Blocked selftimer - Yashica Electro 35 GTN

[Eugen Mezei]

Hello!

So I got my second GTN.... (well, I don't liked the first one, but it was so cheap...)

Before putting a battery in it (no mercuries at hand that moment) I played around and cocked the selftimer. Ofcourse (?) it remained blocked, but unfortunately now with batteries it remains blocked too. Now I also see that I can't rotate the ring with the B, auto and flash positions.
Unfortunately I can't tell if the camera was faulty before or if I am the culpright by cocking the selftimer without batteries. I also don't know if the aforementioned ring could be rotated before I played around.

What could I do to deblock the selftimer?
At the moment (with batteries) the green and red lights/arrows work as the should but when pressing the exposure button the shutter remains closed.

Greetings,

Eugen

 

[btgc]

Eugen,
seems you'll have to sneak into shutter to free ST. If filter thread isn't bent then it shouldn't be hard - I spent most of time straightening threaded part of barrel to be able to unscrew retaining ring (nameplate).

Now I'll advise doing almost criminal thing - on your own responsibility. No, don't do it, I'll tell how I'd try - with wire hooked on one end I'd open cover of ST, peep inside to locate ST escapement and apply SMALL drop of naphtha with small tube. Maybe on end of needle or another wire. Idea is to very slightly moisten ST escapement and not to flush whole shutter. If ST would free you'd know what to do, right?

Now it's not firing because ST isn't freeing, otherwise it's good.

 

[b1bmsgt]

with wire hooked on one end I'd open cover of ST, peep inside to locate ST escapement and apply SMALL drop of naphtha with small tube. Maybe on end of needle or another wire. Idea is to very slightly moisten ST escapement and not to flush whole shutter. If ST would free you'd know what to do, right?

Might work, might not. Best thing to do would be to remove the darn thing altogether. The escapement is just held in by one or two screws, depending on where in the production run the camera was made. It is a self contained module, so it can be safely removed without affecting any other mechanisms.

Russ

 

[Eugen Mezei]

Filter is not bent, the camera altogether looks really good.
Is cocking the ST without batteries in camera a known problem or is this not what blocked the ST? (In other words, would it become stuck even if I had batteries in?)
How do I dissasemble the unit with the ST? I can post pictures if necessary. It is the version with ASA going up to 1000.

Eugen

 

[sevo]

Batteries or none don't make a difference, the self timer is mechanical. And being rarely or never used throughout the whole history of every old camera, it generally is the component most likely to develop stiction problems.

 

[Eugen Mezei]

Thanks sevo, was my thougt also, but better to ask to be sure.
btgc's proposal brought me to another idea, I will first try the often working method of putting the camera on to the heating in my room.

 

[bawang]

Tell us if that works. My GX is still stucked at ST too. I have tried dripping naptha around the ST mechanism, but no luck there. I might want to try this heater tip.

 

[b1bmsgt]

Hmmmm... That's an interesting concept. Let us know if it works!

Russ

 

[Brennotdan]

Might work, might not. Best thing to do would be to remove the darn thing altogether. The escapement is just held in by one or two screws, depending on where in the production run the camera was made. It is a self contained module, so it can be safely removed without affecting any other mechanisms.

Russ

This works, I did it with mine on greyhoundmans suggestion. The only tricky part is getting to the timer without spanners. My timer came right out, and the shutter fired, causing me to jump and lose a screw in the rug. I ended up sending my gtn to Hama later on though after I knocked the mirror out while adjusting the rf. He did great work, and even put a new timer in for me! heheh.

 

[Eugen Mezei]

The damn camera sucked my batteries dry. 4 mercuries. :-(
Now I'm trying the heating method but it don't fire, maybe it needs new batteries again.
Is the Auto, B, flash selector in any way connected to the ST? Can I normally move the selector ring or is this not possible when the ST is cocked? (As I wrote I can't turn this ring.)

Eugen

 

[btgc]

Eugen, ST is purely mechanical thing on this camera; mode selection ring should move with or without batteries. In fact, you can even shoot without batteries - sunny16 works well, assuming that without juice G35 fires at 1/500.

I suspect there's something wrong under nameplate. Mode selection ring has contacts under it, and you'll want to see what's there.

P.S. for testing with unknown cameras I go with cheap alkaline LR44 pills. Too bad this shortened thing sucked 4 mercury batteries....

 

[Eugen Mezei]

mode selection ring should move with or without batteries.

Yes, I know it should.
My thought was it will not move when the ST is cocked. Well... maybe I should compare with my working one.
In fact I am to lazy to dissassebmle this one and try to go away without doing it. 🙂 Hoping in some magic.

Eugen

 

[b1bmsgt]

There is no mechanical interface whatsoever between the mode selector ring and the self timer. The only thing the ST will affect is the shutter, and this is purely mechanical. When you turn the mode selector, all you are doing is moving two electrical contact arms along a contact strip, one level out from the shutter and self timer mechanisms. Absolutely no way for one to affect the other.

Russ

 

[Eugen Mezei]

So I see I have no more excuses to avoid disassembling. Anyone can point me to a good step by step instruction?

Eugen

 

[btgc]

at mid of page - http://mattdentonphoto.com/cameras/electro_inside/index.html

 

[bawang]

Eugen,

Have you had any success with freeing the ST? I don't know about you, but I am kinda frustrated not being able to use my GX because of stucked self-timer. I contemplate sometimes to sell or send it for repair?

 

[Eugen Mezei]

I tried to heat it but as reported thing haven't changed. I have it now on the shelf as I have an identical camera in working order and a lot of other cameras waiting to be feed with film. So I am not very inpacientated.

If I were you I won't send it to repair. You can quite easily get one in working order a lot cheaper than a repair. Ofcourse repairing yourself is the fun part.

Eugen

 

[hairy_paperclip]

Filter is not bent, the camera altogether looks really good.
Is cocking the ST without batteries in camera a known problem or is this not what blocked the ST? (In other words, would it become stuck even if I had batteries in?)
How do I dissasemble the unit with the ST? I can post pictures if necessary. It is the version with ASA going up to 1000.

Eugen

i just tried cocking the self-timer on my GTN sine-batteries (some risk involved, yes), and had no problem, popped the batteries in and shutter fired fine. some more complicated maintenance may be required 🙁

 

[b1bmsgt]

i just tried cocking the self-timer on my GTN sine-batteries (some risk involved, yes), and had no problem, popped the batteries in and shutter fired fine. some more complicated maintenance may be required

You are definitely tempting fate... If the ST jams, your camera is dead until the ST is removed. If you absolutely MUST have a ST, get an external unit that screws into the shutter button. They are available on ebay for a reasonable price.

I speak from experience... 😀

Russ