FED-1 shutter angst..... B4 or after?

[Nickfed]

I have just aquired a nice clean FED-1. It is indeed a joy to hold and behold, but I still don't understand the shutter. I cannot make sense out it unless I set the speed before I cock it.

This is most evident with "B" . If I set it first, the B lines up with the arrow sensibly and when I press the button the shutter does exactly what it is supposed to do. If I set it first the arrow is about 1/3 past 25 when the knob is wound and the B comes back to the arrow after exposure. I cannot set the B to the arrow after winding. I cannot wind past 25 to B.

I can set all speeds correctly to the arrow before winding. They all come back properly after expoosure. I cannot sensibly set any to the arrow after winding, the best I can get is a near miss and when I do, it comes back to a decent alignment of another number after exposure. I have not tested any exposures yet but when I set it to 1/25, before cocking, it makes the noise I would expect.
One reason for the confusion is that if I set 50 before cocking I get a nicely aligned 100 after cocking. Needless to say, I have no idea if it is firing at 1/50 or 1/100.....
I wondered if the shutter dial is in the wrong position but the the fact that B works just like one would expect tends to negate that.

I would be glad of any comment.

 

[phototone]

All the FSU "Leica clones" require that the shutter be set AFTER being wound. If you are getting incorrect speeds, then the shutter setting knob is misaligned, and it has a set-screw
which you can loosen and then align the knob with the correct shutter speed. It is cautioned that setting the shutter speed before winding is detrimental to the gear train, and will always result in incorrect speeds.

I am sure you know that you pull up on the knob and turn it to set it. Only after winding up.
(Turning the film advance knob to re-cock the shutter). Make sure your rewind/advance lever is in the corrrect position. The little arrow looking lever in front of the shutter release.

 

[Roman]

Never ever set the shutter speed on a Russian LTM (FED, Zorki) or Kiev camera before winding the shutter - it can very easily be broken that way - let's hope yours isn't already...

Roman

 

[Nickfed]

Thanks for your replies. I removed the grub screw. I could not remove the shutter dial but I could rotate it. I set thge shutter to B first and fired it. I then wound on and rotated the wheel to B and tightened the screw.
It seems that all is well!

 

[Nickfed]

As a postscript on this saga..........
I suspect this camera has been recently cleaned. The area around the shutter wheel is too good to be true. It could be that the wheel was removed for cleaning and then put back in the wrong place, possibly because the shutter was fired accidentally.
It appears that no damage has been done - feels good, like a good FED shood.