Hair dryer fixes two stuck lenses

I just received my Kodak Medallist II today (bought on eBay) and found the focus stuck, like it was glued.

Really, with such a giant focus collar (as Kodak calls it), you'd think you could really grab it and twist, but

it wouldn't budge. So, on the way home from work I put the camera on the floor with the heater on full blast. It

was only a 15 min. drive, but when I got home the collar turned a tiny bit. Or so I thought, anyway.

 

Two minutes with a hair dryer and it moved maybe a full degree. A couple minutes more and... it moved even more.

In fact I could turn it. All the way! Good thing too, because those oppositely-screwed threads are not to be missed.

 

Then I remembered that I had another stuck lens, this one a Carl Zeiss Jena Biotar 2/58 that came on an Exakta

Varex VX that I bought (guess where) several months ago. A couple of minutes of hot air on it and... it now turns

smooth as silk. Here's the Exakta:

 

http://basepath.com/Photography/ExaktaVarexVX.php

 

I'm sure I'm the last person to discover this trick (especially on this forum), but I thought I'd pass the word

on anyway. Good excuse to post a closeup of the Medalist.

 

I'll have more pictures of the Medalist on my site in a few days.

 

--Marc<div></div>

<p>I'm glad this worked for you, and that your remedy (apparently) did no harm. With many lenses, I would be concerned about oil migrating to diaphraggm blades, coatings being affected, etc.</p>

Hector--

 

Good point... but I don't think the lens temperature went much over 100F... I had no trouble handling it with my bare hands.

 

--Marc

<p>My Flexaret IVa had a completely stuck focusing helicoid, and after a complete strip down I baked just the brass helicoid in the oven at the lowest temp. After that it unscrewed easily (I had to wear mittens, the thing got really hot) and when it was cold I cleaned and relubed it. Your hair dryer method would probably have worked, too.</p>

<p>Nice to know that Hot Air does have its utility! :) sp.</p>

<p>I usually say leave your classic in the car (summer) for a couple hours. Too much heat in the wrong places can do major damage.</p>

<p>I have a personal camera museum. Some pieces are close 100 years old, and I've warmed a few to bring them back to life. It's funny, the oldest cameras seem to still work properly (1912 Goerz Dagor that still clicks a perfect second.)</p>

<p>Steven, I think many of the older cameras will last the longest because they are so easy to maintain. My Zeiss Ikontas just needed a little Naptha on the blades to spring back to life, and getting at the shutter blades was so easy there was no need to take it in and pay more for service than the value of the camera. </p>

<p>I have high hopes for my 70's era SLRs, but they have some electronics and very intricate mechanisms and are just one accident away from being "not worth fixing".</p>

<p>Congratulations on your success. I've tried this on my Agfa Isolettes but it didn't work. They need to be soaked in some sort of solvent. The Agfa grease is apparently a much better cement than the Kodak variety. Your camera is supposed to have a really sweet lens on it, so post some shots when you get some film run through it.</p>