Coldkennels
Barnack-toting Brit.
Today's chance find in a junk shop in Rochester: a hideously overpriced Weston Master III, in case, with the needle completely stuck and non-functional.
Cosmetically, it was in great shape, so I showed the owner that it was not useable (she laughed when I pulled out a Weston II from my coat pocket to compare!) and talked the price down a bit. I figured that in the worst case scenario, I could harvest the body shell to fix up a very battered Weston III with a working cell.
After getting into it (the "security screws" holding the name plate on the back were pretty well seized and stubborn to remove), it turns out the only issue was a loose front glass pinching the needle and the floating pivot was slightly out of place, causing the electromagnetic coil to catch on the magnet at a certain point in the meter's travel.
An hour's work and this will be good as new once the new glue for the glass is cured and the case goes back together. These UK-made Westons are solid - in fifteen years I've only ever seen one with a cell that was truly dead.
The zero point isn't perfectly adjusted, but this is already close enough to my "known good" Weston II that I think it'll be bang on the money.
Cosmetically, it was in great shape, so I showed the owner that it was not useable (she laughed when I pulled out a Weston II from my coat pocket to compare!) and talked the price down a bit. I figured that in the worst case scenario, I could harvest the body shell to fix up a very battered Weston III with a working cell.
After getting into it (the "security screws" holding the name plate on the back were pretty well seized and stubborn to remove), it turns out the only issue was a loose front glass pinching the needle and the floating pivot was slightly out of place, causing the electromagnetic coil to catch on the magnet at a certain point in the meter's travel.
An hour's work and this will be good as new once the new glue for the glass is cured and the case goes back together. These UK-made Westons are solid - in fifteen years I've only ever seen one with a cell that was truly dead.
The zero point isn't perfectly adjusted, but this is already close enough to my "known good" Weston II that I think it'll be bang on the money.
