Minox B Focus Resetting

[Sterlingsilver]

After having a roll of film developed and most of them being fuzzy I scratched my head and decided the lens needed cleaning. Following the nice guide at http://blargh.wpi.edu/~jski/projects/photography/Minox/Repair.html I got it apart, cleaned some old grease and oil, cleaned the shutter blades carefully and got it back together. My question is, in putting the focus/shot counter back in it's quite a struggle and I fear the lens helix may be out of time with the focus knob. He mentions setting the focus to 8" before removing the knob which I did, but I want to know if there is a fixed stop at the lens for the focusing mechanism at 8", or is that 8" stop only controlled by a lug on the adjusting wheel? I would hate to run another roll only to find out I missed the correct focus by 2 teeth that shifted during reassembly. Thank you very much for any help.

 

[Murray Kelly]

I am interested in this too. My B came back after a full service including a replacement lens assembly. Now I note the counter doesn't move and from reading, placement of the parts is very close and easy to get wrong. I will be watching this thread thanks.

 

[Sterlingsilver]

They are definitely tiny and theres a piece for everything and everything in its place. But they are very nicely made in that everything seems to have been designed for assembly by practiced hands, not precision equipment. So everything kind of snaps together and lines up correctly without needing gages and careful checks. That's why I'm optimistic Hans was just supposed to turn the lens gear until it stopped, then carefully hold the levers in the right place and drop in the knob. The focus knob simultaneously interacts with the lens focus, viewfinder parallax, film counter and a cam to control the film advance rate. When you snap the knob in you have to get all that stuff in the right position at the same time. Yours probably simply has one of those levers out of position or the little clutch plate (theres about 3 different wheels under the outer knob) has something rubbing on it prevent it from rotating. I think the film counter especially is just on a friction clutch and driven by teeth on the outer edge with a micro thin washer separating it from the parallax arm, so it's probably pinched.

 

[Sterlingsilver]

Update

Update

I broke down and took my camera apart again to lube it and check the focus again. The focus ring DOES HAVE A SOLID STOP AT THE 8" MARK. So when reinstalling the focus\film counter button rotate the focus gear at the lens in the direction away from the lens, to the right when viewed from the top. The gear will hit a stop. Then pull out your octopus friend tothelp and drop the button back in place with the proper cam interactions as it goes in.