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bruce_varner3

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  1. SOLVED !!! Sorry it has taken so long for me to post the solution to this problem. I wanted to be absolutely sure that everything was back in perfect working order. I was able to engage Rick Oleson, and with his input I resolved my issues. ISSUES THAT SURFACED: 1) Unable to achieve infinity focus on Rolleicord III 2) While attempting to resolve #1, lens suddenly was unable to focus at any distance RESULTS: 1) Removal of an unneeded or misplaced copper washer between the shutter and the lens board allowed the taking lens/shutter to be closer to the film plane and achieve infinity focus. 2) During one of my disassembles of the taking lens/shutter, I apparently did not correctly re-seat the front &/or rear lens element. Once corrected, focus was again able to be achieved. DETAILS: The two issues above interacted together to muddy the waters for how to resolve these problems. With the guidance of Rick Oleson, I was able to isolate and step through each issue individually to correct. 1) After studying the lens transport mechanism, it seemed unlikely that the problem was caused by the transport. While I had earlier cleaned the lenses and flushed the shutter, I had done so with the shutter still attached to the lens board. I decided to remove the shutter from the lens board to determine if there was anything causing the taking lens/shutter to be further away from the film plane than desired. I found that someone who had previously disassembled the camera had apparently placed a 9 thousandths thick copper washer between the shutter & the lens board. Diagrams of other similar shutters did not show a washer in that location. Removing this copper washer from the shutter side of the lens board, to the inside shade/nut side of the lens board (See above images of the disassembled taking lens) allowed the taking lens/shutter to be that 9 thousandths closer to the film plane & solved the infinity focus problem. It took some time and several suggestions to reach this conclusion because during the disassembly/reassembly I also introduced issue #2. 2) After originally cleaning the taking lens/shutter, I apparently reattached the lens elements successfully. However, during removal of the shutter from the lens board I again removed & replaced the lens elements. Apparently during that process, I somehow did not seat one or both elements fully. This resulted in the focal length of the lens being changed (Front & rear elements were not the correct distance from each other), which then prevented the lens from focusing at any distance. I do not know for sure how I resolved this, other than to say that I removed & replaced each element several times until it resulted in the ability again to achieve focus. Possibly a piece of grit obstructed one of the elements, thereby preventing it from being fully screwed in. Thanks to all for their help, and especially to Rick Oleson! I have now run another roll of film through the camera and focus is sharp at all distances. PS: Rick Oleson’s “BrightScreen” replacement focus screen works wonderfully. Note: I found that to me a very hard part of re-assembly was the brake roller pins & springs in the film winding knob. This assembly prevents the film winding knob from turning backwards & causing slackness in the roll of film. The brake bearing assembly screws had become loosened, which allowed the break roller pins & springs to become dislodged within the assembly. The result was a grinding noise when winding the film, plus no ability as designed, to prevent turning the film winding knob backwards. I was unable to find anywhere a detailed image of how this model of brake pins & springs were supposed to be installed. Attempts at re-installation resulted in one of the extremely small tension springs flying away, never to be seen again. I obtained small coil springs instead of flat tension springs to use as replacement. Apparently, sometime after the Rolleicord III, the designed was changed to use coil springs for this purpose anyway. After trial and error to ensure that the spring applied pressure exactly in the center of said pin, I was able to fit these new coil springs as needed so that the braking system functioned as designed. Below are two images showing the disassembled film winding breaking system. First image shows the original bent springs. The second image shows the replacement coil springs. http://brucevarner.com/picts/Rolleicord%20III%20Film%20Winding%20Knob_2.jpg http://brucevarner.com/picts/Rolliecord%20III%20Inter%20FIlm%20Winding%20Knob.jpg Here are two images. The completed camera + one of the images from the test roll. http://brucevarner.com/picts/Rolleicord%20III%20K3B.jpg http://brucevarner.com/picts/RolleicordTestImage_Nelson.jpg Sculpture, Nelson-Atkins Art Gallery, KCMO. Measured 20' Distance. f5.6, 1/40 sec, 3-Stop ND filter Bruce
