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Donald Qualls
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, April 06, 2004 - 08:39 pm: | 
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I have two Ricoh Singlex II bodies; one I've had for about twenty years, the other I bought recently, intended as a replacement.
The "older" body has had intermittent problems with the shutter and film advance getting out of kilter, such that the shutter will not fire when the release is pressed, but only when the film is advanced for the next frame; this first occurred in 1992, but was rare; now it's constant. In addition (and I suspect related) the camera jammed hard just before the shutter problem became constant, and when I removed the top and bottom covers, a small slotted cheese head screw was wedged in the film advance gears under the bottom cover. Since then, the release problem is essentially constant, though I have noted that if I can ever break the cycle and get a good cock on advance, the self timer seems to trip the shutter correctly. Can anyone suggest where that screw came from, and how to get the front cover off to return it to its proper place (yep, I still have it)?
On the "new" body, everything is perfect, except that the leading shutter blade takes on the close order of a full second to open -- which means no exposure on any speed but Bulb, and then only if the shutter is held long enough. The trailing blade appears completely normal. There's no indication of a bent blade, no friction marks, no foreign material like oil or grit that I can detect, but I haven't any idea where to begin looking for this problem.
Nor have I found a repair manual or any assembly documentation for the Singlex II, anywhere I've been able to look.
As background, I repaired my first SLR in 1974, an Exa II with a following curtain that didn't completely close; I disassembled the camera, cleaned and lightly oiled the shutter bearings, and got it all back together and working -- at age 14. More recently, I've cleaned a number of leaf shutters and done minor repairs (straightening bent parts) on one leaf shutter and one simple shutter; every shutter I've attempted to repair worked better afterward than before (though I did damage the focusing threads on one camera in removing the middle lens group from the shutter).
So, I probably won't completely butcher these cameras if I can find diagrams or repair manuals for them, but I've come to believe this model was relatively rare -- I see ten or more TLS models on eBay for every Singlex II that passes through -- so documentation may be relatively scarce as well.
Any help -- pointers to documentation up to and including offers to repair the cameras for reasonable rates -- will be welcome. Simply buying more bodies on eBay in hopes of getting one that works, however, doesn't look promising. |
rick oleson
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 07, 2004 - 07:05 am: |
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Gee, I've never even SEEN a singlex II. I (obviously) don't have sketches for it, but I do have for a number of Konicas and Nikons that have a similar shutter, which might or might not be much help.
Screws falling out are seldom a good sign. No way to tell where it came from without taking the thing apart and finding the empty hole. Pretty good chance you'll find more loose ones too, once you get in there. |
Donald Qualls
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 07, 2004 - 03:47 pm: |
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Well, Rick, I didn't really think I should be happy about screws falling out, but there was no sign of metal shavings or similar stress marks (as a steel screw in brass will pick up the base metal on the threads if overtightened); I think simply finding the empty hole and reinstalling the screw might solve the problem with that body. Question is, how the heck do I get in any further than the top and bottom plates? Or perhaps I should say, why have camera makers, for the past century or longer, insisted on putting screws that will need to be removed for maintenance underneath the leather(ette) covering that makes the camera so nice to hold?
Can you suggest where to start looking for front plate screws, and how to get the covering off without damaging it? And, for that matter, how to reattach it securely, assuming I get things working again? On my Exa, the stuff was on with what felt like rubber cement, and it was still sticky enough (after 25 years or more) that I just smoothed it back in place and it stayed for the year or so I owned the camera after that.
Am I likely to need to remove the lens mount, or will I be able to work around it (M-42, of course)? |
Bill Salati
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 07, 2004 - 07:48 pm: |
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Don,
I am guessing that the Singlex II is just a Singlex TLS with the shutter dial moved to the top plate and a revision to the metering system. The Chinon/GAF screw mount SLRs are very similar to the Ricoh in design and fairly straightforward to work on.
You'll have to peel up the leatherette. Peel it from the mirror box and only far enough to reveal the edges of the casting. Stick a small screwdriver under a corner of the covering then peel it back carefully. Pliobond seems to be the cement of choice for reattaching the covering.
The TLS has four screws holding the mirror box casting in place. You can leave the lens mount in place.
The TLS has a variable resistor to key the meter for ASA/shutter speed changes. I suspect the Singlex II may do this mechanically with a cord from the shutter dial, over the eyepiece, to the meter movement. This is how the Chinon does it. You'll need to disconnect the cord and re-thread it after. Observe carefully and make marks and notes to preserve meter calibration. You may need to remove the meter movement to remove the mirror box. On the TLS it's attached to the mirror box assembly and can stay in place.
That said, the whole problem may be under the baseplate as this is where the wind lock and release lock are located. Look around for a spring and maybe a spacer, too. Good luck.
Bill
http://www.vermontel.net/~wsalati/CasualCollector/index.htm |
rick oleson
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 08, 2004 - 10:08 am: |
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This is not the same camera (it's a Konica), but it gives a general idea of typical construction and the amount of fuss required to get inside: http://rick_oleson.tripod.com/index-49.html
Like you, I would assume there's no actual damage, the screw probably just came loose and fell out. But finding its home and returning it could be quite a lot of work.
rick  = |
Donald Qualls
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 08, 2004 - 11:25 am: |
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Bill, I've had the top cover off this camera before (reseated a loose spring under there to correct a previous jamming problem -- I thought, though now I think it was this same issue), and there's no mechanical linkage over the prism, though there might well be one elsewhere. I don't recall what the meter's flexible ciruit board connects to, though (it's been a couple years since I've had the cover off), and I've been reluctant to try soldering on that material for fear of damaging it; my soldering is a little ham-handed (I weld much better than I solder).
Thanks, Rick -- that looks like similar construction, overall, to what I've seen under the top cover on this Ricoh. Makes me think quotes of $80 to $100 for a CLA are probably not out of line for the labor involved -- but a) I haven't got it, and b) if I could be sure it worked, I can buy another one on eBay, with lens, for around $50-$60, if I'm patient. |
rick
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, April 08, 2004 - 08:26 pm: |
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If you use the worst one for practice, by the time you get it straight you'll know how to fix the other - if it works, you'll have 2 good ones for nothing, and if not all you've wasted was a camera that didn't work anyway. you can probably sell the parts bodies and cover most of the cost of a working one. |
Donald Qualls
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, April 09, 2004 - 07:54 am: |
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Rick, that's been the attitude I've taken on repairing cameras for the past 30 years. However: the Singlex II are scarce enough, and eBay sellers clueless (or simulated clueless) enough that I'm not all that confident of getting a good one without being able to examine it in person -- and I haven't seen another one in a pawn shop (where I got my first one) in almost fifteen years (though I'll admit I haven't been looking all that hard). Plus, pawn shops generally want much more for cameras now than they used to, and significantly more than eBay sellers usually get.
However, as you said, if I work on one, I can probably learn enough to fix the other even if I don't succeed on the first. I was kind of hoping to wind up with two working bodies, and the two cameras have very different seeming problems (the one that doesn't have the winding/firing mismatch has a one second delay opening the first shutter blade), so I'm not sure how much I'll learn from one that's applicable to the other, beyond "watch out for that spring right *there*, it likes to fly across the room and disappear!"
If I had money, I'd already have sent the one with the loose screw for a CLA (screw in tow), on the assumption that reinstalling the screw in the process of cleaning and adjusting would fix the wind/cock/fire problem. As it stands, I think I'll work on that one first, because I know the shutter works correctly and the meter is fine (though I have to use a zinc-air battery now that PX625 mercury cells are gone). |
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