Semushkin
Established
Comrades,
Following the intructions from Comrade wolves3012, I opened the Trudkommuna which could not advance film:
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=53441
The pressure plate was the culprit. Here it is in the correct position:
pic.1 (see below)
As you see is not perfectly circular but has a tongue with a slot in it that is supposed to be kept in place by a screw. This orients the hole correctly. The hole is a left-over from the earlier models that had a plug in the back that was supposed to align with this hole. As Comrade wolves3012 pointed out, they discontinued the plug before the hole!
Anyway, the tongue had slip over the screw in my camera, raising the top part of the pressure plate, and pressing it against the top rail. It happened again when I tried to reassemble the camera but finally I got it right. I also flattened the springs a little to decrease the pressure of the plate. Film now advances very smoothly. The shutter crate seems clean, the screws fit well with the shell, the curtains look new with metal laths (apparently the originals should not have them), the speeds seem fine. Shutter gears are clean if a little under-lubricated. The claim by the seller (rusfoto) that the camera had been CLA'd is probably true, and the plate was probaly placed wrong during post-CLA reassembly.
The seller incidentally immediately offered to solve the problem when I was at a loss yesterday.
I also discovered the numbers 29 IX 7 scratched on the side of the crate:
pic. 2 (see below)
The Russians customarily use Roman numerals for the month in dates, so this is quite probably a date.
Is it perhaps the date of the last CLA, 29 Sept. 2007 ?
However, the scratches look old and they are rusted (not obvious from the photo). So another possibility is a production date, scratched by a communard in the Dzerzhinsky Commune: 29 Sept. 1937: This theory has the following evidence in favor:
1) Actually, in Sovet timepieces produced in the first decade of Soviet watch production (the Thirties), the production year is stamped on the movement with only the last digit of the year, so 7 is 1937, 4 is 1934 etc. From 1940 on, they switched to 2 digits. In that case the 7 would stand for 1937. The camera serial number, 48XXX indicates 1937 production from the Oscar Fricke data.
2) The scratches are rusty and look quite old. Would it have rusted since last september?
3) The cursive style of the 7 with the curved top looks old as well.
Have any of you encountered something like this in old FEDs? The production date theory is perhaps a little far fetched but more fun than the CLA date theory.
When I got the camera and could not load film I was quite upset. After all this I ended up enjoying myself considerably!
The Trudkommuna is loaded with B&W 400 and the first shots have been fired!
Following the intructions from Comrade wolves3012, I opened the Trudkommuna which could not advance film:
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=53441
The pressure plate was the culprit. Here it is in the correct position:
pic.1 (see below)
As you see is not perfectly circular but has a tongue with a slot in it that is supposed to be kept in place by a screw. This orients the hole correctly. The hole is a left-over from the earlier models that had a plug in the back that was supposed to align with this hole. As Comrade wolves3012 pointed out, they discontinued the plug before the hole!
Anyway, the tongue had slip over the screw in my camera, raising the top part of the pressure plate, and pressing it against the top rail. It happened again when I tried to reassemble the camera but finally I got it right. I also flattened the springs a little to decrease the pressure of the plate. Film now advances very smoothly. The shutter crate seems clean, the screws fit well with the shell, the curtains look new with metal laths (apparently the originals should not have them), the speeds seem fine. Shutter gears are clean if a little under-lubricated. The claim by the seller (rusfoto) that the camera had been CLA'd is probably true, and the plate was probaly placed wrong during post-CLA reassembly.
The seller incidentally immediately offered to solve the problem when I was at a loss yesterday.
I also discovered the numbers 29 IX 7 scratched on the side of the crate:
pic. 2 (see below)
The Russians customarily use Roman numerals for the month in dates, so this is quite probably a date.
Is it perhaps the date of the last CLA, 29 Sept. 2007 ?
However, the scratches look old and they are rusted (not obvious from the photo). So another possibility is a production date, scratched by a communard in the Dzerzhinsky Commune: 29 Sept. 1937: This theory has the following evidence in favor:
1) Actually, in Sovet timepieces produced in the first decade of Soviet watch production (the Thirties), the production year is stamped on the movement with only the last digit of the year, so 7 is 1937, 4 is 1934 etc. From 1940 on, they switched to 2 digits. In that case the 7 would stand for 1937. The camera serial number, 48XXX indicates 1937 production from the Oscar Fricke data.
2) The scratches are rusty and look quite old. Would it have rusted since last september?
3) The cursive style of the 7 with the curved top looks old as well.
Have any of you encountered something like this in old FEDs? The production date theory is perhaps a little far fetched but more fun than the CLA date theory.
When I got the camera and could not load film I was quite upset. After all this I ended up enjoying myself considerably!
The Trudkommuna is loaded with B&W 400 and the first shots have been fired!
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