Luddite Frank
Well-known
I've been looking for an attractively-priced spot meter, such as a Pentax Spot V (analog), but haven't run across anything within my budget.
So I decided to haul an old Soligor Spot-Sensor out of the cupboard, and see if I could fix the wonky eyepiece, and use it in the meantime.
The eye-piece is in a focusing-mount, but it was awfully loose and wobbly, and would not "screw-into" the meter body.
I took the top cover off, and found there was more to the story.
Apparently, at some point before I acquired the little beast, it got dropped HARD. The bakelite block that supports the mirror, meter, etc. broke right in the middle. It was still secured by the mounting screws at its four corners ( two of which turned-out to be bent from the impact, this discovered as I removed them).
I removed the optics block, and discovered that the eyepiece had become completely unscrewed from its internal focusing mount, which was now flopping around inside the meter body.
After much trial and error, I managed to get the eyepiece and focusing mount re-attached, and moved-on to trying to re-install the two broken pieces of the bakelite optics block, hoping that the corner screws would tighten-down and keep everything in place.
It seems that the optics block is going to have a "sag" in the middle, right at the break. The position of the sensor relative to the mirror is still intact, but I fear that neither are focused at the center of the lens anymore.
Should I just regard this beast as a lost cause ?
Was the Spot Sensor good enough in its day to warrant trying to revive this example ?
Sad thing is , the electronics all worked... it was the wonky eye-piece that side-lined it...
So I decided to haul an old Soligor Spot-Sensor out of the cupboard, and see if I could fix the wonky eyepiece, and use it in the meantime.
The eye-piece is in a focusing-mount, but it was awfully loose and wobbly, and would not "screw-into" the meter body.
I took the top cover off, and found there was more to the story.
Apparently, at some point before I acquired the little beast, it got dropped HARD. The bakelite block that supports the mirror, meter, etc. broke right in the middle. It was still secured by the mounting screws at its four corners ( two of which turned-out to be bent from the impact, this discovered as I removed them).
I removed the optics block, and discovered that the eyepiece had become completely unscrewed from its internal focusing mount, which was now flopping around inside the meter body.
After much trial and error, I managed to get the eyepiece and focusing mount re-attached, and moved-on to trying to re-install the two broken pieces of the bakelite optics block, hoping that the corner screws would tighten-down and keep everything in place.
It seems that the optics block is going to have a "sag" in the middle, right at the break. The position of the sensor relative to the mirror is still intact, but I fear that neither are focused at the center of the lens anymore.
Should I just regard this beast as a lost cause ?
Was the Spot Sensor good enough in its day to warrant trying to revive this example ?
Sad thing is , the electronics all worked... it was the wonky eye-piece that side-lined it...
Landshark
Well-known
I'd fiddle with it a bit.
Simple things that supposedly can't be fixed drive me up a wall and it becomes more of a challenge than a cost factor.
I'd give it a whack with JB Weld not the quick. If the bakelite has any irregularity at all, that's a good thing, It's almost like having the alignment set up for you.
FWIW I use a drop about the size of a BB when I mix the JB and use barely enough to cover one surface, then clamp it for a day. Any squeeze out gets scraped off.
Simple things that supposedly can't be fixed drive me up a wall and it becomes more of a challenge than a cost factor.
I'd give it a whack with JB Weld not the quick. If the bakelite has any irregularity at all, that's a good thing, It's almost like having the alignment set up for you.
FWIW I use a drop about the size of a BB when I mix the JB and use barely enough to cover one surface, then clamp it for a day. Any squeeze out gets scraped off.