sticky RF cam on Fed 5b

[patrickhh]

Hi,

I got a Fed 5b which looks fine, but seems to have a problem with the RF cam.
When the lens is focused towards infinity, it pushes the RF cam backwards. When it is turned back to close range, it releases the RF cam, which then usually follows the lens barrel by itself, because it has some tension.
But the RF cam in this 5b has almost no tension. You can pull the RF cam out, screw on a lens, focus to infinity, then the RF spot would correctly move to infinity focus. But when you focus back to 1m, the RF spot wouldn't move back also.

Is there a easy way to fix this without too much hassle? (e.g. putting a drop of grease somewhere, or turning a screw to tighten some spring, ???) Or is this rangefinder broken?

TIA
Patrick

 

[santino]

is it loose or just stiff?

 

[wolves3012]

If it's stiff the chances are the pivot's gummed up. Turn the camera upside down and put a drop of lighter fluid on the pivot, the bit at the inner end of the arm. It's not very accessible so make sure you don't drip the fluid inside the camera. Work the arm back & forth for a while and see if it releases. If so, I'd follow it with a small drop of oil and work that in. If that fails to work you'll have to remove the top.

If it's loose the spring's probably broken or displaced, in which case you'll have to take the top off for access - fiddly on a FED 5!

Let us know how you get on or if you need more advice...

 

[martin_t]

A Fed-5 top r&r can be a little tricky if you've never done one before.
Best to check back here if you have any problems, especially with the
film counter gearing/spring.

This link will brief you on the details of the top removal and give you a view
of the RF spring, if that turns out to be the problem. For the rewind side (not
shown) there's a spanner nut that has to come off too. Make a tool to get
down in there, or perhaps it won't be on that tight and you can budge it
loose with a couple of small screwdrivers once you unscrew the rewind knob.

http://rick_oleson.tripod.com/index-133.html

 

[patrickhh]

Thanks for your comments.

I bought this Fed 5b as a birthday gift for a friend, who will perhaps put a roll through it every few months, but will probably have it stand on his shelf between his other old cameras most of the time. So the cosmetic condition is much more important than the technical function. I have failed to open the top of my Fed 5, had to put it together again half way, so I won't try it again on the 5b and risk its fine optical condition.

It would have been nice if I could make the RF work without too much tinkering around, and give my friend a working camera ;-) But, heck, he's a tinkerer himself, so I think it's okay to leave the camera like this.

I guess that the spring that provides tension to the RF cam is somehow busted, but if locating that spring involves disassembling the top cover, then it's a "no-go". 😉

 

[patrickhh]

Update:
I tried the "lighter fluid" trick and it COMPLETELY solved the problem!! Now the camera is AS NEW! My friend will be amazed 😀😀😀

Thank you folks. You are so AWESOME 😀

 

[wolves3012]

Update:
I tried the "lighter fluid" trick and it COMPLETELY solved the problem!! Now the camera is AS NEW! My friend will be amazed 😀😀😀

Thank you folks. You are so AWESOME 😀

You're very welcome. Make sure a tiny drop of oil goes there too, else it'll just dry up back to how it was in a while. Leave the camera upside down for a bit too, to let the oil run into the pivot.

 

[patrickhh]

Yes, I applied some "universal" oil, hope it's not gonna stick.

I attached a picture of this baby, check out the cheap edition Industar-61 L/D with painted numbers 😀

 

[wolves3012]

Yes, I applied some "universal" oil, hope it's not gonna stick.

I attached a picture of this baby, check out the cheap edition Industar-61 L/D with painted numbers 😀

The oil isn't critical for something like that. As for the L/D, I'd guess they were all "cheap edition", it looks pretty typical. By the way, it's printed...no-one would paint on numbers! Like the Zorki 4 that people describe as "painted shutter speed dial", they didn't have lines of myopic workers with fine paintbrushes I'm sure. Silk-screen printing is quick and neat.

 

[patrickhh]

Like the Zorki 4 that people describe as "painted shutter speed dial", they didn't have lines of myopic workers with fine paintbrushes I'm sure.

LOL 😉

I got the idea of "cheap edition" L/D because the other L/D, that came with my Fed 5, has engraved numbers (just as the I-61 "panda" that came with my Fed 4).
When you put the lenses side by side, the lens with the printed numbers looks really, really cheap in comparison. However, it fits the cheapo 5b perfectly. Looks like a perfect "lomo"-ish gadget. 😉