please show me your repair tools

[pinkarmy]

i have a few cameras, most have minor issues: wobbling lens barrel, incorrect focusing, counter not working...

they are both cheap-buy, if i take them to the professionals, even the minimum charges are much more than the cameras themselves.

So, i always want to fix it myself.

I am a mechanic-idiot, even opening the camera is a tough job for me.
For example: how do i take off the rewind crank?--the screw hide in a tricky place (underneath the crank), i can't reach it with a normal screwdriver.

what tools should i have to do all these jobs?
i am from Chinese-speaking area so it would be really helpful if you can show pictures (and their uses).

Thanks.

 

[hans voralberg]

If you can post picture of a specific camera or problem I can try match my equipments to that, I have a variety of repairs gears (basic and diy) that you should be able to buy without difficulty.

 

[ChrisN]

Here's some of mine: 🙂

 

[colyn]

Chris you're missing the two most important camera tools. The ball peen hammer and chisel.. 😀 😀 😀

 

[gekopaca]

 

[dmr]

Sorry I don't have a photo of the armamentaria I use when I have the misfortune of having to play "fix the camera", but I'll describe it. Next time I'll be sure to take a shot of it.

I'll usually use a large baking sheet as a work area. Helps to organize things and prevent little things from falling on the desk or worse, the carpet.

I'll put a loop of sticky tape, duct tape or adhesive tape, up at the top of the work area to hold little things. If there's something I may not remember well, I'll put the pieces left to right in the order they came off.

Film canisters. Hold all kinds of various things.

As to some of the things I've used as tools ... and I'm sure I'm forgetting a few things. I use quite a bit of this for jewelry making and repair as well.

Jewelers screwdrivers. I have a set with both straight and phillips.

Various small pliers. Needle nose, small flat-jaw, pliers with those round tips, etc.

Small clippers/cutters.

Lens spanner. The one I have came from a guy at work and he is not sure where it was made/purchased. It looks like a home or small machine shop job. Flat and needle blades.

Small flashlight.

Dremel tool. Most handy thing you will ever find! It drills, it polishes, it cuts, it chops, it slices, it dices! (Don't delay, order today! Operators are standing by!) 🙂

Pin vise. Hold a drill bit or pick and rotate it slowly by hand.

Rubber jar opener thing. Helps with larger things that unscrew, but not easily.

Dental explorer and scaler. These are those picks they torture you with. Extremely handy! They (dentists) tend to discard them when they still can be used for things like this.

Hemostats. Those surgical clamps. Use like teeny-tiny pliers or to hold things.

Small soldering iron. Tiny pencil tip. The kind sold in hobby shops, not auto repair shops. 🙂

"Re-work wire." Bum some off of your systems geek at work. 🙂 Bring him something to eat and he'll be nice to you. 🙂 🙂 They usually don't bite unless you really annoy them. 🙂

Tarn-X. Will reduce some oxides to base metal. (Small file or dental scaler will remove the grode that remains.)

Then there's this thing I really don't know the name of. I'll call it a vise for lack of a better term. Large hobby shops will have these in the jewelry making section. It's a metal base with kind of a T-shaped bar maybe 4" high with four clips on it. You use this to hold small things steady or in place when you work on them.

I'm sure I'm forgetting a few things. Hope this helps. 🙂

 

[farlymac]

From a set on Flickr (click on photo to see the rest) showing the teardown of a compact 35mm. You will see the tools I used for this particular job, and some of my others in the background.


21 by br1078phot, on Flickr

Sometimes you just have to make your own tools as certain situations present themselves. I made a right-angle screwdriver once out of a damaged hex wrench by cutting off the twisted part, then filing the end down until I had the right fit.

