Ready, Set and... MP Jammed !!

[oleg C]

Oleg,

I had my M6 CLA'd by a local technician through Foto Riesel in Sydney and I think Mainline Photographics will also take Leica repairs. Drop Scott a line at sales@mainlinephoto.com.au .

cheers,
clay

Thanks Clay, but I just called Scott and he said that his Leica technician has unfortunately retied.

 

[oleg C]

I suspect the MP jam is just gears getting stuck or knocked out of alignment.
If you are brave, I would suggest opening it yourself to see if you can fix it yourself.
If you can fix it yourself, that's great, you got a working camera for your christmas. If not, you will send it off and wait anyway, so why not give it a shot. The worst case is you break something more, but spare parts aren't that expensive anyway, so I think it is worth a try.

It still on the warranty and I'm not sure if it will cover me after I'll open camera my self 😱 But it's tempting .. lol

 

[Vickko]

Yep, I've had this happen after CLA'ing an M2.

The issue is that at the top of the film takeup spool, is a plate with a cutout. This cutout must be positioned to allow the shutter button to be pushed, when the shutter is cocked. Now, this plate (and its gearing) has a bit of play in it. This play is the related to the permissible back-travel of the shutter tensioning gear train.

I was "one tooth off" when I reassembled the M, and it behaved exactly as you described. No film, worked fine. With film, the film put enough backtension on the plate so that the shutter button could not travel downwards.

Easy fix once you know what is going on.

Vick

Recently had a jam such as this on my M4-2. The shutter would fire if I held the advance lever in tension. Could have been used like that but I sent it in to DAG a few weeks ago and it will come back someday.
Funny thing, the thing would fire fine with no film but once film was in there it wouldn't fire after being cocked unless I held tension on the lever.

 

[oleg C]

Thanks everyone for your advise. I think I will send it to the repairer tomorrow (Camera Clinic / Melbourne) and hope it will be back by Xmas 🙄

 

[---f]

Recently had a jam such as this on my M4-2. The shutter would fire if I held the advance lever in tension. Could have been used like that but I sent it in to DAG a few weeks ago and it will come back someday.
Funny thing, the thing would fire fine with no film but once film was in there it wouldn't fire after being cocked unless I held tension on the lever.

Well, this is EXACTLY what happened to me yesterday. I'm glad I read your note because I thought it was stuck. Putting tension on advance lever allows it to fire!!!!

 

[---f]

Yep, I've had this happen after CLA'ing an M2.

The issue is that at the top of the film takeup spool, is a plate with a cutout. This cutout must be positioned to allow the shutter button to be pushed, when the shutter is cocked. Now, this plate (and its gearing) has a bit of play in it. This play is the related to the permissible back-travel of the shutter tensioning gear train.

I was "one tooth off" when I reassembled the M, and it behaved exactly as you described. No film, worked fine. With film, the film put enough backtension on the plate so that the shutter button could not travel downwards.

Easy fix once you know what is going on.

Vick

Vick, obviously this is something Horst can take care of, so glad I read this. Didn't know you did your own CLA's.

 

[Vickko]

Yep, been doing it a while. You learn a lot doing your own. You learn where your own limits are, and when to send out. Some tasks are more difficult than others. Some tasks are more enjoyable than others.