Light shield material for Leica M3

<p>Hello all, again,<br>

I am moving forward with my Leica M3 rebuild project. It's been slow, life keeps getting in the way.</p>

<p>1) Leica M3 light seal replacement materials: I am curious, is there any consensus on the bet material to get for light seal repairs. I notice that the felt like material is somewhat ragged and would find the best source for comparable material, hopefully. I'd really like this material to be as close as possible to the material that was actually used. I have written Leica as well as Microtools and received no replies as to what material would work best. I see plenty of opinions across the web regarding light seal materials for other cameras but very little coverage on this particular issue. It will probably end up that everyone will tell me that one of the more common materials on microtools will work fine, but I always like the plumb the collective wisdom first. <br>

<br />2) If one were to replace the brake material, Are there supplies available from anywhere except Leica?<br>

<br />It's very interesting what detailed literature I have found for the Leica IIIf (and prior screwmounts) and yet how little documentation (in book or pamphlet form) is available for repair of the M3. Of course the IIIf and M3 both have Leica service manuals, but for the IIIF there is the "national camera" book by Lyells (78 info packed pages), as well as a dedicated chapter (chapter 12, I think) in that Antique camera repair book that circulates the web as well as at least one dedicated short book on Kindle and the "Amateur Leica Repair" By Phil Nelson that cover the IIIf in repair, including curtain replacement and many other nuances. <br>

For M3 we just have The leica service manual and the M2 military repair guide (from the net). This may be because the IIIf is simpler (it is) and the above manuals can be applied to almost all Leicas from the 20's through the 50's. Yet, the M3 and it's descendants are so popular. You'd think that maybe Larry Lyells would have written something (more than just the cameracraft article I think he wrote, albeit excellent) that goes further into the nitty gritty. It's been fun, albeit slow, to gradually build a body of knowledge to better understand these things. I fully realize that there are more mechanically inclined people that would probably jump in to this kind of project without the amount of research I find myself doing. Guess I just like researching this stuff:)<br>

<br />Thanks everyone!</p>

<p> </p>

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<p>"Leica M3 light seal replacement" <em><strong>Kelvin F.</strong></em></p>

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<p>Hi Kelvin, what seals are you speaking of that require replacement?<br /> <br /> Barring total incompetence & butchery from the past, there are generally a total of seven, and <strong>only one</strong> on occasion requires "replacement".<br /> This one in particular is at the film door hinge (A 90mm strip of rubberized silk). Basically curtain material.<br />After cutting your own, this replacement procedure should only be performed with the body shell separated from the chassis.<br /> The rest of the hearty and permanent 'seals/traps', should be considered totally reuseable...</p>

<p>Gus,<br>

Thank you very much for this information. It is true, that is the only seal to which I refer. I had been confused by something told to me by a different camera repair person when he worked on a a prior Leica M3 of mine in which he said he replaced a few light seals, or updated "some" seals (it's been a while, so his wording eludes me). When I took my current (more beat up) M3 apart, I couldn't find the many seals to which he seemed to refer. Perhaps he exaggerated to make it seem he did more than he did? Being ignorant at that time, I had no way of knowing. His repair didn't solve the intermittent light leak on that camera which I now believe was do to an aged curtain that didn't lay completely flat at all times when the film was advanced (no holes and no other obvious signs of leakage). On about 2-3 shots of 36 you'd see this graduated light band about 1/2 cm the top of the image. The lens never left the camera and it was independent of the lighting outside. I could make it go away if I put the lens cap on when I advanced the film so hence my theory that it was due to age induced laxity of one of the curtain's edges.</p>

 

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<p>"my theory that it was due to age induced laxity of one of the curtain's edges" <strong><em>Kelvin F.</em></strong></p>

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<p>Don't blame the "curtains", it's more likely one or both of the lens chamber baffle felt bars breaking loose.<br>

<strong>OR</strong><br>

The curtain brake is poorly adjusted.</p>

<p>This is analogous to the early Diesel Mercedes Benz models with a poorly shifting transmission.<br>

Many changed out their transmission thinking it was worn out/defective. In reality, it's a leak in the vacuum system that conducts the shifting.<br>

Fix the leak and adjust the vacuum back to within specs, and all of a sudden your transmission performs as it should...</p>

Was the leak you were experiencing similar to this? If so, was it the brake adjustment or a light shield causing it? It only appeared on the one shot on this roll, frame #2.