Hasselblad 500 EL/M - mirror up, can't unjam

[hyc_day]

<p>Hello everyone,<br>

I found 3 Hasselblad 500 EL/M in the attic. I bought a 9v battery adapter to make them work.<br>

One of the three works wonderfully, I put the battery and it works great.<br>

The other two, however, there is nothing going on. Mirrors are up and switches on the right side position is in position "o" (not L, not T) and selectors to "O" (not AS / A / S or SR). Everything should run but nothing happens.<br>

I read that it was possible to uncock/unjammed them by turning a screw inside, lens side.<br>

On the camera that works, I can do it, turning the screw until the mirror goes down and locks, without forcing.<br>

But on both models that do not work, I turn the screw, the mirror goes down but as soon as I release the screwdriver, mirrors back pronto.<br>

Therefore impossible to re-arm the camera, despite having followed the manipulation described here: www.dmin-dmax.fr/photoe2b.htm or here http://www.david-odess.com/faq.html#q18 (even if it is not the exact same issue, i.e. the body of the cameras don't have any lense attached)<br>

Are there experts in the area that would be able to advise me?<br>

Can the failures come from an internal spring that prevents the mirror to hang on the bottom?<br>

Or a problem in the power supply level? or with the 'shooting button' ?<br>

I noticed a small difference: watching the body of the camera (without lens / or film) from the back (so like if I was looking through the lens), with the 2 devices that do not work, on the right side there is a bit of an apparent gear, while for the device that is working, the gear is inside the body and I see no teeth but only a flat portion.<br>

In advance, please excuse my english, not a native speaker.<br>

Thank you in advance for any help !!<br>

hycday</p>

[savagesax]

Well David is the master.

 

Can you take a pic of the front and the back of the camera and the back of the lens? Can you see through the lens? Your

English is great. Don't force anything. Send a pic first. Are the lenses stuck on the bodies? Are the rear curtains shut or open?

[scott_murphy5]

<p>My first inclination was to do just what you did, take a screwdriver and turn the screw at the bottom of the mirror box. But if that does not work, I really am at a loss. If you feel they are worth it I would take them to a camera repairman.</p>

[savagesax]

What I'm concerned about is the mirror could just be stuck to the gooey old rubber vibration absorbers that turn to a sticky

glue like consistency. This rubber material turns crappy after several years. However, there are many other causes, thus

the reasons for wanting a few photos. I did my own hassy repairs for many years, but I never used the ELM's so there

could be issues with the electronics, maybe corroded wires from an old battery or something, gears gummed up, I really

don't know unless I saw some pics. Something is surely jammed, or an electrical issue, so don't force anything. I'm only

OK at repairs. I can do the basics. Send the camera to a master, try to avoid Hasselblad for service, because they charge a

lot. People like David are surely your best bet.

[hyc_day]

<p>So...I have been working on the two cameras that were not correctly working and the first one had an issue with the fuse and some cleaning, I did all that and now it is working, and the second one took me long time. I opened the motor unit (since it was a dead camera, let's have fun), played with the electronics, resoldered all the wires, tested the solenoid and...worked ! tested the motor and..worked ! now, the game was to put everything back inside, I did it many times before understanding all the links (solenoid needs to be carefully put so that it would trigger a gear and a small switch needs to be VERY carefully put as well so that it would stop the motor from turning when the mirror is down. all that done, I can now say that my cameras are working !!! <br>

I have really happy to have done this as I learned a lot how it works from the inside</p>