old pentax slrs - question

[lewis_mcvey]

i've got an mx and an me super, both of which i love, both of which have the

same problem. could be me, operator error, that is. here goes: when shooting

rolls of 36, somewhere around 20 or so the frame advance starts to slip. it will

wind through, resetting the shutter, but the film doesn't advance with it. so

that if you failed to notice the signs (it's a subtle grinding feel as the

sprockets slip past under the film) you'd end up with multiple exposures on that

frame. what's going on? am i failing to load the film properly? any advice?

thanks all.

[jerry thirsty]

Sounds like the film leader is slipping out of the grip of the take-up spool. But in my experience that usually happens right at the beginning of the roll, rather than further on. When you insert the leader tip into the white pins on the MX spool, do you insert it so it's wrapping around the far side of the spool (around the right side), or do you try to insert it along the left side of the spool (toward the front of the camera)? Maybe try switching and see if it helps. I usually try toward the front; it's trickier to get it under the pins but the film should wrap tighter around the spool that way. If you go the other way, as you advance the film it has to bend back around the pins 180 degrees, which might be causing a bulge that the film keeps building up on until, when you hit frame 20 or so, it starts catching on something inside the camera and pulls loose from the spool.

 

Just my hypothesis.

[mel_unruh]

You are probably in dire need of a CLA (clean, lube & adjustment).

[jeffpolaski]

Ditto Mel. They deserve the care after all these years.

[tripanfal]

Eric at Pentaxrepairs is top notch. I have had bodies CLA'd and bought from him also. As a matter of fact I just contacted him about 3 more bodies.

 

http://myworld.ebay.com/pentaxrepairs/

 

contact him directly at Pentaxrepairs@aol.com

[martin_vanmeter1]

I will give a second "thumbs up" for Eric Hendrickson at www.pentaxs.com as mentioned above. He repaired and CLA'ed three cameras for me, two Honeywell H3v models and a MX. All came back working like clockwork and the fee was "very" reasonable. Send your cameras in, they will come back ready for 20 more years.

[lewis_mcvey]

Thanks, everybody. I'm in touch with Eric and he's going to fix me up.

[zach_abubeker]

I can also vouch for eric. he brought back to life my dear old spotmatic.

[dougmiles]

Eric has fixed a few of my Pentaxes and I too am pleased with his work and pricing.

 

I have two ME-Supers, one of which has a weak takeup spool clutch. As you can imagine, as the film builds up layer upon layer on the takeup spool, it still needs to help pull the film driven by the sprocket so that it can wrap tightly, but as the roll progresses the spool has to slip more and more as the diameter of the film wrap gets larger. This is normal, and why the clutch exists.

 

Well, this one ME-Super's clutch slips too easily, so it cannot pull the film firmly enough for a tight wrap. The loose wrapping gets too large in diameter by around the 30th exposure, at which time it just jams in the takeup chamber. The sprocket keeps pushing the film, but of course the wind lever develops too much resistance to continue.

 

I'm told locally this is not a fixable condition, so I've been using just 20 and 24-exposure rolls in that body. Maybe I should ask Eric Hendrickson about it too... :-)