sick Weltur

[oldrangefinderguy]

I was the winning bidder on a 6 X 4.5 Welta Weltur in basket case condition. Now comes the challenge of totally rebuilding a seventy year old wreck. It needs a new rangefinder prism, a shutter rebuild, a new bellows, new leather covering, lens cleaning, and an amazing amount of rust removed and painted over. Well, the price was right anyway.

I've repaired successfully a few newer (barely) cameras, and I thought that this older camera would be a bit easier but now, as I look this baby over, I'm beginning to rethink that assumption. I have a few questions before I destroy anything and I thought I'd come to where the experts are.

First, how do you detach the old bellows? There does not seem to be any tabs or rivets visible at the rear of the bellows.
Second, how do you remove the front lens element? It's a Meyers Trioplan, BTW. I would expect it to simply unscrew like the Trioplan on my Welta Pearl. Still the Pearl is a front cell focuser and the Weltur is a unit focuser. Also, I tried unscrewing it and it doesn't want to budge. Is it just tight, or am I missing something?
Third, would a Compur shutter from the Pearl transplant easily onto the Weltur (which currently has a Compur that appears identical)? The unit-focusing elements of the Weltur's Trioplan would have to be able to screw into the Pearl's shutter. This last is just a thought in case I am unable to rebuild the shutter - something I've never attempted before.

That's probably enough questions for now. Any help would be appreciated.

Randy

 

[FallisPhoto]

I was the winning bidder on a 6 X 4.5 Welta Weltur in basket case condition. Now comes the challenge of totally rebuilding a seventy year old wreck. It needs a new rangefinder prism, a shutter rebuild, a new bellows, new leather covering, lens cleaning, and an amazing amount of rust removed and painted over. Well, the price was right anyway.

I've repaired successfully a few newer (barely) cameras, and I thought that this older camera would be a bit easier but now, as I look this baby over, I'm beginning to rethink that assumption. I have a few questions before I destroy anything and I thought I'd come to where the experts are.

First, how do you detach the old bellows? There does not seem to be any tabs or rivets visible at the rear of the bellows.
Second, how do you remove the front lens element? It's a Meyers Trioplan, BTW. I would expect it to simply unscrew like the Trioplan on my Welta Pearl. Still the Pearl is a front cell focuser and the Weltur is a unit focuser. Also, I tried unscrewing it and it doesn't want to budge. Is it just tight, or am I missing something?
Third, would a Compur shutter from the Pearl transplant easily onto the Weltur (which currently has a Compur that appears identical)? The unit-focusing elements of the Weltur's Trioplan would have to be able to screw into the Pearl's shutter. This last is just a thought in case I am unable to rebuild the shutter - something I've never attempted before.

That's probably enough questions for now. Any help would be appreciated.

Randy

1. On many folders, you need to remove the leather on either side of the lens cover. This exposes two rivets. You drill them out and the whole back of the camera kind of wiggles out, exposing the back of the bellows (which are then easy to remove). Sometimes you also have to remove some linkages too, before you can get the back out. Once you have gotten the old bellows out, and the new bellows in, your best bet is to replace the rivets with aluminum or brass rivets.

2. The only Trioplan I have ever taken apart was on an old-model (folding) Super Baldina. http://fallisphoto.deviantart.com/art/Balda-Super-Baldina-63986171 On mine, it just unscrewed. I needed to use a chunk of rubber to get a grip on it though. I used one of those rubber cups that goes on the end of a cane, and used it as a friction wrench. Yours would be bigger and one of those rubber cups that goes under a table leg might be more aptly sized. The Trioplan isn't much of a lens though, and I am currently looking for a donor Super Baldina with a Tessar, Xenar, or Xenon.

3. Only way to find out is to do it. Sometimes a transplant works fine. Other times it doesn't. Depends on whether the distance from the back of the lens to the film plane is exactly the same in the Weltur and the Pearl.