Kodak No. 288 Tool (lens removal for Kodak 35RF)?

Anyone have one of these tools?

I have tried my usual retainer ring spanners, needle-nose pliers with tips filed, etc, but inside the Bakelite body, the lens retaining ring is so deep I've had no luck. Tools with the typical angled tips point at too great an angle.

Since using the wrong tools doesn't work, I occasionally wish I could see/measure a Tool No. 288, or get that info from someone who has one, or an alternate method.

Maybe unscrewing the rear cell with a rubber friction device would solve the retaining ring notch angle problem.

Thanks

Murray

I have found a reference to the tool in a Kodak 35 manual. The attached PDF's show the tool and also the reference to where it is used. There is also a photo of a tool that I made out of a piece of flat steel. Put the tips on the retaining ring slots and turn with some pliers. It a bit crude but it did work.

And the other photos;

The readable PDF's won't upload (even as jpeg's) send me a PM with an email address and I'll mail them to you.

Thank you, Greg.

I do have a copy of that manual...I forgot to say where I identified the tool number.

I think your initial question is another interesting thing...the 288 tool possibly works on other cameras with same or similar shutters.

The homemade tool pic is worth 1000 words...I have made improvised tools too but have limited creativity in visualizing an end result...so thanks for the homebrew tool pic.

I suppose the narrow 'tab' at the top (bottom as posted- you show the 'business end' up) (makes sense) is narrower to clear the Bakelite film opening/gate, allowing rotation by the pliers.

I was stumped by trying to determine the span a spanner needs (easy with a caliper once that retaining ring is my hand).

So I think I will try to unscrew the rear lens cell allowing me to make an imprint of ring to get the spanner dimensions...but I vaguely recall on a previous 35RF the cell won't clear the back opening & has to exit the front ...the instructions say the whole assembly is pulled out.

The 288 has enough clearance it just unscrews the ring with the glass in place (like many easy spanner scenarios.

Toughest spanner challenge so far for me was a filter retaining ring on a 309/2.5 Aero-Ektar lens with a 25 Red filter installed. That took a 1/8" aluminum bar I think with notches held in a large vice so I could rotate the 11# lens assembly with two hands.

This small one is taunting me a little.

I'll study your solution a bit more...maybe I'm not as limited in creativity as I claim to be.

Have a good weekend.

Hi Murray.

I revisited the camera repair, ie got the box of bits down off the shelf and had a look at the retaining ring. It's more complex than I first thought and the spanner that I photographed won't suit this camera and by the look of it, the spanner shown in the manual won't do the job either. I did take some dimensions from the camera and sketched up what I think we will need to get the retaining ring off. These measurements will need to be adjusted on a try and fit basis. I haven't allowed any working clearance, that will have to be added in on making it.

I will make one to finish my camera, it's been sitting in bits for long enough.

I thought I put it aside because the lens had some fungus in it, but maybe it was because I didn't have a tool to get the lens retaining ring off. Now to look for some suitable steel.

Where are you located Murray? I should make 2 while I'm on it.

I am in west Michigan.

When I (attempt to) make things, it's with hand tools, so my first reaction is making two would be twice the work! Very nice of you, but if it IS a lot of work, telling me the final dimensional details that work would help me and my files substantially!

You are way ahead of me, since you produced a CAD drawing. Every few years I want to make a CAD drawing and have to figure out what software I used the last time, if it's on the PC I currently have, and where I fell off the learning curve (and if said curve can be found).

Despite my Neander-level skills, I have an idea. (Just can't get there with a rock).

I have never seen or used the #288 tool but it looks like its ingenuity is the thin shaft that can rotate freely in the back of a camera, something that's a challenge for many traditional (2-blade) spanners...not 2-bit...

The Kodak tool probably only enters the camera body at one angle everyone learned in Kodak boot camp.

So I was thinking about how to make the 'blade' or 'bit' approach drivable with something other than pliers...like a notched-tip in an old screwdriver, or a hex-drive bit handle.

All possibly more complex steps than jeweler's files should be used for.

Thank you for your help!

Hi Murray,

I got some steel today. I'll see how the tool goes and let you know.

It's frustrating that a lens off the camera is easily measured, but it's nearly impossible to get measurements on the retaining ring deep inside the Bakelite box! NO luck loosening the rear lens cell with a sheet of rubber and a plastic bottle...but it would come out the back if it's threaded...not a big as I thought.

I recently got a very early Agfa Jsolette with the black Trolitan (Bakelite-like resin) top...not likely to be a high-performing camera, but cool from a historical perspective. I think it's a dual format: 6x4.5 and 6x6. The bellows is older than the horrible synthetic era, in decent shape, but needed some black photo tape patches on two folds...until I develop the skills to make a bellows.

Same with the Kodak 35RF...my specimen, despite being inoperative, is in excellent shape, so it would be nice to get running . I always liked what I got with Argus C3's.

Last summer I was also given a Graflex Reflex RB Series B with 22 and 23 backs...a 6x9 cm SLR is going to make me lose patience with zone focusing the Jsolette. It needed a rivet replaced in the pop up viewer cover....never had very good luck setting rivets...had a machinist do it for me.

Murray