Some Public Thanks

[Max Power]

Good afternoon all,
I just wanted to publicly thank a few people who, via their web-sites, helped me to deal with a very messy Zorki 4. I purchased, via eBay, a Zorki 4 and Jupiter 8 from a very popular and reputable dealer in the Ukraine, with whom I had dealt before. Long story short, the camera and lens had pretty obviously sat a very long time in a very dirty drawer somewhere before the seller got hold of it. It was a mess. The 'perfect' lens was full of grit and had rusted screws. The 'very good' body had a bit of rust inside, the shutters barely worked, and it was full of grit.

Stephen Castello, Kim Coxon, Jay Javier and Rick Oleson helped me with their websites to get this Zorki 4 and J-8 apart and cleaned out. It is now back together and working beautifully, and I wanted to thank these four individuals, publicly, for their valuable assistance.

Cheers,
Kent

PS, I have learned my lesson; only purchase cameras from Oleg 😉

 

[reagan]

Congrats Kent. Yep, those sites are invaluable... been there many times myself.

"...only purchase cameras from Oleg."

Unfortunately, these wonderful helps had the opposite effect on me. "Hey, who cares what shape it's in. I can fix anything now!" 🙄

 

[fidget]

Glad you've got a worker and that you had a screwdriver to your possession.
Just a thought that many of my FSU cameras have arrive showing no signs of CLA, and sometimes not working in all respects, but not damaged. I like these, "unmolested" but original. These respond very well to a DIY CLA and can be cheaper. The FED3a in my avatar arrived working but went "off" after a few weeks use. I puzzled over the faults when a CLA failed, then tried a fix based on my understanding of how (I had learned) the shutter works. A success, plus the slow speed timer got fixed (delicate strip and cleaning job) along the way.
Would you recommend that fellow FSU RFers should have a go?

 

[Max Power]

Would you recommend that fellow FSU RFers should have a go?

Good question...
IMHO, the answer to the question is '...it depends...' I would submit that the desire/ability to strip down and rebuild a mechanical camera depends upon certain capacities and attributes.

First and foremost one needs to be both methodical and patient. Lack of either of these two attributes and the job might finish as a pile of parts. I would also suggest that one has to be able to clearly see mechanical relationships. Id est, it helps to be able to see how the movement of one part leads to the movement of another and so on. This ability allows one to analyse problems and see how things have broken down in the chain reaction.

Personally, I get a kick out of doing mechanical work. For me, the satisfaction is in the end result where I've been able to take something which was not operating properly, and to make it run as originally intended.

Just my $0.02

Kent

 

[dcsang]

I just want to say... Max; you've got a name I'd love to touch.... but I musn't touch..

Simpson's Fan,
Dave

 

[comp_wiz101]

You Musn't touch Maaaaaax Poweeeeeers!

DIY CLAs have the amazing ability to be fun and frustrating (usually vice-versa for me). I have CLA'd my Z4k, and it was much cheaper than having it done professionally. Of course, I work on all sorts of tiny stuff.
Best tip I've been given: Take photos while dissassembling (the only time I use digital) - photo each step so you can see how it all goes together.
Also, using an ice cube tray or muffin pan is a great way of keeping track of what goes where, and in what order