Lens spanner wrenches

AlwaysOnAuto

AlwaysOnAuto

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Does the old adage 'You pay for what you get' apply to spanner wrench sets too?
If so, what is the recommended 'brand' to get for a beginner who knows his way around an engine bay but not necessarily a lens?
All advice is welcome.
Thanks in advance.
😀
 
AlwaysOnAuto said:
Does the old adage 'You pay for what you get' apply to spanner wrench sets too?
If so, what is the recommended 'brand' to get for a beginner who knows his way around an engine bay but not necessarily a lens?
All advice is welcome.
Thanks in advance.
😀
Click to expand...

My limited experience has been that if you are talking adjustable spanners quality matters significantly. If you are talking fixed distance spanners, they all seem to work regardless of the provenance.
I wish I had paid more for the adjustable ones I have, but don't use them often enough to make me do so.
 
I heartily recommend these or similar:
https://japanhobbytool.com/products/vacuum-pad-lens-opener
Because even with careful use, conventional lens spanners tend to leave slight marks, and if you slip, they can leave not-so-slight marks.

Lens spanners kind of suck for smaller diameter screws such as the ones atop film wind levers and self-timers, but often the rubber cups will work here too, and generally leave no marks at all.
 
In looking at all the different ads on ebay, amazon etc. I don't see any adjustable ones that look like they have hardened tips. In my experience with cars, hardened tools are good in some aspects of repair but not others.
I would assume that is the case here too.
I'm not sure the rubber cups would work on the lens I'm hoping to take apart as the element is fairly deep.
I would rather spend the money on adjustable than fixed for multiple lens work.
 
I wouldn't worry about hardened tips on an adjustable spanner.
I have 2 sets (one blade, one point) by the same brand and they are old, but they slip off the rails sometimes. I haven't ruined anything due to this yet, and I really need to just do some maintenance to the tools themselves in order for the grub screws to get a better bite on the rails to hold position.
Anyway, buy the best set of spanners you can find. You'll thank yourself a few lenses down the road.

Phil Forrest
 
I just ordered the Newer two bar style wrench off Amazon.
I have some old drafting calipers I think I can adapt to make a compass-style wrench. Just need to figure out some pins to use in place of the leads for drafting.
 
AlwaysOnAuto said:
I'm already thinking about how to mod the new wrench so it'll be more stable.
I'll take it up to my brother's place and use his mill to put some flats on the bars so the screws have a nice flat surface to lock onto.
Click to expand...

If you are talking about the two vertical bars, I don’t think you need to machine flats onto the bars, at least I never have. The twisting moment of force is not aligned centrally through either of the bars like it would be if there was only one bar, so they don’t tend to twist.
On the other hand I could never get drafting calipers to work, just not strong enough, and those do tend to twist out of shape before you ever get a lens ring to move, but maybe yours are stronger than mine are (were. Mine are ruined now. )
 
Great thread, and very helpful. I'm in the same position as the OP; I can rip apart a car or bike (and even get it back together sometimes!) but a camera scares me. Nevertheless, the price of repairs and the lack of good repair people locally is pushing me to consider doing some work myself. It seems almost a necessity when you shoot with old junk, er, I mean "vintage classics".
I'm coincidentally looking to invest in some basic tools, and there are some good pointers here! It makes me realize again what a great resource and community RFF is.
 
Thanks, Phil! Never heard of Dr. Bolex. Wish I knew of him a while back when I couldn't find anyone (including Mr. Gandy) to deal with the haze in my Voigtlander 28 SC. Do you have a link?
 
www.drbolex.com
I'm not affiliated with him in any way but I have contacted him about repair of some motion picture gear.

There's also Albuquerque Photo-Tech on Menaul Blvd. www.ap-t.com
They did a bunch of work for me maybe 18 years ago. Made my Bronica S2a work perfectly. They also did a good job on my mom's Spotmatic in 2004, I think.

I've never used SPC but they've been around almost as long as I have, so they must be doing something right. They are up off San Mateo, way up near where it meets I-25. A co-worker at (the now long-gone) Albuquerque Bicycle Center used to use SPC for his gear maintenance back in the mid-90s.

There's also a couple gear-heads who belong to the The Albuquerque Astronomical Society (TAAS) who build and repair their own telescopes. I know one of them lives (or lived) over off of 217 south of Rt. 66. Not like you can drive over there and holler out into the desert, but you may be able to make some contacts through taas.org. Back in 2015 when Bethanne and I went to a couple meetings and a skywatching event up near Cedro Peak, there were folks there with numerous old manual cameras, and a few did the work themselves.

Phil Forrest
 
Thanks, Phil. Sadly, one of the owners of APT passed away a couple of years ago. His wife soldiers on with the business, offering the traditional friendly service, but I believe most work is now farmed out. My recent Hassie repair was.
I tried SPC for the internally fogged Voigtlander lens I mentioned. The lens was held for about a week; I got a call that it was "all fixed". When I picked it up, I was told that it was "no charge", but nothing had been done. The outer lens element surfaces (already clean) had been given a wipe with a microfiber cloth. That was it! My first and last experience there.
I would like to patronize local folks, but when I can find someone on-line who is an expert on the particular camera in need of repair, who can do the work competently and more cheaply with a fast turn-around, the choice is obvious. I hate contributing to the demise of local brick-and-mortar businesses of any kind, but the practical and economic factors are inescapable. This, of course, isn't just an issue in the camera industry.
 
Yes! The quality of tools can and does vary. And yes! It is an important consideration.

I don't know the brand of my spanners but I have several. I have also attempted to use drafting calipers for lens/photo repair usually with great disappointment except for some "simple" tasks. Rigidity just isn't there.

I saw SK Grimes mentioned above. I didn't need to look, I already know that's going to be an expensive tool. However, it can be considered your "reference" tool in terms of quality and it won't disappoint. The spanners I have are definitely not SKGrimes level, but work admirably. Sorry I don't remember the brands (I think they came from microtools). I use the paralell bar spanners often, and have different ones with "tips" that are straight, bent inward, and bent outward. I also make a lot of tools with pin spacing exact to the job at hand, sometimes those homemade tools find use in subesquent jobs.... wide flat-blade screwdrivers work well for pins spaced closely. I have used thick metal paint scrapers to make tools with wider spacing. The issue there is finding a scraper with a truly thick blade. They're often too flimsy and they get harder to find with every passing day as "quality" tools become a thing of the past in standard consumer settings. [And the Dremel is the tool that can help you make tools]

Rubber cups, if you can find proper sizes and proper rubber consistency, can work remarkably well. Surprisingly well.

I suppose look for genuine reviews of the spanners out there. I don't know for sure, but I likely purchased my spanners from MicroTools, either the US or EU outlet (I've bought from both over the years). I know I've bought a good range of crimp wrenches from them. Essential (critical!) tools for Leica repairs.
 
Larry Cloetta said:
If you are talking about the two vertical bars, I don’t think you need to machine flats onto the bars, at least I never have. The twisting moment of force is not aligned centrally through either of the bars like it would be if there was only one bar, so they don’t tend to twist.
On the other hand I could never get drafting calipers to work, just not strong enough, and those do tend to twist out of shape before you ever get a lens ring to move, but maybe yours are stronger than mine are (were. Mine are ruined now. )
Click to expand...


I was thinking more in terms of keeping the bars straight and in-plane if using flat blade tips on them. Being an ex-machinist I have an appreciation for stout tools.
I'll have to dig out my drafting tools to see how stout they are. I will not ruin them if they aren't rigid enough to begin with.
 
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