Dante_Stella
Rex canum cattorumque
I am working on a Kalart Focuspot for Rolleiflexes, which unlike most Kalart rangefinders seems to be built into a piece of seamless square aluminum tubing. The object is to reinstall a first-surface mirror (15 on diagram above) that came unglued from its mount. I have managed to get the mirror out safely (there is a circular hole in the bottom that it gently shook out through).
Right now, I need to reinstall the mirror. The access seems to be one of two ways, both of which involve removing the plastic endcaps. One is via the mirror's own side (left on the diagram), but that requires removing a rivet (20) that is the pivot for the springloaded arm the mirror mount rides.
The second way would be to remove the fixed arm on the other side (16) and reinsert the mirror down the long length of the tube. This seems imprecise and will require reattaching that arm by a single screw through the back of the housing (17). Screw 18 is just a calibration screw.
The third way (and the one with the least number of things that could go wrong) might involve removing a front window (which are like other Kalart rangefinders). How are these windows attached? Are they swaged in? Or are they threaded and just really, really tight? Simply removing the glass would not work, as its slotted retaining rings do not look like they will fully unscrew via the front (the surround curves in over the glass).
Ideas? I'm puzzling about how they would have ever built something like this unless the external windows are the last thing to go in.
Thanks
Dante