TLR Mirror Repair?

[jonathan_stark]

I set my Ciroflex D down on a chair off balance yesterday and of

course it hit the floor (fortunately in its case.) But the shock

caused the 50-year old glue behind the reflex mirror to let go -

apparently the mirrors were just glued to the metal body. My

question: any suggestions about kind of glue to use when re-attaching

the mirror? (Actually a slip of paper is involved too - paper glued

to the mirror then to the metal camera body.) Would appreciate

responses from anyone who's done this kind of work before.

 

I've found a great Ciroflex repair site,

http://daniel.mitchell.name/cameras/ciroflex/ciroflex.html

I've got to do a little disassembly to get in there - take off the

front panel to release the parallex correction lever in order to

remove the finder.

 

Thanks for your help.

[gene m]

"Super Glue."

[winfried_buechsenschuetz1]

It depends whether the mirror in your tlr rests with its entire (or almost entire) back surface on the camera body. On most tlrs I have seen there are certain posts cast in the body to support the mirror, and most of its surface does not rest on the camera body. In these cases, of course, it will be hard to re-attach or re-glue it such that its surface will be even and plane again.

 

You can cannibalize good first surface mirrors from Polaroid SX-70 type cameras. The ones with a reflex viewfinder even have two big mirrors inside. With some practice you can cut the mirrors very precisely. If the thickness does not match exactly the thickness of the original mirror you will have to recalibrate the viewing lens which usually is done by loosening a retainer ring inside the mirror box.

[mike_elek]

I probably would use contact cement. The real contact cement -- not the school variety. You brush thin layer on each side, wait until it's slightly tacky. Then press down. That should hold for decades.

 

Hope it works out well for you.

[richard_oleson]

Another possibility, especially since it was originally glued down with a paper interleaf, would be a couple of strips of Scotch Double-Stick Tape... the stuff that's like cellophane tape but sticky on both sides. it's easy, of uniform thickness, and will take up small irregularities in the metal casting that might otherwise stress the glass.

 

The vewing lens is mounted in a threaded mount with a lock nut around it, easily adjustable to correct any focus difference between the approach you take and the orginal arrangement.

 

:)=

[jonathan_stark]

Rick & Mike - thanks for the good advice. I'll definitely use either contact cement or doublesided tape.

 

Winfried - interesting point about the posts. In the Ciroflex, the mirror is apparently fully supported across its whole length and width by lying directly on the body. There are "ridges" or bumps that position the mirror but they lie outside the dimensions of the mirror. By the way the mirror didn't break (lucky), it just came unglued. It's in pretty good shape once I remove the old glue from the back, so I'll just re-glue it then check the focus as Rick suggests.

 

I'll let everyone know how it turns out. Thanks!

[bacsa]

Be careful with Super Glue. It releases some white vapours that will fog any shiny surface(metal, glass) and it's not easy to get it off. I superglued a piece on the leather case of my yashica gsn, and whe i thought it's dry i put the camera back in the case. Next time I opened it, the originaly shiny chrome top plate was white-matte around that region. I had to rub it hard with cloth to get it back.