  2. Back to the drawing board. With the copper washer removed, testing focus with ground glass on the film rails resulted in no ability to achieve clear focus at any distance! Infinity focus was even worse than before. Near subjects were obviously less blurry when focused to close distances & subjects at infinity were less out of focus when the focus knob was set to infinity, but nowhere along the spectrum was anything near clear focus. The copper washer that I had removed, was 9 thousandths in thickness. So the taking lens was 9 thousandths closer to the frame rail. I then tried again removing the shims from under the lens board. That would make the taking lens closer still to the film rails. Testing again resulted in no ability to focus at any distance. The overall focus was less out of focus than with the shims installed, but still, no clear focus. I can only assume that the distances involved here between the original inability to focus at infinity, and the inability to focus at any distance must be much less than 9 thousandths of an inch????? I sure wish someone know if the focusing cams on the transport mechanism were adjustable. Not talking about the cam compensator, but the focusing cams. Thinking maybe they could be more precisely tuned????? Maybe? From here I know not how next to proceed. I will reinstall the copper washer as it was found upon disassembly, but I fully expect the focus issues to be the same as before I removed the washer. So, unless I hear of some options, or I resolve the issue on my own, I will not be posting further. Please do not suggest that I send the camera in for a CLA. I know I can do that. My 2.8f I send in for a CLA. A Rolleicord III (To me) is worth less than the cost of a professional CLA. Plus I would like to do the work on this issue myself if at all possible.
  3. Ok, I am looking for others to provide feedback as to whether I am going down the correct path, with this issue. The more I study the camera, the less I believe the issue of not being able to achieve infinity focus is caused by problems within the transport mechanism. Transport seems to be snug. No play, and functioning as I believe it should. So I decided to remove the taking lens from the lens board. In doing so I believe I might have found the problem. There are images attached so that others might give their opinions. When I removed the taking lens/shutter from the lens board, I believe I found a washer on the wrong side of the board? Hoping that others who have removed the lens on a Rolleicord III might know if this washer is or is not in the correct place. Image 1 (Taking & focusing lenses on the lens board) http://brucevarner.com/picts/Image1.jpg Image 2 (Rear view) http://brucevarner.com/picts/Image2.jpg Image 3 (Taking lens/shutter removed from the board) http://brucevarner.com/picts/Image3.jpg Image 4 (Rear view of same removed lens/shutter) http://brucevarner.com/picts/Image4.jpg So looking at image #4, I removed from the lens board by unscrewing the shade/nut from the back of the lens board. This alone held the taking lens/shutter onto the lens board. When the shutter was pulled from the front of the board, the items on the back of the shutter were removed as they appear in the image. These are my names for these parts, not necessarily Rollei’s name for these same pieces: > Washer, notched (Copper) > Shutter cocking lever ring > Shim > Shutter I have also test re-assembled the taking lens/shutter without installing the copper washer, and all appears to move fine. Nothing binds. It to me looks like not having this washer on the shutter side of the board is more in line with how it was designed. There is a notch in the board that lines up with a pin on the back of the shutter. With no washer this pin goes through the board as one would expect. With the copper washer in the place, this pin no longer is able to protrude through to the notch in the board. Any ideas to help confirm or refute my thinking would be appreciated. Thanks!
  4. PS. While looking at a cleaned up guide bolt under a loop, it is obvious that it is made of some material other than metal. While there is some wear, it does not seem to be enough to account for the inability to achieve infinity focus...........
