Taking apart a Nikkor 5cm F2.0

[Mackinaw]

Can anybody offer any tips on how to remove the rear element section of a Nikkor 5cm F2.0 for a Nikon rangefinder? The element that is directly behind the aperture is cloudy, probably from 50+ years of outgassing. I'm pretty good at taking apart old 1950's lenses (I've taken apart and cleaned several Canon rangefinder lenses) but this Nikkor baffles me. I've unscrewed the black retaining ring which allows me to remove the outer, chrome lens barrel, but all that does is expose the inner brass lens barrrel with surrounds all of the elements. Best I can tell, this can't be taken apart or removed. There's got to be something I'm missing here.

Jim Bielecki

 

[Mackinaw]

Brian,

Do I remove the trim ring (with the writing) or the outer, thin serrated (a the top) ring that surrounds the trim ring? I'll run into town tomorrow and pick up the proper-sized rubber stopper, my all-purpose drain plug I normally use to remove trim rings is a might too big.

Thanks for your help on this, I'll let you know how things turn out.

Jim Bielecki

 

[Mackinaw]

An update as of 11:30 AM EDT. No luck getting off either ring. I stopped by the local Home Depot first thing this A.M. and picked up several, hollow rubber blocks, but none have been able to unscrew anything. I'll be back in town later this afternoon and will try to find something that will allow me to get a bitter grip.

This is a Tokyo lens too and, according to Rotoloni, is of the early, rigid Nikkor-H's with the 5008 serial number prefix. I'm dying to see the kind of images it produces, but I got to clean off the haze first.

Jim Bielecki

 

[Mackinaw]

I'm ready to throw the towel in on this project. I did locate a plastic pipe with a rubber seal that fits perfectly on the trim ring, but no matter how much torque I apply, i can't break it free. I'm reluctant to apply to much force in fear that I'll damage the lens, which is something I don't want to do considering it's somewhat rare status. I'll probably just send it off to Steven Gandy and have one of his repair people do the job, at least they have the proper tools.

Thanks for your help on this Brian. Deeply appreciated.

Jim Bielecki