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Lauri Kapari

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Posted on Tuesday, November 15, 2005 - 04:53 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Moderator/Admin only)

My 'new' Kiev4 has a rather bad vertical scratch on the film pressure plate (Ebay never lets you down). I haven't yet run a film through the camera, but I'm fairly certain I'd end up with a scratched negative.
The question is, aside from replacing the plate, is there any easy tricks for covering the scratch or maybe repolishing the plate?
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rick

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Posted on Tuesday, November 15, 2005 - 08:51 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Moderator/Admin only)

one possibility is to lay a sheet of #600 (or higher) sandpaper face up on a true, flat surface and polish the face of the plate against it with gentle uniform pressure. hopefully you can remove all the roughness without removing all of the black finish from the plate - in addition to retaining some of its appearance, this assures that you haven't changed the surface flatness measurably.

you don't need to be excessively concerned about the plate no longer being black: a number of cameras used polished shiny metal pressure plates, and i have never seen any adverse effects from that.
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Glenn Middleton

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Posted on Tuesday, November 15, 2005 - 09:06 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Moderator/Admin only)

Firstly put a cheap film in the camera and just work it through the camera, rewind and examine the back of the film. You may find all is OK - I have a couple of really scratched Russian plates that work perfectly.

If film is damaged; remove the plate and lap the surface on a piece of PLATE GLASS, using a liquid metal polish.Here in UK the product is 'Brasso'.Problem is the pressure plates are blacked and you can end up with a bright plate if you remove excessive amounts of surface.Filling the scratch with black paint before lapping can help.

All you are trying to do is remove any protruding edges around the scratch.
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don

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Posted on Tuesday, November 15, 2005 - 04:29 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Moderator/Admin only)

if it were me, I'd sand the scratch down with 600 grit wet/dry emery paper,and then give it a coat of clear nail polish.
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Stuart Willis

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Posted on Saturday, November 19, 2005 - 07:06 am:   Edit Post Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only) Ban Poster IP (Moderator/Admin only)

Piece of cake !

Superfine grit Wet & Dry (as per Don's post, above.)
When all is immaculate ... goto a gunsmith's Store.
Buy Birchwood Casey "Barrel Blue" (if the pressure plate is found to me of steel) or Aluminium Black (if the pressure plate is aluminium. Follow the simplistic application instructions as on the Birchwood Casey container.

Both products oxidise the metal to a black or near-black permanent finish.

These gunsmithing products are superb and have always worked well for me. There is also a "Brass-Back".
Since steel is an alloy; brass is an alloy; and most aluminium parts on cameras are also some alloy of aluminium - you may need more than one application to get exactly the required density depth.

Hope this helps

Stuart Willis

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