoflex/ikoflex_03.jpg
Cheers!
(my first post, yay!) |
Scott
Tinkerer
Username: Scott
Post Number: 135
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, March 27, 2011 - 01:14 pm: |
|
Can you get at the retaining ring on the back of the shutter? Remove the ring, and the shutter will probably come off.
One more thing-- on TLRs with this sort of focus mechanism (the axel through the body), you can usually see (and maybe lubricate) the axel by removing the top focusing hood, ground glass, and mirror. |
Wonloo
Tinkerer
Username: Wonloo
Post Number: 19
Registered: 07-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, March 27, 2011 - 06:21 pm: |
|
Tobias, you already went far enough. The following steps may help:
1) Take the swing arm in the center of pic 3 out. Put some naphtha (lighter fuel) in the axle and try to rotate it back and forth to free it up. Don't force it. After it is free, give it a pin-drop of oil. Here is one of the few places that you can use oil on a camera. Don't do that on the shutter.
2) Take out the small pulley connected to the swing arm by the removing the big screw. The swing arm pushes the pulley to move the lens board in and out to adjust the focus. Clean it well too. Be careful with the two small springs pushing the swing arm.
3) Use naphtha to clean up the harden grease on the rails on both sides. You can pull and push the lens board to help. After they are free, apply some new grease. I use white grease and it seems to work well.
This should get you going with the lens board. Ikoflex is a very nice camera. Its Tessa lens takes very share pictures if you adjust the focus right. |
Tobias
Tinkerer
Username: Tobias
Post Number: 2
Registered: 03-2011
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 28, 2011 - 11:10 am: |
|
Thanks for your responses! I am indeed pretty keen on getting this camera going again, as it was my granddad's.
Wonloo: Thanks! I've tried to figure out a way to remove the swing arm, but it seems to be firmly in place and there are no screws around it. Do you happen to recall just how it can be taken out? I've started to loosen up the parts around it with lighter fuel. |
Tobias
Tinkerer
Username: Tobias
Post Number: 3
Registered: 03-2011
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 28, 2011 - 01:14 pm: |
|
A-ha, got the swing arm out after a while. There's a hole in the body on the opposite side, such that a screwdriver can be inserted through the space between the taking lens and the film. A screw holding the swing arm (in the centre of the swing arm axle) can then be loosened.
I've cleaned the swing arm and the pulley. The "fork" attached to the lens board is difficult to clean entirely without removing it, but it looks pretty complicated to take it out as some parts are behind the frame advancement mechanism.
Next I'm going to lubricate and start putting the focus mechanism together again. I've got some silicon grease that should do. Then I might have a look at the self timer, fixing that would be a bonus. |
Mattboston
Tinkerer
Username: Mattboston
Post Number: 24
Registered: 01-2009
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 28, 2011 - 05:21 pm: |
|
I always loved that camera, I just hated actually using it. Too many interlocks, it always seemed that I forgot to do something as I tried to take a photo. I guess I just never used it often enough.
The self timer is pretty easy to work on- it is an entirely separate assembly. I worked on one a long time ago- but here is photo of an exploded self-timer. The clutch part was the problem on mine- a slight bend to the "S" spring got it working again.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y118/mstott/ikoflex%201a/iko-timerparts-1.jpg
Good luck,
Matt |
Wonloo
Tinkerer
Username: Wonloo
Post Number: 20
Registered: 07-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, March 28, 2011 - 06:38 pm: |
|
One suggestion: you may take the self-timer out and clean it with lighter fuel. Normally, that should be sufficient to bring it back to life. The timing of the self-timer is not critical. Misalignment that causes some seconds off will do no harm. Unless you are sure you can put it back, don't further disassemble the shutter components into pieces. I will not suggest taking out or adjusting the shutter speed governor if you do not have a shutter speed tester. It is very easy to make the 1/10 and 1/25 go out of sequence (1/10 becomes faster than 1/25) and very hard to detect and adjust it back without a tester.
If you have problem resetting the taking and viewing lens, post again. I am sure a lot of people here will be able to help you on that. Oh, do not adjust the little plate on the right hand side in pic 3. If I remember correctly, that is the position stopper for focusing at infinity. |
Tobias
Tinkerer
Username: Tobias
Post Number: 4
Registered: 03-2011
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, March 29, 2011 - 10:19 am: |
|
Mattboston: thanks, I'm glad I didn't have to disassemble it that far  .
The problem with the self timer was that it wouldn't go through the whole cycle under its own power, it needed a few nudges. A couple of lighter fuel drops fixed that and it now goes all the way through! I'm not so concerned with the actual time the timer takes. I'm trying to not overstep my repair skill level too grossly with this project, so I wanted to avoid further shutter disassembly .
