Shutter jammed in my III... what to do ?

[Luddite Frank]

More importantly, what NOT to do ?


I succesfully ran a roll of film through my c. 1933 III (G) yesterday, and on roll #2, the film split where the leader tapers out to full-width ( careless cut-job on my part).

After I felt unusual resistance on the wind-knob, I switched to "R", and backed the film into the cassette until I felt it unhitch from the take-up spool...

Then I removed the film, and put things aside until I had more time to deal with such things.

Tonight, I'm getting ready to try and load another roll of film into the G, and I tried winding and snapping a few frames, unloaded, to see if any bits of film had hung-up in the camera.

The shutter will not release when the button is pressed; rather, it moves a about 2mm, then stops. If I turn the advance knob, it winds the shutter back-up, but the knob only turns about 1/2 a turn, as opposed to its normal 300+ degrees for a full-frame advance.

If I swing the rewind lever over to "R", the same thing happens, shutter curtains travel together about 2mm, then everything hangs-up. If I "nudge" or twiddle the shutter-speed knob, I can feel the spring wind a bit, but the shutter will not release.

The curtains do not part, not even a little bit.

I'm pretty certain as I type this, that I should NOT entertain any thoughts about digging further into the camera, but that I should send it to Golden Touch or DAG...

I'm hoping that I did not ruin the shutter inadvertently...😱

( And it was working pretty good too... even the slow speeds ... 🙁 )

Thanks for any cautionary advice...


Luddite Frank

 

[John Shriver]

There's possibly a chip of film in the gears at the bottom of the shutter crate. If you can see the chip(s) with a bright light through the lens mount, and pluck them out with fine tweezers, you may not need to send the camera out.

Otherwise, at least the shell has to be removed, and that's not for the mechanically dis-inclined...

Since you haven't forced anything with that film chip(s) in there, you should not have done any lasting damage. Any competent mechanical camera repair shop should be able to clean out the film chips. But, a Leica expert will be able to tell you if it's time for a clean/lube/adjust, and they can also replace that dratted rangefinder mirror if it's dim!

 

[aad]

If you don't feel comfortable about taking the camera down yourself (and I understand) I strongly recommend Youxin Ye as the best place to send it. Quick and reasonable. Don't panic, it likely won't be a big deal.

But most work on these seems to only require a screwdriver. A very tiny one, though.

 

[Luddite Frank]

The RF in this camera is the brightest of all my LTMs...🙄

There's a sticker inside the cassette end from a servicing in 1971...

Maybe I'll be uber-lucky and find an offending film -scrap and all will be well.


If, not, it goes to a proper technician...


(I'm just hoping the Leicae don't have easily-stripped gears like the infamous Kodak Ektra ! 😉 )

Thanks...

LF

 

[FrankS]

Similar thing happened to me with my IIf. The film ripped and a piece curled up with a shutter curtain. I was able to see it and pull it out with the lens removed.

 

[Luddite Frank]

Black III (G) un-bound !

Black III (G) un-bound !

Perhaps I will nickname this one "Prometheus"... 🙄


A few weeks ago, my "new" III developed a shutter-jam on its second test roll.

John Shriver replied:

"There's possibly a chip of film in the gears at the bottom of the shutter crate. If you can see the chip(s) with a bright light through the lens mount, and pluck them out with fine tweezers, you may not need to send the camera out. "


Well, with Christmas coming, and heating bills starting to roll-in, I just haven't had the where-withal to send anything out for repair.


I kept the patient in one of my desk drawers at work, and every now and then, would pull it out, look at it, fiddle with it ("yup... it's still jammed ! " ), then put it back in the drawer...

Today, I finally got brave and started to carefully pull the guts out of the shell 😱...

I sucessfully managed to liberate the inner frame & top -works from the shell, and once again started looking and fiddling... finally, with the aid of a strong flashlight, I noticed a few scraps of film protruding from the shutter roll, and jamming the gear-train.😉

I couldn't find a pair of tweezers, so I kept nudging the film bits with a small screw-driver until they fell away from the gears, then I turned the frame face towards the desk and gently tapped and shook it until film shards stopped falling-out.

I cycled the shutter several times, until I was satisfied that all the film bits were removed.

I managed to get the camera back together and it seems to function again !

(must be in a "state of grace" today... :angel: )


I am NOT ready to start doing my own CLA's... but I'm relieved that my black III is back in action ! 😀

Thanks John, for your suggestion !

And, careful trimming of the film leader is VERY important... a nick where the curve starts towards the outer-edge of the film can be enough to catch on the edge of the film-gate, and cause much unpleasantness. 😉


Cheers !

LF

 

[Mr_Flibble]

CLA might a bit too much but some TLC definitely did the trick for your III.

Well done sir!

 

[LeicaTom]

Yep!

My non K stamped "kugellager" IIIC has this problem now, sadly I lost another roll of film due to Leicanitis a typical sickness of the old screw mounts......it consists of many different symptoms, sometimes, hard film knob advance and rewind, loose rewind lever, jammed shutter curtains, or shutter failure, nothing a good CLA won`t cure

It`s going for an X-Ray test soon, so when that happens it will also get a cleaning inside, other than that it`s a fine camera, just years of sitting around and many many rolls of film add up in time

Tom

 

[wolves3012]

Film chips finding their way into gears seems to be a common problem on bottom-loaders (not just Leicas). I always make a point of checking the leaders, when I take a film out, to see no chips are missing from them. Any missing film is investigated carefully before attempting to wind the shutter. I've retrieved pieces on a couple of occasions, so saving myself this kind of grief. Likewise I always advance gently towards the end of a film, so avoiding any ripped sprocket holes. Useful habits to develop, even on non bottom-load ones.