Got Dem Ole Disasppearing Set Screw Blues

[farlymac]

A short tale of woe.

A recent purchase of a Zorki-4 (export version) got me to working on the shutter curtain speeds, as the second one was not traveling properly, releasing too early, and then going really slowly across the film gate.

The delay timer winding lever was also missing, so I had to figure out which FSU body was going to have to give one up. I decided the Z-6 with the busted curtain adjuster would be the donor.

After several adjustments to the shutter curtains, it was obvious the camera had other problems. And about this same time I dropped one of the blocking screws for the curtain adjuster, for the second time. First time I used my magnet to get it. The second time I couldn't find it, so I figured it was time to prep the donor body for surgery. But while searching for the blocking screw, I found two more I had dropped some months earlier, one of them being the set screw from my Voigtlander 35mm SC Skopar hood. Man, those things are tiny, and I never thought I'd ever see it again. I set it in the tray with all the other screws so it wouldn't get lost again.

I took the bottom off the Z-6 to retrieve the blocking screw, then removed the delay timer winding lever from the front. It fit good, but the timer is jammed. So I decided I wasn't going to put anymore time into the Z-4 unless I was bored out of my skull for something to do.

After putting all the screws back in the places they belonged on both cameras, I noticed the Voigtlander set screw was missing from the tray. I'm thinking it magnetically latched on to one of the other screws as I was picking them out of the tray, and fell off during the transfer.

So I was down on the floor again with the magnet looking for the tiny little bugger, when I got a hit on the magnet about two minutes into the scan (it has a plastic face, so when you pick something up it makes a very audible click sound). I flipped it over to see that blocking screw from the Z-4.

Sigh...

PF

 

[02Pilot]

I know the feeling. I've dropped (or had go flying) more tiny parts than I can count. Most have been recovered, but there is no worse feeling, especially toward the end of a project, than to be forcibly reminded that gravity affects even the most minuscule of parts.

 

[zuikologist]

"I set it in the tray with all the other screws so it wouldn't get lost again".

It is at this point that I forget which screw is for which camera...

 

[Spavinaw]

Several years ago I posted a question about where I could get some replacement set screws for a Leica shutter speed dial. Someone commented that they were probably special Leica screws. I used screws from the hinges of a broken pair of glasses I originally bought at the Dollar Store. So much for the exotic Leica screw theory!

 

[Frontman]

I work on a lot of cameras, and I always work on top of a white towel. I make sure to work near the center of the towel, and not near the edges pf the table, where stuff more easily falls off. I also take care to never full remove set screws, just two turns is enough for them to lose their bite, but not come out of whatever part they are used in.

 

[farlymac]

Yeah, that's my normal mode too, Frontman, but the little Voigtlander screw only takes two turns and it's out, while the blocking screw for the shutter curtain adjuster must be removed so you can turn the lock. And when it flips because you have pressure on it from the screwdriver, who knows where it will end up after several bounces.

PF