F-36 External Battery DIY/MOD?

[B-9]

Hello!

It's been all of about 5 months since I sold off all of my classic
Nikons, with the intentions of settling into my Leicas, paying some bills, and a fair amount of it went to my winter hobby of racing Vintage snowmobiles.

Heck! I even got me and the girlfriend a 68' Arctic Cat Panther and matching Pink striped team cat snow suits to putt around the mellow rides. All in all my dear Nikons did treat me well, in use, and in their passing of hands.

I recently fell victim to old habits, and purchased a Black F.
Noticing it has a motor drive plate, and having never owned a F36, I'm planning to close the deal on a late motor.

I'm wondering if anyone has used, with success, external battery packs like quantum turbo or bantam packs?

Or, does anyone have any tech on the requirements of a DIY battery pack?

I do plan to have the F36 serviced and synced to my body.
NO I don't not want to use the typical cordless grip/pack.
I do not intend to assemble a correct outfit, budget is slim.

 

[B-9]

No one?

Not trying to reinvent to wheel here.
Ide love to find a Remopack or Powercon cordless pack.
But we all know how rare and expensive those get, when found.

Having a good amount of confidence in my DIY abilities,
I'm going to attempt a REMOpack (TPI) clone.

I've spent my lunch drafting the idea.
I'm in most need of Electrical info,
Type of connector used on F36?
Voltage and actual power input to the drive?

I'm pretty much looking for tech specs on the F36.
Anyone have a cordless or corded pack they could test?

 

[Waus]

perhaps at:[URL="]www.nikonhistoricalsociety.com [/URL]

 

[_goodtimez]

B-9 I have a few F36 Nikons and I may help you with finding a solution. The F36 uses a coaxial type power connector, kind of a large flash coax connector. I will measure the voltage and I can eventually make a set up to measure the amps.
Do you need pictures or are you acqainted with the OEM set up ?

 

[sevo]

I'm wondering if anyone has used, with success, external battery packs like quantum turbo or bantam packs?

I haven't used a F36, but all my F2/F3 age motors required 12V. IIRC Quantum Turbos are 6V on their low voltage output, and 240-300V on the high, so these presumably won't do.

 

[B-9]

I plan to have the motor CLA'd and matched to my body.

I'm not familiar with the OEM setup at all, thanks for the input!
This gets me going in the right direction. Any help is greatly appreciated!

I assume ill be able to source an original Nikon battery cord.
My modest goal is a simple battery compartment with a short line to the F36.

 

[Frontman]

Quite interesting. Here in Japan I sometimes come across F36 motors and parts. I put one on my old F and enjoyed using it a lot. My F was not originally a motor-driven camera, so I had to put in a motor plate before mounting the motor drive. I didn't do anything else, no adjustments were necessary, the camera and motor drive worked fine. I ended up buying another motor drive for another F, but it didn't fit, it turned out to be an S36 motor! Now I need to find a S motor plate...

 

[B-9]

Share the love 😛
Much less common in the states.
Along with an over inflated sense of value enforced by the many large dept. stores.

I'm assuming my body won't be so easily mounted to a F36.
If it does however, all the better! Possibly saving me some coin.

Thanks everyone for the responses!

 

[farlymac]

Quite interesting. Here in Japan I sometimes come across F36 motors and parts. I put one on my old F and enjoyed using it a lot. My F was not originally a motor-driven camera, so I had to put in a motor plate before mounting the motor drive. I didn't do anything else, no adjustments were necessary, the camera and motor drive worked fine. I ended up buying another motor drive for another F, but it didn't fit, it turned out to be an S36 motor! Now I need to find a S motor plate...

Hope you've already got a rangefinder to put that S36 on, Jeff.

PF

 

[CameraQuest]

No one?

Not trying to reinvent to wheel here.
Ide love to find a Remopack or Powercon cordless pack.
But we all know how rare and expensive those get, when found.

Having a good amount of confidence in my DIY abilities,
I'm going to attempt a REMOpack (TPI) clone.

I've spent my lunch drafting the idea.
I'm in most need of Electrical info,
Type of connector used on F36?
Voltage and actual power input to the drive?

I'm pretty much looking for tech specs on the F36.
Anyone have a cordless or corded pack they could test?

you will likely spend a lot of time and effort doing this

and in the end you will likely find you would have been better off

just buying the standard F cordless pack.

using that as a starting point, you can most likely figure out a way to add extra batteries if you need them so much.
but again, a lot of work and effort for very little pay back.

The standard pack already runs the motor as fast as you can safely do it without damaging the motor. when those batteries run out, just replace or recharge them. easy and quick.

less work and lots more time spent taking pics.


