Need a part for Yashica ME

[farlymac]

I have a Yashica ME that the previous owner took a soldering iron to the battery well in an unsuccessful attempt to repair the battery wire. Needless to say, he melted a hole right into it, and now I need a replacement well to get the camera operational again. If it has the terminal and lead wire with it, that would be great.

PF

 

[farlymac]

Well, I didn't just get a part, I got another whole camera. Hope this one doesn't have a hole in it too.

PF

 

[farlymac]

The replacement ME arrived today, and I am glad to report there are no holes in it! After cleaning and checking, and installing a new battery, it works very well. I'll load a roll of film tomorrow and give it a good run. The really good thing is it is a newer version, so it has the hot shoe, and self timer which the broken one was lacking, and the seals are good.

Got a little courious, so I took the bottom off the older ME to assess the damage from the previous owner. He completely melted through the bottom of the battery well with a soldering iron, so it will have to be replaced. But since I can't find anyone with said part for sale, or the remains of a parts camera that still has it's battery compartment intact, then I guess mine will become a display model, and parts donor if needed. It actually makes a very loud sound when the shutter operates that I don't think is natural, and sounds different than the newer model. And how he got the inside of the viewfinder gunked up is beyond me.

So I gained another original lens cap, and a better operating camera than I started with. No more PC cords to deal with!

PF

 

[farlymac]

Curses! Foiled Again!

Loaded the newer ME with film today, and the transport gears are stripped. You would think by now that I would realise if a seller makes great pains to tell you all the fine working details of a camera, then says they didn't test one item, that is the part that will be broken.

So, now the older model ME will not be able to live out it's retirement as a shelf queen, but instead will be a donor for any parts I can use on the newer one. That is IF it's transport drive is okay. Instead of testing it, I went for a ride with my Panasonic TZ-3. I couldn't stand the thought of having two junk ME's, so I'll delay the disappointment till later.

When I get around to rebuilding the ME, I'll chronical it here in a new post. I'll be flying blind as I can't find a repair manual, or an assembly chart.

PF

 

[farlymac]

The ME came through the surgery just fine. That is, after I got the film counter set correctly. It's loaded up with Fugi Reala 100, and ready to shoot. Good thing I used to do similar repair work at my former employer. It's real fun when you don't have a manual, and all you can go on is bits of information you've gleaned from other repair jobs.

PF

 

[farlymac]

Sample photo from Yashica 35 ME teardown:


21 by br1078phot, on Flickr

Click on photo to see full series on Flickr.

This was a bit easier than I thought it would be, but it helped to have two cameras in order to practice on the donor first. My one big mistake was thinking that the retaining screw for the film advance lever was left hand threaded, and I twisted it off. Luckily it didn't deter the teardown process, but now I have to get the remains of the screw out of the winder drive shaft if I want to salvage the camera, and get a replacement retainer.

PF