  5. Hi Brett, Had to go out of town for a funeral. Back now & have studied the transport mechanism. I have used the Rolleicord VB Teilm exploded view as a reference, since it is the closest to the III, to name the parts involved. I uploaded here a third image that shows the involved parts by name. Please let me know if I am in correct on any of these parts, or on my below description. From what I can tell, the guide rail is under tension from the wedge & keeps the focusing strut parallel when moving in & out. The guide bolt rides under tension against the outside focusing cam (The inside cam is used to provide a positive stop for infinity focus & the outside cam provided the same stop for close focus). Turning the focus knob causes the cams to turn, which causes the focusing strut to move in or out depending upon the direction of travel. The guide bolt is pushed into the cam compensator during assembly, with a spring in between to continually force the guide bolt against the outside focusing cam. This describes one side of the assembly, but this setup is mirrored on the opposite side. So, I assume that the spring tension is designed to smoothly keep the focusing strut (and hence the lens) the correct distance from the film plane. From the exploded view & with these pieces assembled I am unable to tell exactly how the face of the guide bolt is shaped. Some cleanup of this piece shows that the face on this example seems to be “grooved”. What I do not know is whether this groove is as designed, or has the piece worn into a groove. If so, this might be the reason for the camera to not achieve infinity focus. I was hoping for some additional feedback before I continued, to be sure I am not going down the wrong path: 1) Do you believe that any of my above statements are not correct? 2) Do you know if the guide bolt face is supposed to be flat, or have a groove? 3) Since the inside focusing cam provides a positive stop for infinity focus, is it adjustable? 3) From what I can see, the simplest solution it seems would be to loosen the 2 screws holding the cam compensator to the focusing strut. Then slightly re-adjust (On both sides) the cam compensator position, to force more travel & therefore bring in infinity focus. Do you agree? 4) To achieve #3 requires removal of the gears associated with the film counter, as the cam compensator lies beneath these gears. Is there anything I should be careful of, or any instructions for disassembly of this system that you can pass along? Thanks! Bruce http://brucevarner.com/picts/RolleicordIIIk4b_LeftSide_Parts.jpg
  6. FYI, someone has a video on YouTube of a Rolleicord III, showing the left side of the camera, while the user is operating the focus knob. It show the full movement (from the left side in action). I will find some time to sit down and study the action on my camera and let you know. Thanks for the info on the parallelism topic. Of course that part is unimportant if I do not get an infinity focus to function.......
  7. I have removed both side plates. Here are images of each. Have not had time to study the camera and find the specific parts you mentioned yet. Will do so tomorrow. Ride Side http://brucevarner.com/picts/RolleicordIIIk4b_RightSide.jpg Left Side http://brucevarner.com/picts/RolleicordIIIk4b_LeftSide.jpg Thanks!
  8. Hi Brett, Thank you very much. I appreciate the detailed response. I was afraid that as is the case in some many responses, the person gives a nugget of information, without details, assuming that the requester “knows” all the associated details, which without those details, the nugget in information is pretty much useless…… I would love to have Prochnow's Rollei manual, but cannot justify its current cost for the little amount of camera repair that I dabble in. The two long shims for this camera (1 each side) are both the same 15 thousandths in thickness & look similar to others I have seen online. So I do not think that too many shims were used. One odd thing. When I first disassembled, there were 4 washers under the screws that hold the lens board to the transport. But, when I completed the disassembly I found a fifth washer in the camera body. I do not know where it fell out of? When I get to the point of parallelism, I thought about cutting a very thin piece of good plastic, slightly larger than the board size. Drilling 4 holes in that plastic & screwing it onto the rails with the shims in between. Then use a micrometer to measure the four corners to see if they are all the same distance from the camera frame. I guess that assumes that the camera body and the film rails are square & at the same tolerances…. I have a digital copy of the Rollei Service manual. Of course it is in German, and seems to be more of a parts list then an instruction manual. Also, it does NOT list the Rolleicord III. The closest model seems to be the Rolleicord “VB Teilm” or “Teilm”. I will remove both side covers and see what it looks like. Would like to have feedback that I am in fact looking at the same parts you describe……. It may be a day or so. The two exterior metal strips (1 on each side) that serve the purpose of holding the rear door on & a place for the strap to attach, I cannot get the larger front screw loose on either side!. They are very tight. It also is a strange, thin, wide size, so I will probably have to hand file a screwdriver to fit…… What I Will Do Next: > Reassemble the lens board to the transport with the shims reinstalled correctly under the board > Cut a screwdriver to size to remove the strap holder pieces > Remove both side covers (Leather & plates) > See what I can see. I am sure I will have a question or two when I get to the point where I can actually see the transport assembly (I hope I am calling this by its correct name?)
