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Message |
    
RJ
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, January 26, 2006 - 06:41 pm: | 
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This is a difficult call. I haven't come up with anything satisfactory to remove some engravings from chrome metal of
a plate camera (bright chrome).
Is there a liquid metal epoxy that could be applied to fill
the engravings, and then wiped off, coloured over with a chrome
silver pen?
That might be too simplistic. Alternatively, soldering high grade silver solder to fill in, and then sand down with a fine metal brush.
Any ideas? |
Glenn Middleton
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, January 27, 2006 - 02:40 pm: |
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The simple answer is that it cannot be done in any way to make the engraving invisible. There is a very expensive stainless steel filled epoxy, that is used in the engineering industry to reclaim steel castings etc. I believe it is of US origin, but the original UK supplier was taken over and do not market the product now.
This product was very good on steel surfaces but on chrome plate it was impossible to match the colour, so the infill was always visible.
My personal opinion is nothing looks worse than a bad cover up. The only way of removing the engraving is to dress it out and re-plate. That this works is beyond doubt, just look at all those Zorki 1 bodies re-engraved as Leica.
If you want to use the chrome silver pen, I suggest you use cellulose stopper as the filler. At least you can easily remove this if things start to look a mess. |
WernerJB
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 28, 2006 - 04:46 am: |
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Quite a while ago I tried to make a deep scar in a camera's top cap vanish by filling it with a filler used in car repair. The result was not too bad, but far from what I had intended, in fact it looked more shabby than before. So I removed everything and decided the scar being part of the camera's individual history and leave it as it is (I think it was Henry who said the banged-up ones are the more interesting ones). Maybe you can also see things that way. |
RJ
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, January 31, 2006 - 09:09 pm: |
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Many thanks for your thoughts.
Werner - this camera has a man's four-syllable surname; his telephone number and National Insurance number etched all over the camera in the most noticeable places. When I use it, I'm constantly reminded that it used to be his camera, and at the same time, feel rather taken aback at the amount of mutilation he inflicted on the camera.
Glenn: Thank you for reminding and warning me about the Zorki's fate. I've worked out a way of painting over the etchings with black paint in layers. Effectively, this is going to be a chrome etched camera turned into a black user one.
The alternative I think is to source a broken camera and transplant its front plate... |
Barnabyhairwax
Tinkerer
Username: Barnabyhairwax
Post Number: 3
Registered: 11-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 05, 2006 - 04:12 am: |
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can you still see his wife and kids when you look through the viewfinder? |
Henry
Moderator
Username: Henry
Post Number: 43
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 05, 2006 - 09:10 am: |
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Yep, that was me. I said that... and fully feel that way. I'm not alone. I have a friend, Mike Wheat, who tinkers on old radios much like we do cameras. He is an ex-newspaper journalist, and says it much better than I ever could. http://www.geocities.com/michaelbbc/FranksRadio.html
Mike is also quite the whopper teller, so realize some of his stories are "slightly" embellished. But his pages are a delightful read.
Radio tinkering and camera tinkering occupies the spare time of similarly minded folk. I've thought about doing a radio or two, but where would I put them? One can definitely stack more cameras in a box than radios. Mike has his fair share of old cameras too. Some he used during his newspaper days.
Henry |
Wernerjb
Tinkerer
Username: Wernerjb
Post Number: 72
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, December 30, 2006 - 04:24 am: |
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Well, like some others present in this forum, I have my fair share of old radios (stowed away in remote corners of the house, hidden from housewives' angry eyes!).
Some of them, far from being state of the art equipment, were produced in this (not my!) country's most sinister period in history. When listening you can almost hear the propaganda minister's voice bark out from the speaker, not the BBC. But it was, by the way, no problem for tinkerers to put in additional amplification and receive London loud and clear! On some of those appliances the swastikas have been removed, maybe on order, maybe deliberately. On a few others they are still there. In both cases they drastically symbolize the radios were being used in the daily life of people living their lives, this proves the radios' authenticity. They are real in a very literal sense of the word.
Life will inevitably leave its traces on everything and everybody. People with character are full of scars, so to speak. How can anyone expect cameras to be different?
In my rating collecting NEW ("boxed") photo equipment does not make too much sense; I wonder whether those fancied Leicas are stored inside or outside their boxes ?!
Some of my cameras from the US carried stickers with previous user's /owner's (?) names on them. I tried to preserve them when possible, and can only imagine who a certain Mr William Schwartz was, and without much fantasy I somehow enter his life, silently asking him about his or his forefathers' idea to emigrate to the New World.
If it was for the purpose of having a functional camera I would buy one and stop tinkering.
