Nikon S3 repair question?????????????

[Dez]

I need to take the top plate off an S3 for servicing. Easy, right? Not so much, as it turns out.

For both the Nikon SP and Nikon F, removing the wind lever so the ring underneath it can be unscrewed, enabling the top to be removed is trivial. After taking off the frame counter cover you simply lift the wind lever out. The chrome plated lever is held onto a black steel ring with three screws, and it is not necessary to separate the two parts. The design is almost exactly the same for both cameras.

But it appears my S3 is different. The lever will not lift out, so I removed the three unnecessary-to-remove screws, only to discover that the ring part (actually appears as three crescent shapes) has an inside diameter that is actually smaller than the outside diameter of the housing above it- impossible to remove. Not a fault of observation, it really is smaller. The housing also appears to be impossible to remove, that is, until the top is taken off.

The situation is impossible, so I am obviously missing something. Can somebody please give me a hand with this one?

Why on earth would the design be different from the F and the SP????

Cheers,
Dez

 

[Dez]

I found a google segment of a repair manual for Nikons, with an intact S3 section.It tells the repair person to remove the wind lever the same way as for the SP and F. This is a different design from what I am seeing in my camera. Very strange.

http://books.google.com/books?id=2H...GYQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=nikon s3 repair&f=false


Cheers

Dez

 

[Dez]

That is exactly what I expected to find, and what was in every F or SP I have ever worked on, but that's not what is there in this camera. The wind lever is held onto a blackened brass collar which is retained in a groove in the upper housing for the frame counter. This still appears to be aluminum, but is black rather than the natural aluminum color.

Rather than a flat brass piece attached to the wind lever, this is a complex shape, which extends into the bowels of the camera. This isn't a bodge: it is designed this way. I suspect the upper housing may unscrew, but I am nervous about forcing it when I don't know exactly how things work

In this picture, I attempt to show how the L-shaped cross-section of this brass part is retained under the upper housing. This is not a marginal interference fit- I would estimate that the slot into which it fits is at least 1/2mm deep.

I have never see a Nikon winding assembly like this before.

Cheers,
Dez

 

[Highway 61]

But it appears my S3 is different. The lever will not lift out, so I removed the three unnecessary-to-remove screws, only to discover that the ring part (actually appears as three crescent shapes) has an inside diameter that is actually smaller than the outside diameter of the housing above it- impossible to remove.

My S3 was similar to yours. There are some set screws holding the "housing" in place. Look for them between the three sectors of the "three crescent shapes ring" - once removed, you will be able to remove both the "housing" and the "three crescent shapes ring".

It seems to be the first series of the S3, on which you just cannot install the later (and longer) winding lever without installing the whole wind mech. coming from a donor F.

EDIT : the set screw(s) I'm speaking of is (are) visible(s) on your last picture, within one notch of the three sectors ring ! 🙂

 

[Highway 61]

The main advantage of this early assembly was that the winding lever was firmly held into place and doesn't rely onto the frames counter cover when wound and wound and wound - on later S3, SP and F cameras, it's held into place by the frames counter cover only - if you think of the three very small grub screws which hold the latter in place, you wonder how there weren't tons of cameras which failed from this point, because it's so easy to progressively pop the frame counter cover out by being too harsh with the winding lever...

 

[Dez]

WOW!!

What a totally bizarre design. Definitely too much saki being consumed by the design team that day.

Can I assume that there was something similar in some early SP's, and maybe even some F's??

The grub screws are indeed there, and in a position where it is necessary to wind the ring about 1/3 of the way to make them visible, then holding the ring against spring pressure and undoing the grub screws, all the while praying that they don't fly off irretrievably. Three hands would be a big benefit.

YES!! The assembly then gives up being bloody-minded, and comes out meekly.

No problem with use of the pictures. I will see if I can manage some better ones to document this properly.

Cheers,

Dez

 

[Dez]

The serial number is 6308992. Not particularly early I would think. Maybe it's actually older and got a replacement top one day?

Cheers,
Dez

 

[Highway 61]

The grub screws are indeed there, and in a position where it is necessary to wind the ring about 1/3 of the way to make them visible, then holding the ring against spring pressure and undoing the grub screws, all the while praying that they don't fly off irretrievably. Three hands would be a big benefit.

This is what I thought when I took mine apart - so, what yo can do now is installing some (almost) identical parts coming from an F and so you can benefit from the longer and more robust winding lever (which also gives the S3 a nicer look IMO...).

You can read a thread in this very forum where "Goliathus" documented this operation very well, with explanations and pictures, here you go :

http://www.rangefinderforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=60242

 

[dasuess]

By the way, do you use "Highway 61" because you are in Minnesota, or just an ardent Dylan fan? Highway 61 is a wonderful drive, both along the North Shore east of Duluth, and along the Mississippi south of the Twin Cities.

So Dez, where in Minnesota? And I "know" Highway 61 after running a couple of Grandma's Marathons.

 

[Dez]

So Dez, where in Minnesota? And I "know" Highway 61 after running a couple of Grandma's Marathons.

Bloomington, near 169 and 494. I really enjoy the trip down to Lacrosse on 61, or the North Shore. I'm not as ambitious as you: I use an old motorcycle. I'm probably heading up to Two Harbors on my old Triumph Trident for a piece of pie at Betty's next weekend.

Highway 61 seems to disappear north of the Cities and reappear in Duluth: is I35 built over the old highway 61 right of way?

Cheers,
Dez

 

[dasuess]

I'm in St. Paul, just a couple blocks east of Lake St. Bridge, but at our cabin in Wisconsin on vacation for the week.