    
WernerJB
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, June 08, 2005 - 12:02 pm: | 
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When removing the front lens assembly to get access to the shutter blades on an early Yashica electro 35 (max. ASA 400 on the film speed dial) I noticed that only the retainer ring together with the front lens came off, the other half of the front lens group did not move at all. I tightened the ring nut again hoping that this time I would be able to unscrew the whole assembly, but even by applying lighter fluid and heat from a hairdryer the result was negative. So I took off the ring nut and the front glass and put a small amount of (removable!) glue (similar to the one used for leatherette) on the thread. Super glue is unsuitable here! After some minutes unscrewing of the whole thing was easy. Now the problem was to separate the glued on ring nut again from the rest for reassembly of the front glass, but after applying a few drops of acetone the glue was softened again. Without using too much force and with the help of two identical flat plumber's adjustable pliers with NO protective sealing between the metal surfaces to get more grip (almost no harm was done to the surface of the lens part, but of course this is risky !) it was possible to dismantle the ring nut and reassemble the front lens and finally put everything back together again.
The reason for all the trouble was that the sealing glue usually used to prevent the retainer ring from turning loose alone obviously had lost its adhesiveness over the years. |
