Leica IIIc - A look inside a Leica

[AlonzoFonzo]

Hi!

I thought it may be a good idea to show the inside of a nice Leica IIIc. This is not a step by step instruction of a CLA I only want to share a few details on how I repair things 🙂

Before the disassembly:

Careful! Don´t lose the small windows:

The rangefinder window sits tight:

Very oily film pressure plate. Not nice:

And here the last picture for today, the first curtain is wrinkled and dry and the second curtain was replaced but badly glued. Also the marking is interesting: AJ 78. Maybe Adjustment 1978?

I hope these pictures are interesting, thanks for watching.

 

[raydm6]

Interesting. Thanks!

 

[Gregm61]

IIIC? Looks more like a IIIF Black Dial...

 

[raydm6]

IIIC? Looks more like a IIIF Black Dial...

Now that you mentioned that, looks like the black dial was retrofitted? (Slotted screw holding down the dial)

 

[AlonzoFonzo]

You are right. It started as a IIIc and was later converted to a IIIf BD.

 

[AlonzoFonzo]

Here a few more pictures of the disassembly:

Front plate is gone:

Interesting inscription from 1992:

The slow time delay mechanism:

The shutter curtain turns into dust:

And here the parts of the break:

 

[AlonzoFonzo]

Cleaning and adding new grease:

Making new curtains:

Finished curtains ready for installation:

 

[olliewtf]

I really like your method for gluing the curtains and getting the metal bar straight. I did it in a really stupid way, so it took a few attempts.

I didnt go as far as to remove the rollers, rather replaced the curtains and the ribbons with the rollers in place. Which was difficult, to say the least. But I had read that replacing the rollers was even more painful, so interested to see the method around this!

great work!

 

[AlonzoFonzo]

It is indeed not easy to get the rollers with the new curtains back into the frame. But it´s definitely easier on pre Leica IIIf RD models. On the IIIf are ball bearing jumping around if you remove the bottom plate. I once had a hard time to get them back where they should sit.

The advantage of removing the rollers is that you can align, clean and lube the parts better.

 

[olliewtf]

Agreed. replacing the ribbons is a nightmare when the rollers are left in situ.

So the ball bearings - did they come in with the iiif? I have a iiic, would be good to know for reference - though its smooth as silk now.

 

[AlonzoFonzo]

The iiic only has ball bearings on the top of the big drum. The iiif red dial I once restored has another set of ball bearings on the bottom of the big drum. These fall out if you remove the ground plate

I dont know if the iiif black dial has them too.

 

[Rob-F]

Some IIIc have additional bearings, others not. My service tech told me that one of mine does have them. I believe it is one of the later production. It's a stepper.

 

[AlonzoFonzo]

I forgot, some war time IIIc also had ball bearings I think?

Ready to glue the second curtain:

All is nice, clean and like new again:

Some of the black letters lost their color filling, time to repaint them:

Now its time to put everything back together and adjust the shutter curtain tension...

 

[CharlesDAMorgan]

Fascinating - what did you use to fill in the black and how did you remove the surplus?

 

[Steve M.]

The last pic looks like something from a tractor or something!

 

[AlonzoFonzo]

Fascinating - what did you use to fill in the black and how did you remove the surplus?

I use flat black enamel model paint (Revell Number 8). I let it dry a minute or two and then I "polish" the surplus away with a piece of thick paper with only one drop of aceton on it.

 

[CharlesDAMorgan]

Thank you!

 

[AlonzoFonzo]

I needed to replace these parts on the bottom to get the shutter release reliable again (looks like the camera was used a lot and the part is worn):

And here is the finished camera with Summaron and super cheap DIY finder made of plastic sheet and the lenses from a finder of an Ilford disposible camera: