cleaning lens helicoids

[rbsinto]

I've got two rangefinder Nikkors that could stand a cleaning/lubricating as there is a fair bit of dampening in the focusing rings as they are turned.
Never having done anything like this before, is this a task that I could accomplish myself, or should I not be bold and stupid and leave it to those who do this for a living?
If it is possible for me to strip the lenses and clean them, are there instructions or words of wisdom from those who dare such tasks available to guide me, and if not, keeping in mind that I live in Canada, who would be my best choice of repair people to do this? Steven Gandy? Pete Smith? or.......
Please and thank you.

 

[jonmanjiro]

Robert, if you can handle a screwdriver halfway competently its an easy DIY job.

* remove the front plate (four screws)

* remove the focus helicoid (screw at the top is a different shape for positioning and must go back in the same position, the other two scews can go back in either position)

NOTE that there are one or two shims underneath each screw inbetween the camera body and the focus helicoid. Remove the helicoid carefully so you don't loose any of these shims and can put them back in the exact same position they came from. The shims are all slightly different thicknesses so this is critical.

* now that the focus helicoid is off you can remove the screw that holds the arm that prevents the inner focus helicoid from screwing completely out, and remove the inner helicoid from the outer helicoid. There's actually two screws, but you only need to undo the screw on the right and leave the "pivot" screw in place.

Clean, lube using a very light grease sparingly, and reassemble.

Good luck 🙂

 

[ray*j*gun]

Pete Smith has been very ill.

He accepted 2 of my cameras had them for almost 2 months and I just got them back unopened in the same box I shipped them. He meant to work on them then got so sick that he didn't respond to emails and phone calls. Delray Camera helped me get them back.

 

[Highway 61]

What Jonmanjiro said. Very easy as for an absolute beginner DIY job.

Note that some folks will certainly jump in saying that the Nikon RF helicoid must run dry for some reason (and yes it's written down in the Nikon SP factory service manual that I have) but since it's day and night with and without a light amount of grease, I personally went for the with and forgot it all about the without.

White lithium grease used for race bicycles ball bearings works super.

Best of the best is to clean the male and female threads of the helicoid with 000 superfine steel wool before applying the grease (of course you make yourself certain that all the steel wool dust has been wiped off) so that you get a silky smoooooooooth helicoid (guaranteed and tested).

There is a top-notch friendly bike shop at Bathurst/Barton.

EDIT : all of this (as well as what Jon wrote) regards the Nikon RF bodies focusing helicoids.

Dumb me ! Your opening post speaks of "rangefinder Nikkors" so you are speaking of external mount lenses, aren't you ?

The same grease will do it as well but the dissassembly/reassembly process is not the same easy thing...:angel:

The main difficulty with lenses is the infinity collimating when you reassemble if you aren't familiar with them.

I have a good friend in your very sector of Ontario who doesn't do it for a living but has the perfect skills and tools for this. You've got a PM.

 

[jonmanjiro]

Dumb me ! Your opening post speaks of "rangefinder Nikkors" so you are speaking of external mount lenses, aren't you ?

Doh, you're right :bang: Highway 61, I'm glad one of us can read properly! 😱

The complexity level goes up a lot with external mount lenses. The W-Nikkor 3.5cm f/1.8 is an easy lens to pull apart and lube, but I have no experience with other lenses.


in pieces - W-Nikkor 3.5cm f1.8 by jonmanjiro, on Flickr

The Nikkor-S 5cm f/1.4 is another easy lens to work on, but of course has no focus helicoid.


Twelve aperture blades... by jonmanjiro, on Flickr

 

[Highway 61]

I dit it on a W-Nikkor-C 3.5cm f/2.5 and on a Nikkor-Q 13.5cm f/3.5 with some actual success, but I'm at 6500 km away from Robert right now.

 

[VinceC]

Each lens seems to be constructed completely differently. I've done this with a chrome W-Nikkor 2.8cm/3.5. Just needed to remove the lens element module, basically. The other lenses can get really complex to take apart.

 

[Mister E]

Pete Smith has been very ill.

He accepted 2 of my cameras had them for almost 2 months and I just got them back unopened in the same box I shipped them. He meant to work on them then got so sick that he didn't respond to emails and phone calls. Delray Camera helped me get them back.

Yep, very sick. Be glad you got them back before he worked on them. He didn't do a good job with the lenses or camera I sent. I'm still waiting on a refund from him.