FED2 Eating film.

[HiFiTie]

I bought a FED 2 off ebay many months back, ran one roll of film through it and it ate it up. The entire roll was split down the middle, save for the first few. I propose this was done while rewinding the film, as it was almost impossible to turn.

I made sure to push down the wind lock and lock it down, so this isn't the problem. The gears also spun freely with it locked down.

The curious thing is that it is very easy to both wind and rewind film with the back plate off, but as soon as I put it on it becomes very tough. I read another thread an he suggested trimming the film cassette, this also didn't help.

Any ideas what else could be wrong?!?! The shutter is spot on, lens is clean, RF is BRIGHT, I would really hate to not shoot with this camera just because it destroys my film!

I am sorry if my english is bad, I am not very good at typing in it.

 

[stratcat]

Carefully check the pressure plate in the removable back. There might be a sharp or pointy edge that's slicing the film.

 

[Ron (Netherlands)]

the spring of the spindle (where the spool is on) might be too tight, in that case you can have problems both on winding and rewinding with the result of tearing film

 

[HiFiTie]

the spring of the spindle (where the spool is on) might be too tight, in that case you can have problems both on winding and rewinding with the result of tearing film

How would I check this? Is it a pretty easy fix? I have only worked on Minolta's before.

 

[Ron (Netherlands)]

How would I check this? Is it a pretty easy fix? I have only worked on Minolta's before.

The spindle should turn not too easy if you try to turn it with your tumb. But another problem with your FED might be that if you do not lock the film on the spool (by putting the end of the flat clamp into a hole of the film), the film might get loose after a few windings, and will not wind around the film spool, but instead around the sprocket. After a few turns you might break the film....