Thanks for the tip, Henry, I like your friend Frank's stories a lot, W. |
Wernerjb
Tinkerer
Username: Wernerjb
Post Number: 73
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, December 30, 2006 - 04:58 am: |
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... oops, obviously one of the scars I'm wearing is labelled "Dr Alzheimer's"; I know your friend's name is MIKE, not Frank ! |
Pablomartinez
Tinkerer
Username: Pablomartinez
Post Number: 8
Registered: 09-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, January 11, 2007 - 03:25 pm: |
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I do also think that the "banged" ones are the most interesting ones. My favorite camera was a pile of rust when I bought it. Some days ago, the guy that sold me the camera told me that this camera was found inside a Second World War bunker in a beach in Normandy. How it got there, I can not know, but when I bought it it was still full of sand, rust and moisture, and I even did found a spider inside. I first thought that It was beyond repair but, with some work, it is actually FULLY functional and I even used it on my last trip to Belgium.
More about this camera con be seen here: http://www.rusted.free.fr/babysem.html
 |
Adrian
Tinkerer
Username: Adrian
Post Number: 20
Registered: 08-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, January 12, 2007 - 05:44 am: |
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Pablo,
That has to be the most insane repair job ever! I'm gobsmacked that anything could ever work again after getting in that condition. World peace for your next effort, perhaps?
Adrian |
Wernerjb
Tinkerer
Username: Wernerjb
Post Number: 83
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, January 12, 2007 - 10:46 am: |
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Outrageous, great! Just imagine what a pixelcam would look like after catching just a few drops of seawater! Apart from the restoration of a military tube tester (which I detected some time ago on a radio amateur's site) this is the most excellent restoration job I have ever seen, congrats, Pablo, I take my hat off to you, W. |
Pablomartinez
Tinkerer
Username: Pablomartinez
Post Number: 9
Registered: 09-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, January 12, 2007 - 02:36 pm: |
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Thanks for your comments. When you see that this camera in perfect condition is sold for ten bucks on e-bay, I start to suspect that I have severe brain damage.
I've done worst than that: http://www.rusted.free.fr/sigma52sodhnertypemechaniccalculator.html
This is a mechanic calculator that I actually use.
My wife is starting to look at me in a suspicious way.
Pablo
http://www.rusted.free.fr/
 |
M_currie
Tinkerer
Username: M_currie
Post Number: 26
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, January 12, 2007 - 05:14 pm: |
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Wonderful stuff! Few of us have your patience. |
M_currie
Tinkerer
Username: M_currie
Post Number: 27
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, January 12, 2007 - 07:09 pm: |
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If you lived closer, I'd send you my Brunsviga, but perhaps it isn't rusty enough, never having been actually submerged as far as I know. It still works, except that after a couple of years in the barn the division bell isn't ringing.  |
Henry
Moderator
Username: Henry
Post Number: 47
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 13, 2007 - 09:55 am: |
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Pablo, you are a man after my own heart! Your deligence and patience are outstanding. Your wife and my wife could spend hours talking about us.
Henry |
Adrian_bastin
Tinkerer
Username: Adrian_bastin
Post Number: 5
Registered: 01-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, January 14, 2007 - 12:46 pm: |
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Got this one working nicely. The only part I had to replace was the viewfinder eyepiece, though I used the chipped one for a while, out of cussedness.  |
Adrian_bastin
Tinkerer
Username: Adrian_bastin
Post Number: 6
Registered: 01-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, January 14, 2007 - 12:52 pm: |
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Top |
Adrian_bastin
Tinkerer
Username: Adrian_bastin
Post Number: 7
Registered: 01-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, January 14, 2007 - 01:05 pm: |
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I bought it like this to find out about these Leicas, so I could do some jobs on my others. This one was not great for spares because there was hardly a straight component in it. The aluminium alloy body was deformed, also.
And after: It's worste aspect, now. |
Adrian_bastin
Tinkerer
Username: Adrian_bastin
Post Number: 8
Registered: 01-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, January 14, 2007 - 01:08 pm: |
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and |
Adrian_bastin
Tinkerer
Username: Adrian_bastin
Post Number: 9
Registered: 01-2007
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, January 14, 2007 - 01:49 pm: |
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There must have been a heavy lens on the camera when it had it's accident and I had to put the body, wrapped in yarn, into a vice, diagonally. I tightened it until I couldn't stand it any more (the alloy body is very springy). It turned out to be spot on and the lens didn't even need shimming, though I thought it did at first. The thing just wanted to go back into shape. Had to file the gate just a touch, to square it up. I don't have a workshop so it was done on the kitchen floor with bits of wood. Took about a week; tweaking, a couple more, to get the 1000th, the slow speeds and focus right. From most angles it looks quite good. |