I think I gave it a drop too much of lighter fluid though and this made it seep out onto the shutter blades, taking some oil with it. That made the shutter stick, but after more lighter fluid and repeated cleaning with q-tips and lens wipes it appears snappy again.
I've now re-assembled everything except for the mirror, view finder, side leatherettes and trim. I did a quick audio measurement of the shutter speeds and came up with the following:
1s: 0.855s
1/5 (0.2s): 0.12s
1/10 (0.1s): 0.046s
1/25 (0.04s): 0.045s
1/50 (0.02s): 0.03s
I suspect my measurements are not that exact, but there seems to be a trend from too fast to too slow... I tried to measure from the middle of the first peak of the waveform to the middle of the second peak, in CoolEdit. Gets difficult to measure like this at speeds faster than 1/50.
As I don't have a shutter speed tester it might be difficult for me to get them much better than that right now. I do also have a Rolleiflex and a Yashica-mat that will probably see more use than the Ikoflex, but still want it in a funtioning state of course.
I'd love to get some pointers on resetting the taking and viewing lens. So it's not just a matter of screwing them back in eh? . I didn't touch the little plate in pic 3, I think you're correct that it's the infinity focus stopper. |
Wonloo
Tinkerer
Username: Wonloo
Post Number: 22
Registered: 07-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, March 29, 2011 - 08:29 pm: |
|
Your shutter speed is already out of sequence. The slower 1/10 is almost as fast as 1/25 and the whole low rang is too fast. Normally, shutter only goes slower with age. Someone got to the shutter before you do and he might have also oiled it that caused the self-timer to stick.
The higher rang is still ok. The easiest way is to leave it as is. With the sound card, you still can adjust it back if you want to.
If you have marked the taking lens before you take it out then the focus should not be too much off. The ground glass on the Ikoflex is not that precise anyway.
If you have a SLR with split circle focus screen and a standard 50mm f2.0 or faster lens then you may want to reset the focus properly. The Option Tessa lens on the Ikoflex is really sharp with deeper depth of field.
Let us know what you want to do. |
Tobias
Tinkerer
Username: Tobias
Post Number: 7
Registered: 03-2011
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 06, 2011 - 05:39 am: |
|
Right, I'm back working on the Ikoflex!
I didn't mark the taking lens when I took it out, so I should probably do the latter (reset the focus). How do I go about that? I seem to recall reading something about using the ground glass in the film opening...
I do have an SLR or two with fast 50mm lenses so that's not a problem! |
Tobias
Tinkerer
Username: Tobias
Post Number: 8
Registered: 03-2011
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 06, 2011 - 10:10 am: |
|
Maybe I should also make it clear that I've taken both the taking lens, viewing lens and mirror out of this camera during this repair operation. |
Wonloo
Tinkerer
Username: Wonloo
Post Number: 30
Registered: 07-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 06, 2011 - 07:12 pm: |
|
The following steps should help you bring your Ikoflex focus back to usable condition:
1) if you can easily take the ground glass out, use it (remember to mark which side is up). Otherwise, find a clear plastic case cover of an old CD and cut it into the size of the ground glass.
2) draw a line on the plastic/ground glass and tape it on the film rail with the side that has the line facing the lens. This will be used as the film surface. If you are using the ground glass, draw the line on the inside.
3) put the taking lens back to the lens board. Set the lens of both cameras to the infinity and the aperture of both cameras to the widest. Put the two cameras face to face and alien the axle of both camera lens on the same line.
4) look through the SLR to see if the line on the ground glass lines up in the split screen of the SLR. If is does, you are done. It will help to put a light behind the TLR and a shutter release cable to keep the shutter of the Ikoflex opened in Bulb mode.
5) if the line does not line up then adjust the lens board by unsing the infinity stopper until it does. When done, keep it secured.
6) if you are using the ground glass then put it back to where it should sit. Mount the viewing lens into the tube and adjust the lens until you see the line on the ground glass lines up in the SLR. When done, fasten the black ring on the viewing lens to secure it.
7) that's it!
Enjoy your Zeiss!
PS. Do not clean the mirror with any alcohol based cleaner. The silver coating is pretty weak. Don't ask how I know. |
Tobias
Tinkerer
Username: Tobias
Post Number: 9
Registered: 03-2011
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 07, 2011 - 03:42 pm: |
|
Thank you so much, the Ikoflex is now back together, couldn't have done it without the support of the forum!
The focus needed a little adjustment to line up with the 50mm f/1.4 on the Pentax ME Super SLR I tested with.
I've seen how fragile these mirror coatings can be before, so I'm not putting any fluid on it .
Again, much appreciated! |
