Rangefinder collar removal.

Heres an easy way to get it out. Find a socket wrench that will easily slip over the collar, then take a small square of rubber like from an inner tube, and place it over the collar. Now place the socket on the collar and the rubber will grip all around the collar, it will twist out easily.
 
Xmas said:
My family used to manufacture it in Ireland, it was called the wee still
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Poitin? That's pretty evil stuff. Gave me one of the worst headaches in my life. Must have been well over 80%, too.

Philipp
 
wolves3012 said:
Correct - ethanol (alcohol) is the best solvent. Not wishing to "pull rank", but as a qualified chemist I can promise you that lighter fluid has almost no effect on shellac.
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No rank to pull as far as I'm concerned 🙂

Lighter fluid was all I had to hand when adjusting the RF on my FED2a , It's more than probable that the original shellac had long since crumbled in my case and the lighter fluid just acted as a lubricant to help ease things along . I just assumed that lighter fluid had dissolved it , Apologies for the duff information all 🙁


Paul
 
DaveP said:
Heres an easy way to get it out. Find a socket wrench that will easily slip over the collar, then take a small square of rubber like from an inner tube, and place it over the collar. Now place the socket on the collar and the rubber will grip all around the collar, it will twist out easily.
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Neat idea! Thanks for sharing...
 
It works perfectly, just make sure to use a small square of rubber thick enough that it wont tear and scar the finish on the camera. I use bicycle inner tube.
 
Screwy said:
No rank to pull as far as I'm concerned 🙂 Lighter fluid was all I had to hand...
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Yeah, double-ditto here. I appreciate the info.
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I have no idea concerning the chemical makeup is of this “shellac” used in Russian camera factories of the ‘50s. I assume this is what Maizenburg called “nitrolacquer” … maybe? And I believe he suggested, as mentioned above, acetone + a light lubricant + time.

Luckily, I haven’t had this sort of difficulty removing RF windows or eyepieces. I used Ronsonol to clean/lube stubborn screws, lens parts, etc.; about everything and it’s worked well so far, but apparently I haven’t run into the dreaded cranky ni-tro-lacquer! 😱 Good to have *better minds than mine* around.

Hang in there Tuomo, you’ll get it.
 
Shellac is a natural polymer obtained from the excretions of a little bug that lives in a type of tree in Asia, it has been used for centuries (and continues to date) as a beautiful wood finish, it has great properties one of them been easily dissolved and with alcohol. For many decades was also used to glue many types of materials, but its use diminished as synthetic polymers were developed.

Nitrocellulose lacquer was the successor of shellac around mid 20's last century, it is a synthetic polymer with on important advantages to shellac: it resists the effect of water much better and of course is less expensive to manufacture; it is needs a stronger solvent than shellac.

Noel,

I guess wee still has much better uses than dissolving shellac, great to help dissolving stress and other ailments... and home made!
 
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Phew, just finished putting the parts back together. I think I just completed my first CLA (sans adjustments so far) on an FSU camera... Yay! 😎 The shutter is now quieter, operation is still smooth... Got out a load of crap from its insides, mainly gears and axles were littered with hardened grease. Also the frame counter's underside had this very nasty sand/wax combo rubbing on the surfaces...

Tearing the camera apart was a lot easier than reassembling it, mind you! I found putting the lens mount retainers and lens mount and the papers together with the body at one go was by far the most difficult part of the process. Took me about half an hour to get all of it together correctly. :bang:

The problem with the RF window collar wasn't resolved though, I tried to dissolve the shellac with some alcohol with no luck. It has really become cement during its 52 years of existence. Thus, any adjustments concerning vertical RF alignment will have to be left alone until Monday.

I think I'll just try and adjust the horizontal RF alignment, the vertical doesn't seem to be off that much anyway...
 
POSTI-Tuomo said:
Phew, just finished putting the parts back together. I think I just completed my first CLA (sans adjustments so far) on an FSU camera... Yay! 😎 The shutter is now quieter, operation is still smooth... Got out a load of crap from its insides, mainly gears and axles were littered with hardened grease. Also the frame counter's underside had this very nasty sand/wax combo rubbing on the surfaces...

Tearing the camera apart was a lot easier than reassembling it, mind you! I found putting the lens mount retainers and lens mount and the papers together with the body at one go was by far the most difficult part of the process. Took me about half an hour to get all of it together correctly. :bang:

The problem with the RF window collar wasn't resolved though, I tried to dissolve the shellac with some alcohol with no luck. It has really become cement during its 52 years of existence. Thus, any adjustments concerning vertical RF alignment will have to be left alone until Monday.

I think I'll just try and adjust the horizontal RF alignment, the vertical doesn't seem to be off that much anyway...
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Congratulations - CLA on most of these cameras is more tedious than difficult. The end result is a reliable, smooth camera that will run for years to come, job well done.

Keep soaking the FR prism in alcohol (don't flood the area though). Put a bit of tissue over it and keep wetting that, or rest a soaked cotton bud on it. It'll soften in the end. Incidentally, if you adjust the vertical, it will also have a small effect on the horizontal too so I'd leave the horizontal till last.

Here's the "spanner" I made up, mentioned earlier...
 

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Interesting results from adjusting the RF: I calibrated the RF at infinity and behold, the RF focused accurately at 1 m. No adjustments needed for the RF sensor at all! And the RF seemed to be in good vertical alignment as well. Now I just need some film... 😱
 
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