Help with a FED-1...

[Jocko]

Funny you should mention that as I keep changing my mind about whether I should paint it black or not! I would rather it was black personally but, and this may sound a bit silly - if I paint it black what about all the engravings? Thanks.

Not silly at all! The same concerns put me off a very similar project. I think most people would paint just the superstructure, rather than knobs and dials, although skillful painters can - and do - cover the lot and paint the engravings white. Something way beyond my trembling hands! To be honest, David, I just have a thing about these "gold" cameras - I really hate them😀 !

I'm wearing a metaphorical sandwich-board, shouting "end this nudity now" 🙂 !

Cheers, Ian

 

[vickersdc]

Thank heavens for that - I too really don't like the gold cameras, although this one does have a bit of a patina now. Anyway, you've given me the push that I need to make my mind up to paint it black... but won't it look odd with a brass lens and brass knobs? What if I then put a nickel lens on it? Then it'll look really odd.

But still better than gold ;-)

 

[Valkir1987]

I wonder what kind of material the main body is, is it the thick and sturdy one? Or the more softer thinner body? I agree with Jocko, I don't like gold finish either. (the fake Leicas with a gold/wood finish are even worse)
It's not nessesary to disamble the camera further, unless the camera must be cleaned or the shutter has to be repaired. You may wind the shutter and fire it, just watch and find out how the shutter works. 🙂

 

[Jocko]

Odd is good! We're all odd here!

As you dismantled the camera without dropping all the parts on the floor, gouging out an eye and bleeding profusely from every finger (my time-honoured practice) I'm sure you could paint the knobs too!

Actually, for the really odd but good, there was always the Voomp - black top-plate with chrome superstructure! Looked pretty smart!

All the best, Ian

 

[vickersdc]

I wonder what kind of material the main body is, is it the thick and sturdy one? Or the more softer thinner body?

The body is from an early Fed or Zorki - there are no raised edges and the film pressure plate is circular with a couple of small tabs behind it. It's certainly a 'bitsa' camera - I reckon I'll name it a Ferki.

Of course, I have to disassemble it further so that I can paint it all properly 🙄 . Cheers, David.

 

[reagan]

"...although skillful painters can - and do - cover the lot and paint the engravings white. Something way beyond my trembling hands!"

I haven't done it, but painting the engravings has been done by others here by painting w/ small brush over the engavings and then, while the paint is fresh/wet, using a small rubber(?) straight-edge pulled across the engraved areas to squeegy the "out-of-bounds" excess from the upper smooth surfaces leaving the white in the lower engraved surfaces. This way you don't have to be so meticulous in painting only "inside the lines," so to speak.

It's pretty clear to me this is how my black Zorki was done in FSU and it looks fine.

Mixed-matched parts are pretty common. IMO, the fact that one can do that and still get something working in pretty good shape is an upside to FSUs --- more available parts.

Looks like you've got a good project going there... Good luck! Keep us posted.

 

[w3rk5]

Hi Dave. Check out this thread. The Painting PDF file is located on the sixth post.
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26417&highlight=painting+pdf
Also, check out this thread.
http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24058&highlight=painting+pdf
Good luck and have fun with it.

 

[vickersdc]

Thanks very much for the links - they are really useful. That FED-3 looks super-cool!. I'm still dismantling the top plate in readiness.

I have removed the shutter crate and now need to remove the shutter cocking knob from the top plate - are there any gotcha's when removing this knob and the relevant cogs and stuff underneath the top plate?

Just one more quick question - the little rewind lever that disengages the sprockets under the top plate is loose on my camera. Should there be some sort of spring or sprung washer to maintain a certain tension on this?

Once again, thanks for the assistance.

 

[Kim Coxon]

If you get stuck on the screws, I may be able to help.

Kim

Great idea - there's a guy who lives just down the road from me who used to repair watches and clocks (and he lives in the rather aptly named Tick Tock Cottage!).

 

[vickersdc]

If I paint it black it might end up looking like this though... http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Leica-Black-Classics_W0QQitemZ250027088988QQihZ015QQcategoryZ15234QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem and I'm not sure I could be seen out with a camera looking like that. Perhaps I should get it nickel plated. Perhaps I could use it as a spares camera. Maybe it'll look okay with the patina it has? Why did I ever get involved in this?
Kim, thank you for your offer - I may take you up on it - I only need the one brass screw for the lens surround. Can you help? Thanks, David.

