Praktica L - damaged back/door

Newbie here so hello everyone. I've googled the hell out of it but got nowhere. I have a Praktica L with a badly damaged back/door and I also have an LTL for spares with a good back. Unfortunately I can't find any info as to how to remove the backs. Can anyone point me in the right direction and thanks in anticipation of an answer

Kev

Let me start with a general hint: It helps to post

1. questions in the headline
   
2. in the appropriate forum. - (I'm not aware of any Canon FD = AE1 & T70 etc. Praktica relation,)
   

I'm not very mechanically inclined, especially on the watchmaking level of camera repairs. - Looking at a PLC 3, I suppose removing the bottom plate, hopefully held by just 4 screws, to get better access and using a steel nail or needle, preferably with a dull tip to press or hammer down the aproximately 1.5mm thick length of wire making the core of the hinge from the topside of the camera, until you can grab it with some pliers at the bottom could work. - (There are more dedicated tools than needles or nails for such jobs but I don't know how they are named in English. - German: "Splinttreiber")

 

I suppose Praktica backs weren't meant to be user exchangeable.

Best of luck, welcome to photo.net and I hope I didn't come across as rude.

Can't help myself, I'm afraid, but if you post this under Retro cameras someone might know.

Good ideas Gents....

Thread moved.

Title changed.

 

WW

I'm pretty sure the Praktica L/LTL backs aren't meant to be removable. If they are, there will be a sliding catch inside the hinge end of the back.

 

Only way to remove a 'fixed' back is to knock out the hinge-pin. This will mean un-riveting one end of the pin to remove the 'mushroom', and chasing it out with a stiff wire punch.

 

Removing the mushroom will be the tricky bit. It can either be filed off, or pinched out with pliers or some such. Whatever you do, I doubt the hinge pin will be re-useable.

 

Personally, I'd be asking myself if the time and work were worth it for a camera of such low value.

 

Charity shops, junk shops and online sites are full of old film cameras for next-to-nothing.

I have a dead LTL3 and I had a go at driving the pin out of the hinge. You have to do that from the bottom. I used my thinnest screwdriver. It didn't take much force; a few knocks with the handle of another screwdriver as mini-hammer. The top of the pin is keyed to grip the inside of the hinge. However, it only moves 2 or 3 mm before the top housing stops the pin, so you need to get the top off the camera, I think.

Worth measuring some dimensions of the two doors to be confident they're exchangeable before you go to much effort, but to get one working camera from two broken ones is a great reward. Good luck!

Just looked on ebay, which is probably one of the most expensive places to buy used cameras. L series Prakticas go for around £6 + postage. That's under $9 US.

 

Put the tools away and buy a 'new' one!

If you turn back the leatherette on the hinge side of the camera body, you'll see the screws securing the hinge to the camera.