My Ultimate IIIC, Black Paint Titanium Shutter !!

[pb908]

last week, I grab an old IIIC from a friend, quite cheap, but it has lot's of problem as well. my idea was to junk it, grab the slow speed mechanism to upgrade my Leica IIF.

when it arrived, what I got were :
- chipped chrome leica IIIC body with sync modif (local mod?)
- weak RF spot
- broken/cracked 2nd shutter curtain
- first curtain is not closing properly, it hangs up at the end of the film aperture area.
here is the picture :

after opened the shell/top cover of IIIC, I see that internally, everything was still set in order, no lost screw, no sign of servicing, I can say the IIIC was never been touch by service repairman (other than adding sync, which is done on lower compartment without require to open the shell/topcover).

I am torn between two choises, either upgrade my IIF to IIIF or build my "dream" ultimate LTM body. at the end, rather to let IIIC die junked, I'll revive it's soul with new magic.

What was my dream ? in the past I have been dreaming to replace one of Ltm/M body with titanium shutter. If it can be done, it will be my ULTIMATE body, never going to sell it.
So I have been hunting for one set of titanium shutter. from a junk Nikon F2, I got a nice set of it, so light yet so strong, then I will just wait for the body to come.

so when IIIC had come, I thought it is the good candidate for the ultimate project. Black Paint TITANIUM Shutter IIIC !

it was done last week :
- remove all cover and parts, clean and lubricate all movable component
- change the curtains with "new" titanium curtains

- calibrate the shutter

- replace the weak half mirror
- dechrome the top and bottom plates
- black paint the top and bottom plates
- assembly everything
- calibrate RF

By mistake, I dechrome the wrong bottom plate, which come from my IIF, so then I need to grind some area on the body to make it fits (bottom plate of IIF/IIIF have a small metal notch to hold the film from dropping).
In the first time I thought it was a big mistake, but now i feel that IIIC with IIF bottom plate will be better as it has the upgrade which II/IIIF had on the plate.

So, here are the result :

not the cleanest paint I did, but I can take it

so now, my dream have come true.. seeing the result, may not worth for the effort, but the satisfaction from building my ultimate one (myself!), will last for (i hope) ever !

i hope this will motivate other else to start chasing their dream..
sorry for my bad english, best regards from Indonesia !

 

[Stuart John]

Now you have one sweet camera. Well worth the effort I think. The us a little about how you tested the shutter speeds.

 

[Mr_Flibble]

Impressive Job!

Shame about the IIf bottom-plate mix up, but glad you managed to get it all working.

 

[pb908]

I make a simple setup with 2 photo-transistors and 2 resistor (one for each phototransistor), make two holes in a small pcb board for it. one in the very end of the film aperture, the other in the other end. tape the board behind the shutter, then with 5V supply injected on the transistor/resistor, I can pickup the signal in between those 2 component with my scope.

point it to light, and exercise the shutter several time.

from my scope, I have 2 waveform, let's call it top and bottom
the amount of light will be counted from the moment of the waveform start to rise up untill it start to fall down. in this case, I measure from the top waveform (either will do).

the top waveform will be rise by the opening of 1st curtain, and fall down with the closing of 2nd curtain. as the 2 sensor is positioned in the very end of the film aperture,
so 1st sensor will react first (and indicate the slit width on the "start" of exposure), while the 2nd sensor will indicate the slit width of the "end" of exposure.
quality check need to be done comparing waveform width created by 1st sensor and 2nd sensor. both need to be the same. or else, the curtains speed is not the same.

my first check is to set speed at 1/30s, and set the curtain springs (in the bottom of the body) to get the correct slit width. after it is done, then I check the higher speed. a good setup on 1/30s mostly will result in a good result in higher speed (well, in my case I disassembly all parts/gears, clean and lubricate them thorougly, so it is a nice and smooth curtain movement)

for 1/30s, my target is to get slit width of 33ms, here is example when I check 1/100s (I should get 10ms slit width)

seems acceptable for me.

