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Raechul
Tinkerer
Username: Raechul
Post Number: 1
Registered: 05-2013
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, May 22, 2013 - 06:06 pm: | 
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I recently had my AE-1 packed up in a carry-on and I guess in the midst of our moving in and out of airports, the lens got jammed and now the focus ring will only work between infinity and 1 (3.5). I tried putting some mechanical lubricant in to see if that'd loosen it up, but to no avail. I know I could easily replace it, but it's my only camera and lens I have with me and I'm not really able to do so at the moment. It's an FD 24mm 1:2.8.
Help?? |
Jagstang
Tinkerer
Username: Jagstang
Post Number: 17
Registered: 01-2013
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, May 22, 2013 - 08:38 pm: |
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I'm having a similar issue. I recently purchased a group of FL lens with an older L39 Canon that I am reasonably certain were fine when bought (person who bought them for me is a camera expert too, albeit they were in a bit of a rush) but when we got them home the focus rings were frozen in place! No signs they were dropped/mishandled... I've never experienced this one before either and I'm totally stumped. I'm tempted to take one of them apart to try and get it to work as it's not really worth anything and has other issues that were known about when it was purchased, but it's still odd. |
Glenn
Tinkerer
Username: Glenn
Post Number: 1082
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, May 23, 2013 - 08:05 am: |
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Rachel's problem is difficult to pin point without actually holding the lens. Could be a knock or just a coincidental mechanical failure. The second post is somewhat easier. FL and L39 Canon lenses were made in the dark ages! I bet nobody tried the focus rings; because if they had it would have been obvious that the grease in the helicals was solid, or if a little movement was apparent then said small movement has packed the hardened grease tight into the threads and frozen everything up. |
Jagstang
Tinkerer
Username: Jagstang
Post Number: 18
Registered: 01-2013
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, May 23, 2013 - 12:06 pm: |
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"or if a little movement was apparent then said small movement has packed the hardened grease tight into the threads and frozen everything up."
I bet this is it then... as I'm fairly confident they were working at least somewhat before. So just take them apart and clean out the threads? Like I said, I have one FL that is a known basket case I'd have no issue trying this on, though I'd probably leave the L39 to a pro. |
Glenn
Tinkerer
Username: Glenn
Post Number: 1083
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, May 23, 2013 - 12:26 pm: |
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Yes, strip the helicals down and clean out the threads really well - old tooth brush and cocktail sticks work well on old grease. |
Jagstang
Tinkerer
Username: Jagstang
Post Number: 25
Registered: 01-2013
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, July 04, 2013 - 07:22 pm: |
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I wanted to bump this as I finally had time for the project. This thing never worked, no way. I got the optics/aperture assembly out on the FL 35 2.5 and I just can't get the brass focusing assembly to turn. Tried a little lighter fluid in it in the desperate hope it would free it up, and nothing. Any other ideas or is this thing toast? |
Rick_oleson
Tinkerer
Username: Rick_oleson
Post Number: 1328
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, July 04, 2013 - 09:11 pm: |
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If you can get access to the helical threads (I assume you've gotten that far based on your last note), and there's no sensitive plastic around, I would try a stronger solvent such as Xylene in the helical, as hardened focus grease is a tough job for lighter fluid. I've had this take days of soaking to loosen up in extreme cases. |
Rick_oleson
Tinkerer
Username: Rick_oleson
Post Number: 1329
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, July 04, 2013 - 09:17 pm: |
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Back to Raechul's original post - I've encountered at least one lens that had been impacted on the front, leaving no mark but forcing the helical out of alignment so that one side of the lens was in one thread and the other side had skipped over to the next thread. This jams it absolutely solid, and you can see that the front end is visibly out of square with the back end of the lens. I'm not sure of a safe fix. In my case, it was a 50/1.4 OM Zuiko, worth saving if possible and nothing but landfill as it was, I put it in a vise and forced the 'long' side back until the threads popped back into position. In that case it came out OK, but the risk is total destruction if it goes wrong. |
