M6: Strange rewind crank symptoms...

[Ken Ford]

CJ, the fact that the black chrome has already been scratched down to bare zinc would scare me a little. I'm leaning to the "send it back for exchange" camp.

 

[caffeineshutter]

Thank you Ken -

Thank you Ken -

I'll post photos of the camera, top plate, and rewind crank tonight. I'm not sure the damage (and ensuing grinding/scuffing) of the crank is as bad as it reads. Moreover, the shaft doesn't appear to be damaged (kept sound by the "crumple zone" that is the crank?)

Thank you all; it's great to have a international panel of experts, collectors, journeyman photogs, and casual shooters here. I'm relatively new to the M series, and I appreciate your input.

Photos at eleven pm EST (GMT -5)


CJ

CJ, the fact that the black chrome has already been scratched down to bare zinc would scare me a little. I'm leaning to the "send it back for exchange" camp.

 

[JNewell]

You might consider that you don't know much about how hard the camera got whacked, though...the KEH warranty is only 60 days. Return postage, as a % of your purchase price, is pretty small...

 

[caffeineshutter]

Photos of the M6 rewind crank

Photos of the M6 rewind crank

Here are photos of my newly purchased M6 that seems to have suffered acute deceleration trauma to the rewind crank.

What do you think of the damage?

 

[ampguy]

If that's the only thing wrong with it, I'd consider keeping it. Any other M6 unmodded is going to have that weak link exposed eventually. Don at DAG says it's his most frequent M6 fix.

I don't like the idea of pimping my M6 up, but having known the original owner, and knowing it was never abused or dropped, I really like the idea of a reliable film advance mechanism. A stock M6 just doesn't cut it.

 

[Ken Ford]

If your top plate isn't showing any silver, I'd say keep it! Are you located near any of us nuts that could swap the rewind out for you?

 

[JNewell]

Dunno...my vote, since you have no idea how it got this way, is return it while you can. The risk is probably not great, but there is a chance that when you get the thing cleaned at some future point you may find out there was internal damage you didn't know about, and if that were to be the case it'd be quite expensive to fix (and it'd be on your nickel).

 

[caffeineshutter]

Thank you all...

Thank you all...

...and sorry for my craptastic photos. They were a rush job (that's no excuse) and stupid me: I figured since I was going to shoot macro, I'd swap out the Nikon D70 "kit" lens (18-70mm) and use my Nikon 35-70 which focuses much closer. To make a long story short, I don't think it made an ounce of difference and I should have tested that combo beforehand before sweating over the M6 in my kitchen last night, leaning over the M6 with the D70, trying to hold it still. (Nope--didn't go out to the car and get the tripod first. D'oh!)

Back to the M6 damage:

As you can see from my not-so-great photos, the camera is in excellent shape: No shiny zinc showing on the top plate, etc. Just the warped rewind crank. In the photos I posted further up the thread, you can see the right half of the crank has been pushed down a bit--such that it scuffs against the adjacent top plate crank recess, creating a momentary resistance when you turn it.

I am SO tempted to try a gentle repair of the crank this weekend, bending the right half upward a bit so the crank will spin freely.

And Ken: I'm in Boston, MA. I haven't checked your profile yet, but if you're nearby--or going to Boston for whatever reason, I'd greatly appreciate a Leica enthusiast's skills coupled with better dexterity than I.

In any case, hopefully I'll luck out with the repair which will allow me to put off sending the camera out to DAG for a CLA & another crank. The M6's vertical RF alignment is slightly off. Most of that first an only roll I shot was at f/2 and close up, and at least looking at the 4x6 prints, the stuff I focused on is sharp.

If I BREAK the crank, there'll be a frantic call to DAG for an M6 or SL2 crank,😱 and heck--I'll take the camera to Sanford in Arlington and see if they can fit it.

Thanks again all for your combined years of experience in this thread!


CJ

If your top plate isn't showing any silver, I'd say keep it! Are you located near any of us nuts that could swap the rewind out for you?

 

[JNewell]

As a belated follow-up for the gentleman who referred to the bulletproof crank from the SL/SL2, check THIS THREAD out over at the Leica forum! 😀

 

[ampguy]

Just got my M6 back from DAG

Just got my M6 back from DAG

I wanted the most robust solution, so I went for the M3 advance, and SL2 rewind crank as well as a full CLA. The camera feels much more solid with a test roll, than it ever did though I haven't had a chance to take any photos yet.

The nice thing about the M3 advance is there is no plastic feel, and it now looks like the M6J model.

As a belated follow-up for the gentleman who referred to the bulletproof crank from the SL/SL2, check THIS THREAD out over at the Leica forum! 😀

 

[LeicaTom]

I wanted the most robust solution, so I went for the M3 advance, and SL2 rewind crank as well as a full CLA. The camera feels much more solid with a test roll, than it ever did though I haven't had a chance to take any photos yet.

The nice thing about the M3 advance is there is no plastic feel, and it now looks like the M6J model.

Yep!

Sounds great 🙂

Now Happy Shooting!

Tom