Help!!

[Chris B]

Hi all,
I have been lurking about for long time but now I really need some help before I destroy all the bricks in my wall.

In the process of adjusting mistakenly the r/f on a C-3 from the top after I was unable to remove thr/f cover on the top , I managed to completely screw up the original mirror positions because it was such a b**** getting the r/'f cam arm thingie tucked in behind the round r/f window and thusly lost all beginning positions in the process.

Anyway I chucked that and decided to lift the top part out of another brick and stick it in the one I was working onit"s a gift for a firiend who mentioned wanting to explore "real" photoging.....so just when I get ai all together I decide (idiot) that the lens is a bit sticky and I guess in a moment of insanity squirted a little of the old lighter fluid around the lens to loosen it up, well little did I know but the ths stuff went everywhere inside the lens....a great big spoogey mess...blurry, horrible.....I am not feeling mature...I just want to cry and throw these damn bricks against a real wall ...instead of my small grey brain cell.

What makes this even more aggravating is that I had already taken some great shots with the camera and I know it was working wonderfully. I appreciate any help....yes, I know I was an idiot but I thought lighter fluid was some sort of cure all gfunk remover, I didn't know it would do this. It just makes me feel sick when I am the cause of screwing up perfectly wonderful pieces of gear.

Currently I have 3 bricks in various pieces on my desk....

 

[M. Valdemar]

I use acetone or lighter fluid sometimes but I put only miniscule droplets. TINY, tiny drops, nowhere near a squirt.

Just take all the bricks and put them in a dumpster.

For the princely sum of $10 or so you can get yourself a perfect working one off eBay.

 

[JeffGreene]

Sitemistic is right. Simply get another and try again! They're pretty common! Easy come easy go! 😀

 

[Chris B]

Thanks all, yes I know they are as common as the leaves falling in autumn but the thing is this, I was in' learning mode ' and was doing rather well I thought until the fatal squirtings....so depressing after the great recovery job on the r/f and v/f...now brilliant but useless!

I checked the wonderful Mr. Olesons site but his drawings and info leave something to be desired to my simple brains....also I am not quite sure of the tools involved in getting the lens apart. At this point I view this as a learning experience for the future. Prevoiusly I have managed to boldly go inside a Fed 2 and Zorki 3m without mishap.

Yes bricks are cheap, thank goodness, otherwise I would be in major upset, as it is it looks like now, my wife thinks I'm working on a personal Brickhenge!

 

[burninfilm]

You seem to have a few Argus C3 cameras at your disposal for parts (you did state the you took the RF assembly from another body and transplanted it into the camera you were working on). If you do have some parts cameras sitting around, why not just take the lens off of one of the other bodies?

The lenses are easily removed in replaced. In fact, you can probably find someone that'll give you a good working lens from a C3 parts camera.