lord, lordomat disassembly gone bad

[gatorgums]

Do not remove the top finder piece

from a Lordomat camera unless you know what you are doing.

[gatorgums]

2nd picture of lordomat view finder removal and mess<div></div>

[charles_stobbs3]

I think that may be the best way to learn. I have a couple of shoe boxes hidden away with partially disassembled cameras, waiting for another attempt.

[ken_jeanette1]

Mike, The only tool you're missing is a sledge hammer. May I recommend an inexpensive set of smaller tools. Jewelers pliers, snips and screwdrivers are very inexpensive these days with China producing. Two other things I have found very useful over the years are a terry towel on the work area, it stops small screws, etc from rolling. Second is a strip of wide double faced carpet tape at the top of my work area. I stick removed parts to it in the order they came off the camera. Visually helps with reassembly.

[patrick j dempsey]

drawings like the ones rick oleson does are helpful as well... you dont have to have his skills to make a useful drawing!

[gatorgums]

pATRICK- THANKS FOR YOUR REFERRAL...

i'M AFRAID MY INSATIABLE CURIOSITY LEADS ME

TO PLACES ID BE BETTER OFF LEAVING ALONE!

 

i WILL POST A DRAWING OF WHAT HAPPENED

 

TO THE CAMERA AND THE PIECE THAT CAUSED THE

4 HR EXERCISE IN FUTILITY.

( i THOUGHT I WOULD GO CRAZY OR HAD ALREADY GONE AFTER THE HOURS TRYING TO

PUT THAT ***%%>>XX@@!!! FINDER BACK TOGETHER AGAIN!!

[patrick j dempsey]

hahahaha. no worries mike... just wait untill the first time you get cocky enough to open up a Compur. Then you will have a GREAT appreciation for the feat of building these things by hand. Ironically, we have robots now and nobody builds cameras like that anymore. The robots apparently only build OTHER robots. ;)

[michaelging]

Even though I have dismantled a camera or two in my life, and even managed to get one or two back together and working , my motto is that only two kinds of people work on Cameras, fools and camera repairmen.My last one had springs in it that shot all over the room when I opened it up.

[gatorgums]

To quote a line from the movie

TWELVE O'CLOCK HIGH, with Gregory Peck:

"A man ought not to think too much..." .

 

Thats' where my troubles began.

With a thought.

 

Hmmm... i pondered. What if i could get the glass in the LORDOMAT looking like new?? Couldn't be that hard... probably just a few screws... what if... what if... .

 

Lets see... take the top off, look it over, a little Windex

( copyright the Windex Corporation America), a few tissues, maybe a small probing instrument.... no big deal.

 

Done in an hour. Wrong, Very very wrong.

 

The camera cover came off easy. Looking down at the inside of this mechanical marvel filled me with self absorption and courage.

I wouldn't let a few screws and parts stop me! Onward to my goal of a clean, sparkling viewfinder!

 

Some dry black paper covered the viewfinder . No problem.

This came off easily to reveal the location of the front glass piece that i wanted clean. INSIDE the metal housing.

 

I should have stopped there.

Getting at the glass would mean removing the small self enclosed rectangular metal unit which housed it.

 

Pliers to pull it; nope.

Screwdriver to pry it; nope.

Removal of the tiniest screws you ever saw, located INSIDE the metal box? YES!

Wrong. Should have stopped right there.

I did not. (Cockiness had reared its ugly head)

 

One screw became another and then another and another .

Springs and parts either flew or , worse, FELL

inside the viewfinder enclosure. I could hear them but i could not see them to put them back together. Mirrors inside the viewfinder housing created a FUNNY HOUSE effect,bouncing light all over.

 

I couldn't tell the front half from the back .

 

Pliers again. I would yank it out like a tooth being pulled.

Didn't work. I bent the metal and so said " ...what the hell, what difference does it make now, its wrecked " .

So started the beginning of my descent into three hours of camera repair hell.

 

Fortunately i was able to at least prevent a humiliating defeat

in the face of myself. I got the camera top back on, and other than a few bulges in the metal of the cover,looking like a Lordomat again.

 

Well at least l tried.....<div></div>

[michaelging]

Mike, you have a good sense of humor, that is what you need to work on cameras.

[patrick j dempsey]

One word of advice... lens cleaner not windex. A second word of advice... dont attempt to clean viewfinders with lines painted on them, or the rangefinder assembly with any solvent. Its very common for the yellow or red rangefinder patch or white framelines to turn clear in a good cleaning. Old mirrors have a nasty habit of becoming delaminated... all kinds of bad things can go wrong. But as long as it works now... you havn't failed! I prefer to suggest this excersize as a lesson for when you start thinking your Leica viewfinder is dusty... ship it off for professional CLA!

[chuck_foreman1]

Mike,

 

Been there! Done that! Like the other post.. boxes waiting for another (brighter) day ..or cockiness ... or stupidity... or .. or

I'm getting older but not wiser. Like my friend (not seen in 10 years .. knows me) commented as I related a story about buying a flash... Got 2 Fiats that don"t work... why not three??

I"m sure another Lord-0-Mat .. (sorry couldn't resist)more is

in the cards. I like your persistence. Simply getting it back together in some way is indeed an accomplishment!