Minoltina Al-S Disassembly?

[chanyung]

I found a Minoltina Al-S at a flea market and bought it. Now I need help fixing it. The internal part of the viewfinder is very dirty and the shutter blades only open like twenty five percent of the time. I got all the visible screws off the top plate but when I try to pull it off it will only move a bit. I see two screws behind the shutter but I am almost positive that they are to adjust the rangefinder. I will not get this CLA'd because the CLA would probably cost more than the camera. Thanks for all the replies.

 

[FreddyJ]

I just had to do this to my Minoltina AL-S to remount a loose rangefinder component, Chanyung.

To get the top plate off the Minoltina: in addition to the two screws you need to remove the winder button (hold the bottom stalk inside the camera still with a screwdriver in its forks, and twist the top counterclockwise, then unscrew it). Remove the holding ring beneath the rewind button. There are two small notches opposite each other on the ring. Fine needle nose pliers or snap ring pliers should work. Unscrew the ring counterclockwise. Once the ring is off, the top should now be loose.

Be careful as you remove the top! The shutter release button is not attached, and will come out of the top. There are also two wires routed to the top that are connected to a small resistor board on the body for the meter. Small wires - you don't want to break them. There is enough slack in them to have the top off with plenty of clearance, though.

Once you've got the top off, you can access the various glass components of the rangefinder pretty easily.

For the shutter, there is at least one other thread on this site that I've seen - search Minoltina and you'll see it under Camera repair.

Good luck! I got mine on the big auction site months ago, and finally got around to getting it up and running just yesterday. It's now ready for it's first roll of film in quite some time. Looking forward to using it - I like the feel of the thing, and its size is perfect for a carry-along.

All the best,

FreddyJ

 

[AlexBG]

Shutter blades are super easy, unscrew the name ring, you are meant to use a special tool or two small screwdrivers will do, then three screw for the speed ring to come off, then I think you can actually unscrew the front piece of glass, mark where it goes to the body first else you're focus may be out. It just unscrews by hand, once that's out you can clean the blades. Easiest rangefinder I've tried to fix. Use a bit of lighter fluid and cotton buds.

 

[Shafovaloff1]

Purchsed Minoltina AL-S off xbay site which had not been reassembled properly and cracked coated rangefinder glass visible in viewfinder. Successfully adjusted rangefinder using access behind rewind lever using a small flat blade screwdriver to twist the notch just a hair. The adjustment was for distance which was 2.5 feet off focused at 5 feet using clear tape as guide with shutter open. Now this jewel works ok - a little practice needed to use split image in finder but everything else is fine. This camera synchronizes flash at all speeds! I like it so much I bought a Minoltina P [which is zone / scale focus only] which is smaller and requires a little effort to apply ND filters since it has a program shutter, but this is something else all together. These Minoltina's are well made and convenient to carry. Now to process a roll of film or two and maybe post the results [pretty new to this so not really familiar with how to post pictures yet].

 

[Shafovaloff1]

With regard to my post about the Minoltina AL-S indicating acquisition of a Minoltina-P - If attempting to get the aperture and shutter to operate on the Minoltina-P have a little patience and ease up on the Rosinol. By trial and error I found that application of the lighter fluid must be followed by a lot of gently wiping it out and off the shutter and blades. You think you just have an unfixable shutter and aperture but it may not be working because all of the cleaning fluid has not been removed. Work the shutter and aperture and keep wiping the shutter and blades and eventurally it will all be clean - and will operate again. Put the work down for a bit and continue cleaning. Success will follow.