 

[Ash]

*awkward glance* I quite like the look of that copy!

 

[ZorkiKat]

The body is from an early Fed or Zorki - there are no raised edges and the film pressure plate is circular with a couple of small tabs behind it. It's certainly a 'bitsa' camera - I reckon I'll name it a Ferki.

Of course, I have to disassemble it further so that I can paint it all properly 🙄 . Cheers, David.

It's a mix of (working) parts from several cameras. The crate is definitely FED (note shutter button collar). The top plate was from a Zorki, but renamed Leica. 🙂

Jay

 

[vickersdc]

Shutter tensioning...

Shutter tensioning...

Well the strip down, rebuild and CLA continues apace for the Ferki. Well, to be precise the strip down, rebuild and CL went really well. The 'A' leaves something to be desired :bang:

So here's my sad story... I marked the top bits up on the shutter speed selector as it recommends on Jay's site. When I took the shutter crate off, I heard the tension being released in the curtains, which I guess is to be expected. However, it did mean that once I (eventually) got the shutter crate back on the position of the coupling pin was OK relative to the top plate but not to the curtain. Is that important? I found that when I wound the shutter up the folds where the first and second curtain are only made it half way across, then when I fired either...
1) nothing happened (too little tension?), or
2) the second curtain zipped back and then became 'ruffled up' (too much tension?).

If I were to start from scratch, how would I set about adjusting the curtains (making the assumption that I hadn't marked anything at all when I disassembled it)?

I knew this bit would be the undoing of this project! Hope you can help?! 😎

Cheers, David.

PS: I have not dismantled the actual shutter crate as the curtains are in excellent condition.

 

[Kim Coxon]

Hi David,
Send me an address in a PM and I will see what I can do.

Kim

Kim, thank you for your offer - I may take you up on it - I only need the one brass screw for the lens surround. Can you help? Thanks, David.

 

[ZorkiKat]

.....If I were to start from scratch, how would I set about adjusting the curtains (making the assumption that I hadn't marked anything at all when I disassembled it)?

I knew this bit would be the undoing of this project! Hope you can help?! 😎

Cheers, David.

David

It's really hard to describe the procedure without pictures 🙂

You have to make sure that the curtains are in proper place before attaching the crate back to the plate. The 1st blind should be reeled in a certain way, and its lath should overlap with the lath of the 2nd blind. The overlapped laths should be somewhere past the edge (about 2-4) from the left edge (adjacent to the shutter drum) of the film gate. Actual position may slightly differ based on actual blind or ribbon lengths.

Then make sure that the coupling hole on the drum is placed so that it will catch on the coupling pin. The pin's position is critical. If this is displaced even by 1mm, chances are you could lose "B", or have the shutter stop over the frame, or lose one edge of the frame from a shutter which closes too soon or too short.

The restricting gear has to properly positioned too. Make sure that it's at the end of its turn before you place the shutter drum. And be certain that the gear's is at its "end" which will allow the drum to turn the other way for the shutter to travel to the other side.

There is also a pulley over the drum. You will probably have noticed by now that this pulley turns freely over the drum. There is a curved slot in it which
the coupling pin goes through. There is also a stop there which allows the coupling pin to turn it . Make sure that this pulley is also properly positioned over the drum slot before the shutter crate is restored to the top plate.

It's really hard to get everything right at first attempt. You'll have to look into a lot of parts, checking their relative positions, before you put everything back.
Then once together, you'd have to check if they are all engaging properly. Any form of displacement, no matter haw minor, will often cause the shutter to malfunction.

Jay

 

[vickersdc]

Thanks for that Jay, I was up until nearly midnight last night trying different things out! I had a good look at everything to try and figure out how all the parts interacted and realised that what had happened was that I had not wound the shutter drum so that the curtain laths were on the right hand side (camera in normal shooting position). I moved the restrictor gear as far as possible and then set the shutter drum in position. This meant that I at least the curtains both had full travel across the film gate and were stopped as they should do when the upper pin contacts the cam.

However, after spending hours playing around with tensioning the curtains, I was no better off, although at least the curtains made it across the film gate! I'll carry again in light of your information and see how it goes. There must be a knack to this - surely the original builders didn't have to go through all this...did they?

Thanks, David.
PS: I spent hours checking out your website Jay, and realised that I had done it wrong - I'd marked the position of the upper coupling pin relative to the top plate and not the shaft :-(