Bessa RF film chamber

[Philknall]

Hi everyone,
I own a 1937-ish Bessa RF (black top, coupled rangefinder), and have been having issues with the film not spooling straight (sometimes even overlapping with the top plate of the uptake spool, which made it extremely hard to unload). Yesterday I noticed the left chamber has a leaf spring in the bottom, but nothing in the top, allowing the film spool to move up and down about 4mm. I put a 3.5mm plastic spacer insider and so far it *seems* to remedy the issue.

Would anyone owning a comparable model Bessa be so kind as to post a picture with this part of the camera visible (and well enough lit to see inside)? All the ones I found were taken to show the other (uptake spool) chamber, and the left (unexposed spool) chamber is too dark to tell if there is a part my Bessa is missing.
Thanks in advance!

 

[Steve M.]

Here's a Bessa II, which has the same setup as your RF model. There is nothing at the top, just the bottom. I had several Bessa RF cameras w/ Heliar lenses (great lenses!!!), and really liked the cameras. Never had any problems with the sort of issue you're having, so you should give it a good inspection to see if something else is causing the problem, but it sounds like you've figured it out w/ the spacer. For what it's worth, I preferred to use the metal take up spools vs the plastic ones.

ihttps://www.ebay.com/itm/Voigtlander-Bessa-II-RF-Film-Camera-W-105mm-F3-5-Color-Skopar/292680929561?hash=item4425249119:g:vSkAAOSwa4FZqf7T

 

[Philknall]

Thanks for the reply! Maybe it's just one of the springs on the side then allowing the spool to bounce around. Strange to have all that space up top...
I shot a roll of Tri-X with the plastic spacer i mentioned yesterday and it turned out great.. fingers crossed that it wasn't a fluke!