Horizon 202 winding lever loose!

[AJShepherd]

Having recently picked up a Horizon 202 Russian swing-lens panoramic camera from a certain on-line auction site, I was quite happy with the results from the first film I ran through it...


Just towards the end of the second roll I ran through, as I got the camera out of my bag the winding lever snagged on somethiing. That seemed OK, but when I wound the film on the lever suddenly went loose.
So I rewound the film and removed it. If I move the takeup spool, the lens moves to its starting point, and the shutter activates OK, so it looks like some linkage between the lever and the rest of the mechanism has gone.

Does anyone know if this is fixable? Is it worth fixing or should I look around for something else?

It's a pity, as I quite liked the results I got from it!

 

[Vince Lupo]

I have had this happen regularly, and I'm assuming you're referring to the relatively newer plastic-bodied Horizon 202 cameras (mine's about 12 years old). You need a small flat head screwdriver -- turn the camera upside down and advance the lever until you can see that screw underneath the lever. Remove the screw and the plastic lever cover, and then turn it right-side up and you'll see a round-headed screw with two little holes on top of the lever. This is where it gets a bit tricky, as you need to tighten that screw somehow -- if you don't have the 'proper' tool, you can use either two awls or two small screwdrivers to tighten that screw. Don't know if a bit of removable Loctite on the screw threads might help keep it tight, but use the 'removable' kind so that you'll be able to unscrew it in case you need to somewhere down the line. Make sure the metal lever is properly seated before you tighten this screw, by the way.

After you've tightened that round-headed screw, replace the plastic cover and the flat head screw underneath the lever. You should be good to go.

 

[AJShepherd]

Fantastic! That's fixed it. Thanks for the help!