Stephen

 

[B-9]

Stephen, This project has little to do with what's easy.
In the end, I'm sure I will have spent less time building this, than the time it would take me to work and earn enough to buy a Nikon cordless.

I average 8$ an hour, tell me I can afford it on top of a house payment, electric, gas, and water bills? It's a miracle I've held onto this hobby!

In total Ill only have about 150$ into the camera and winder.
Along with an added repair budget of 150$ to have them matched.
My cordless pack will likely be made of ABS, which is free to me.
I have a good friend who shares my passion for tinkering, and provides me with many of the tools and knowledge I use to build my creations. He couldn't have any less of an interest in cameras. He does, however, value a good project.

Please feel free to check out the grip I made for my Hi-Matic FP posted in the Fixed Lens RF subforum. It cost me all of 1$ for the rattle can its covered in. It is also ABS.


The worth, comes in satisfaction.
I'm a tinkerer. Always will be.
I also have every bit of confidence in my skills as a fabricator.
I CAN do this and I WILL succeed 🙂

I hate to be rude, but lets keep the nay saying to ourselves.
Please read the original post, where I clearly state my intentions.

I do greatly respect your opinion Stephen!

I also noticed your the head bartender, what's it take to get a drink around here? 😛

 

[farlymac]

I've been thinking of doing this same thing, though mostly as a way to power up the drive while working on it at the bench. Like B-9, I live on a tight budget, and like to be able to fix my cameras, instead of having to send them off somewhere else. They are less expensive to buy when the owner thinks it's broken beyond repair.

I don't think Stephen was dismissing your efforts, B-9, he was just pointing out some facts. The cordless pack is great to have, as I feel it gives a more balanced feel to the operation of the camera, and looks steampunk funky. But one does not need the grip, and if you are ever planning on using the camera when it is cold, then a battery pack that can be carried inside ones coat to keep the cells warm is a plus.

My biggest hang-up with trying to rig an external pack is getting a matching plug to fit the motor terminal. But then that project has been on hold for a couple of weeks now. I just need to carry the plug from the cordless pack with me so that I can stop in one of the local electronic suppliers, or even some of the junk shops, to see if I can find a match. After that, it would be easy to rig up a set of batteries in whatever old container they will fit in.

Keep at it, B-9, you'll figure it out soon enough.

PF

 

[Fraser]

I have a few F36s and never paid over £150 for any of them, always found buying a complete unit is much cheaper I was lucky one of the first ones I bought had a spare drive plate with it which sell for silly prices alone. I think a lot of dealers separate them into bits- battery pack, connector, power connector and drive. I think its a bit of a rip off selling a drive without the other bits unless its really cheap. As for getting the F36 to work correctly with a body its quite simple once you see the mechanism. Good luck with the project.

 

[Livesteamer]

I got out my F36 and made some measurements. The plug into the motor has three conductors, one internal and two external.

The diameter of the plug is .194 inch or 4.93mm. Over all length is .286 or 7.27mm. The length of the outside conductor on the very end of the plug is .082 or 2.08mm followed by an insulater .070 or 1.78mm long and then the rest of the plug is the second conductor. Internally, there is a hole of about .0745 or 1.89 mm for the third conductor.

My first F was set up in 1975 by a big New York seller, (42cnd Street Photo?) but later I got a lovely black F from Thompson Photo in Knoxville. It had a motor plate and worked fine with the F 36 set up for the other camera.

Good Luck! Joe

 

[_goodtimez]

Nikon F36 Homemade checks

Nikon F36 Homemade checks

I made some checks this morning. The pictures are self explanatory I think:


NIKON F36 SETUP by Wegothim, on Flickr


NIKON F36 SETUP by Wegothim, on Flickr


NIKON F36 SETUP by Wegothim, on Flickr


NIKON F36 SETUP by Wegothim, on Flickr


NIKON F36 SETUP by Wegothim, on Flickr


NIKON F36 SETUP by Wegothim, on Flickr


NIKON F36 SETUP by Wegothim, on Flickr


NIKON F36 SETUP by Wegothim, on Flickr


NIKON F36 SETUP by Wegothim, on Flickr


NIKON F36 SETUP by Wegothim, on Flickr


NIKON F36 SETUP by Wegothim, on Flickr


NIKON F36 SETUP by Wegothim, on Flickr


NIKON F36 SETUP by Wegothim, on Flickr


NIKON F36 SETUP by Wegothim, on Flickr


NIKON F36 SETUP by Wegothim, on Flickr


NIKON F36 SETUP by Wegothim, on Flickr