PF

 

[Phil_F_NM]

*Channel locks
*Old latex bicycle inner tubes cut into 8 inch sections (for gripping)
*Swiss Army Knife
*Assortment of DT Swiss, Wheelsmith and Sapim bicycle spokes bent into various special purpose shapes: spanners, clamps, clamp wrenches, flat blade screwdrivers, whatever
*Fine point needle-nosed pliers
*Vise-grip
*Large metal jaw welder's Vise-grip
*Small hammer
*Mitutoyo calipers
*Gaff tape
*Dremel tool with assortment of cutting, buffing, polishing, grinding bits
*Sharp things of various shapes and sizes
*Lots of little jars (mostly from fruit preserves) for parts

Usually I make something I need if I don't already have it.

Phil Forrest

 

[pinkarmy]

"right-angle screwdriver"
--this is exactly what i need to do the job!

 

[Keith]

Occasionally I've felt like using one of these to put the damned thing out of it's misery!

 

[pvdhaar]

For most of what I do, the following suffices:

My most important tool is a tray to work in that keeps me from losing tiny parts. You can't even begin to imagine how some cameras fall apart once a crucial bit is taken off.

Second, a digital camera to document the way parts are supposed to fit together, because somewhere down the line, I'm bound to forget how to re-assemble things again.

Third a set of jewelers screwdrivers. I got a set that has straight, phillips and hexagonal ones, and a special one that's essentially a magnet on a stick. Allows me to extract screws that dropped inside the camera without having to shake it while holding upside down.

Set of key-makers files.

A micro soldering iron that runs between 6 to 12Volt. The size of a jewelers screwdriver. I can regulate the temperature down so that it can be used to melt plastic (some constructions are held together by molten plastic) or up for proper soldering, and it can reach the most difficult spots.

Finally, you'd be amazed about how much gear is held together with cardboard, duct tape and glue. So I use a scalpel too to cut through that kind of mess. Don't skimp on replacement blades, as nothing's more dangerous than a blunt knife..

 

[farlymac]

Pink,

The right angle screwdriver making is also on my Flickr page, under Kodak Signet 40. It has a screw under the rewind crank that can only be removed with such a tool.

PF

 

[pinkarmy]

wow you guys are inspiring -- love that axe too ;-)

the particular camera that i'm thinking is a Phenix 205 (mis-alignment, non moving counter, the shutter won't shut at slow-speed, self timer stuckked.....)

i tried to adjust the vertical alignment (there's a screw located in a hole at the hot-shoe) but my screwdriver slipped and one of the reflect mirror of the rangefinder just fell off...how stupid...that's the story so far...

 

[pinkarmy]

BTW, anybody ever opened a Phenix 205? ...looks straight-forward enough for a beginner and feels sturdy with 50mm F/2.8.


AND...now i am also in doubt about that "screw in the hot-shoe" --does it really has anything to do with the rangefinder adjustment too...please, i need some advise.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/54130523@N08/5412768476/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/54130523@N08/5412769370/in/photostream/

 

[b1bmsgt]

Hi.

I've never had the pleasure of working on a camera such as yours, but on the vast majority of cameras I have worked on, the film rewind knob just unscrews from the shaft. Open the film door, put the blade of a screwdriver through the fork and turn the knob counter-clockwise. It should just screw right off.

The screw in the flash shoe hole may be a rangefinder adjustment. The Yashica Electro 35 has access to the RF adjustment that way, but the screw is way down inside the camera, not exposed like yours.

Sorry I can't be any more help... 🙁

Russ

 

[ibcrewin]

I mean really? Do you need anything else?

 

[pinkarmy]

hello everyone, just some update:

i went to a hardware store the other day, bought a "combination internal-external snap ring plier set" (what a name. i don't understand any words in it) and a tweezer, borrowed an old book on cameras from the library...and here i go!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/54130523@N08/5429550091/#/photos/54130523@N08/5429550091/lightbox/

my thanks to everybody that posted!! --still appreciating that axe.

Russ, you are right, the rewind unwind easily!! and that mystery screw really is for adjusting vertical alignment.
Peter, documenting things by a digi-cam is a great advise, feel much secure that way.