M4 shutter button and curtain issue

Jlafuria

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May 2, 2020
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Hi, I'm new in these forum. I'm very satisfied to find a forum about rangefinder camera :)
I have recently purchased a Leica m4 and I noticed two main problems.
This camera coming from years of several use.

1.The first one is about the shutter button. To release the shutter button I have to press very deeply until the end of the stroke. I already tried to change this setting spinning the flat spring under the diagram base plate. It works for the shutter stiffness but this movement at the same time mess up all the shutter speeds.

Anybody know how to stiffen the shutter button without compromising the shutter speed?

2.The second problem is about the shutter curtain. I noticed that the shutter curtain does not return to the same position after firing at various speeds.
Every time I decrease the shutter speed the edge of the curtain on the left side became visible (see pictures below). I think that it concern something about shutter brake.

Have you any tips to repair it?

I have also the back door that it's a little bit loose.
How can I adjust it?


I read the service manual of this specific camera but I didn't find anything about this two problems. I really want to fix my camera by myself.

Thanks for any advice.

Jacopo
 

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Welcome to the forums!

Unfortunately I'm not a repair person, but these issues will require special tools to even take the camera apart to get to the parts you need to access to even mess with things. (Which I don't recommend). The curtain issue is probably a easy fix for a experienced repairman to solve, but I have no mechanical experience with these cameras to give.

While probably not what you're wanting to hear, but I highly recommend sending this to either YYE or DAG to have them fix it properly and have it work for many years to come. YYE turn around time will likely be better than DAG, but I would email both the same pictures you posted here to get their opinions. There is also a FB group called "Vintage Camera Repair Group" which you can join and post your issues there as there are very good repair people on there which can provide you with more info on your cameras issues.
 
Thank you xasthur for your tips.
I would like to have the camera repaired by a repairman only as a last chance.
I have the specific tools and I already lubricate the low speed escapement in this M4.

Thaks for any other advice.
 
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