Help!!!!

[DougK]

As some of you may recall, I recently purchased a Polaroid Land Camera 101. Well, it arrived and was in remarkably good condition, the only flaws being some slight gunk on the lens (easily dealt with) and the infamous corrosion on one of the snap terminals for the battery. Tonight I decided to go ahead and clean that bad boy off with a little baking soda paste and get it ready for the new battery and film soon to arrive from Adorama.

All was going well until the unthinkable happened. Apparently the wire had corroded all the way through. Gently, ever so gracefully, it parted BETWEEN the battery terminal and the plastic holding it. There's no good way of getting in there to solder in a new wire as that would completely destroy the terminal. I now have a dangling black wire and a separated snap terminal. :bang:

Any suggestions on a repair? I was thinking of stopping in at Radio Shack and picking up a 9V battery connector and connect the wire from the one terminal I need from that to the existing wire. Is this a workable plan or am I hosed?

Thanks in advance y'all!

 

[DougK]

An update to my Polaroid saga...

My 667 film and PX19 battery arrived from Adorama today (purchased through the link on RFF, I might add) so being sleepless, I decided to have a go at fixing this bugger.

I stripped a bit of the insulation from the dangling wire, cocked the shutter, connected the good terminal to one end of the battery, pressed the free wire against the other end, and fired. My shutter now goes "CLICK... click" in the dim light of my kitchen instead of "THUNK". I tested the fit of a 9V battery connector and it will snap in to the battery perfectly.

The upshot... after a quick trip to Radio Shack tomorrow and the expenditure of some pocket change, I should be able to get this bad boy operational again. I'm stoked!

 

[Doug]

Sounds like fun ahead, Doug!

 

[DougK]

I do believe you are correct, sir. I can't wait to see the look on people's faces when I unlimber this beast... "shock and awe" photography at it's finest, or at least as good as it can get without a Speed Graphic. 🙂

 

[Sonnar Brian]

The Radio Shack fox should work. If not, let me know. I have a lot of older Polaroids and can "part" one out to you. I have a number of them with the contact wires in good shape; wire cutter should give you plenty of soldering room.

 

[DougK]

Thanks for the offer Brian. I ran up to Radio Shack this morning and picked up the connector. A little wire stripping, a little splicing, some solder, and a wrap of electrical tape did the job. Slapped a pack of 667 inside and...

IT LIVES!!!!!

The viewfinder framing is off a bit to the right and slightly high; easy enough to correct for once you know it's off, just aim a little further left and a skosh lower than you think you should. The rangefinder focus is spot on. Very old-timey look and feel, you'd be hard-pressed to tell if it was 1965 or 2005 when the photo was taken. I can see why they use flash inside with this film, very difficult to get a good exposure. Outdoors, wow. Surprisingly sharp lens, nice contrast. I'll have to play with the exposure control a bit to get a good feel for the effect.

I think I'm going to invest in that developing bucket for the 665 pack film after all. I can see this camera being great for portraits and just generally goofing around with. I'll definitely have to try some color film in it and see what that looks like. Hopefully I'll get some shots worth scanning soon.