I hope this helps answer your question

 

[sanmich]

Could you please share your paiting technique on brass?
From experience, it's not easy to make the paint durable...
Thanks

 

[pb908]

Impressive Job!

Shame about the IIf bottom-plate mix up, but glad you managed to get it all working.

really, the first time I realize it, I was thinking it was disaster.

I have few options then :
- let the chrome IIF with the black IIF bottom (bad move, a zebra IIF ??)
- black paint the IIF as well (after open the top cover of IIF, I think that will be difficult as the sync mechanism on IIF/IIIF is stamped on the body, any attemps to dechrome it will make it loose in operation)
- well, the last option is to swap them : IIF with IIIC bottom, IIIC with IIF bottom. but need some grinding job for sure to let the metal notch go in to the body.

I pick the last option, and not regret it. but still, shame on me !!

 

[je2a3]

Great job!

 

[pb908]

Could you please share your paiting technique on brass?
From experience, it's not easy to make the paint durable...
Thanks

yes it is, I don't think this will last forever as well. i think the best way it send it to the nice paint shop, which we can choose the paint and let the professional do the job.

what I did, I use glossy black enamel paint and enamel primer paint.
- after dechroming is done, I clean the plate with fine grit sandpaper to make a nice smooth surface but as well grippier for the primer, wash it with soap to remove oil, dessicate them inside oven (i have small oven in my shop, not a microwave 🙂 ) for a while to remove moisture/water.

- then apply 1 layer of primer paint (sprayed), baked 1hour at 200F, another cleaning with finegrit sandpaper to smoothen the primer, then 1 layer of black enamel paint, baked 1hour 200F. check if everything done nicely, or else, another thin layer of black enamel paint.

- as the engraving on leica body is so small, i need to carefully spray the paint. it need to be done lightly or else the engraving will be filled completely. then I leave everythink inside oven for 200F a whole night to let them cure. in the morning, it is became a hard black coating paint. try to scratch it with my nail and confirm it is hard enough.

well, I'm just a newbie on this painting job, just learn to do it to build my camera, so grind all information I gave wisely, what i do may not be the best I should do. bottom line, let the professional do the job for you and you'll get better black paint job which possibly last longer than what you can do. I have no paint shop nearby, so I need to do it my self.

 

[hans voralberg]

That is most impressive. How does it feels like in actual use? And what adapter did you get for the lens 🙂

 

[HoodedOne]

You did a amazing job.

 

[hipsterdufus]

Looks great; I also think your painting method is sound, given the little bit I know about paint. Now if you could just make one for me... :angel:

 

[shyoon]

Wow that's impressive. I wonder if the same could be done to an M-Series camera?

 

[Paul Luscher]

Did some poor Nikon F have to die so your camera could have a titanium shutter?

 

[hexiplex]

Wow, I wonder how much this would cost to have done by a serviceperson? Would you say that changing to a titanium shutter is any different from changing a regular shutter curtain? I'd really love a titanium shutter on my IIIf, but I don't have the technical know how to do it myself.

 

[Brian Legge]

Were the shutter curtains a perfect fit or did you have to cut them down? I'd be a bit surprised if they were identical.

Edit: I ask as I need to pick up a parts F2 to resurrect an F2 a friend gave me... but I don't have a use for the parts cameras shutter curtain yet.

 

[Particular]

Very impressive job! I actually like the slightly textured look of your paint finish more than the typical high-gloss finish.

 

[john neal]

I would be interested to know what adhesive you used to hold the titanium curtains onto the Leica drums? Both surfaces are non-porus, so that lets out a lot of popular types of glue.

 

[Vics]

Wow! I'm also curious about the adaptor for the Sonnar.

 

[jmkelly]

Very impressive conversion. I had Ken Ruth put Ti curtains in a Nikon S for me, and I had Robert Jagitsch paint a IIIf for me. Bottom line is that you did about US$600-$800 worth of work.

 

[jmkelly]

Wow! I'm also curious about the adaptor for the Sonnar.

From the look of the lens lock it appears to be one of Amadeo's jobs to me.