  9. I have started this new thread even though there are many questions & answers on focus issues for the Rolleicord. However none that I have found seem to answer my questions directly. All those other questions & answers correctly say to ensure that you have established infinity focus on the taking lens via a ground glass or other means before proceeding further. There are even answers on how to obtain correct infinity focus. But every answers assumes you can establish that infinity focus in the first place. This particular camera will NOT adjust to infinity. No matter what changes I make. Camera: Rolleicord III, Schneider-Kreuznach Xenar 3.5/75 Lens What I have Done: >Removed front lens board >Cleaned focusing lens front & rear glass (Did not remove any glass or the lens from the board) >Removed taking lens front & rear glass & cleaned >Flood Cleaned shutter (Did not remove from board) >Reassembled (With shims under the plate as designed) >Removed the focus wheel & attempted to adjust to achieve infinity focus >Reassembled Again (Without shims under the plate to achieve taking lens closer to film plane) >Again removed the focus wheel & attempted to adjust to achieve infinity focus Results To Date: > After first reassembly I shot a roll of B&W film at measured distances, with the camera focus knob set at those same distances. 3’-Best focus at 3” short of 3’ 5’-Best focus at 4 ½’ 10’-Best focus at 7’ 20’-Best focus at 14’ 40’-Best focus at 25’ 60’-Best focus at 45’ Infinity-Could not be achieved >Second reassembly resulted in the camera ground glass focusing improved. Close distances seemed spot on or very close. 60’ focus was still just short of clear focus. Infinity could not be achieved. Additional Info: Unfortunately I obtained this camera a few years ago and never did anything with it because the slow shutter speeds stuck open. I did not check the focus before disassembly, so I do not know if it was this way before takedown. It was purchase from an old woman who was selling it from here husbands things and she had said he bought it new. Cleaning the shutter buy-the-was has it now working great! I have what everyone says is the factory service manual but it more a parts manual than a how-to manual. So I need some help and answers to some questions: 1) Are there adjustment for the transport that might be causing the lenses to not come in enough to focus? (It seems to have full travel & does not look like it has been dropped) 2) Does someone have complete instructions for such a fix? (I am visual, so a video would be great!) 3) Is there possibly other issues I might address as possible cause? I have other Rollei’s and have even had a couple CLA’ed by Harry Fleenor, but this is an inexpensive specimen and I want to play with it myself. I have experience repairing other cameras, but never a TLR, so I could very well be making a simple mistake somewhere along the line. Thanks!
  10. Someone suggested comparing the parts numbers between the two camera models. It appears they are the same. Now to see if the switch actually works........
  11. Ok, I screwed up. Should read: can I use the prism from an old Pentax :"ME" that I have sitting around to replace the existing prism in the MX?
  12. SOLVED !!! I have solved my meter problem. Thought I would pass along the solution. I really did not solve this myself but rather found the solution online. Instead of repeating it here, I have provided the link below. This was exactly the problem, and following the instructions resolved the issue! Pentax MX Meter Fix
  13. I own a Pentax MX that I am cleaning up. I saw what looked like spider web around the prism. Removed the top cover, and upon removing the prism, discovered that the inside of the prism itself is cracked in a spider web manner. Question is, can I use the prism from an old Pentax MX that I have sitting around to replace the existing prism in the MX? Thought I would not bother to try if I am told it is not the same size & shape…….. Thanks in advance.
  14. Thanks! Yes I have tried several different batteries/types. Have even used a tester to ensure that the batteries were up to snuff. Oh well. Guess I will save it as a parts camera in case I come across another MX.
  15. Hi, I have acquired a Pentax MX. It is in near perfect condition. Problem is that the light meter is dead, totally. I have tried: 1) No corrosion in the batter compartment 2) Contacts look good 3) Using 2 A76 batteries 4) Tried different batteries 5) Inserted batteries both ways 6) I do have the film winding lever out the 20 degrees necessary to operate the meter 7) I am pressing the shutter release down 1/2 way I need some suggestions for obvious possibilities. I have repaired many cameras, just not that familiar with Pentax and want some likely possibilities before I tear the whole thing apart. Thanks!
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