Well, it's that time of the week, Friday night. At least it is Down Under. What are you up to this weekend?
I hope to get out to a local market and grab a couple of shots, but most of the weekend will probably be spent fettling this:
I purchased it ex-ebay late last year, where it was described in the listing as being in "good working order" a couple of months ago. Naturally, this meant that, when it arrived: the slow speeds were sticking; the self timer, doesn't, and, most seriously; the lens board is not moving evenly (it rocks slightly from side to side coming off infinity). Have I been down this road before? You better believe it! But it winds well enough and the shutter, although sticking on one second, seems to otherwise be OK.
The seller and I discussed the problems the camera suffers from and which differed from the item description. He offered to take the camera back, but I had decided I would rather keep it because, in spite of its faults, it has one massive point in its favour: both lenses are gorgeous. There is not a hint of the element separation so many Teles have been afflicted with over the years (Zeiss was an early adopter of synthetic bonding agents), and even the front coatings of both the lenses are like new.
On this basis I decided to work with its faults, and we agreed that the price would be adjusted. The refund more than paid for the purchase of a set of 0.35 Rolleinars, so I wound up with a Tele with some issues but with perfect lenses, and a set of Rolleinars, for about the same ebay price as a Tele with dodgy lens separation. I was satisfied with this and left some good feedback for him as, to his credit, we were able to negotiate this quite amicably.
Not surprisingly, the focussing issue is the most problematic. These parts are accessed from each side of the body. On the focussing side access is reasonably good—on the winding side—not so good! Much of the wind, film spacing and auto film sensing components reside in front of the wind side focus mechanism and this must be removed to reach it. It's one of the things that makes a Rolleiflex that much more complex than a Rolleicord.
First, in order to remove the winding side cover from the body the crank handle has to come off. Some of the repair texts recommend using a punch to drift it out. I don't like the idea of applying unnecessary force to a Rolleiflex. They're so beautifully and precisely built, so I'm not about to use a drift and a hammer (even a small one) to extract the pin that retains the handle. But what to do? Not possessing an extractor small enough to press it out, I thought about it for a bit, and eventually decided to try my drill press, which gathers dust out in my shed rarely used.
An old 1.5 millimetre drill bit has been inserted into the chuck upside down to offer a flat surface to the end of the pin. It's not mounted particularly true, but for the purpose and force required is good enough! Note the block of wood next to the boss of the handle. The idea is to support the end of the wind shaft that the lever is fastened to, so that the pin can be pressed out very gently, but while transmitting minimum force into the shaft. Clearance between the side of the body and the drill chuck was tight—I would have been grateful for a longer bit—but it had just enough reach, and worked a treat as you can see below.
The Tele is a little different to most Rolleis. The three screws which retain the bayonet for the viewing lens serve double duty. They also double as the locking screws for the viewing lens. Loosening or removing them enables the viewing lens to be unturned—and of course also permits the focus to be dialled in to that of the taking lens. This makes the Tele possibly the easiest Rollei model ever with which to match the lenses. Unlike the usual arrangement, the front does not need to come off it to loosen the lock screw for the viewing lens and adjust it. In the next shot, the viewing lens has been removed:
After removing the locking rings for the shutter release and the PC connector terminal the front leatherette may be carefully prised back and the fixing screws for the front cover removed followed by the cover itself. The taking lens may then be removed presenting the front of lens board and shutter.
At twelve o'clock you'll see "500" in marker pen. This is the shutter setting ring, under which resides the profiled control ring (loosely, a type of cam) that positions the pins for the escapement gears and sets the speeds. The series of marks give a reference for all the shutter speeds down to bulb. Next to the (f/) "22" is the lever connected to the aperture control. Of course both these parts hook up with the setting wheels on the front of the camera via a small differential drive that manages the EV numbering (sigh...).
At each corner a small washer is lacquered into position quite securely. These are the shims that adjust the alignment of the front cover which will often be found somewhat wonky. I don't think this is an issue with this particular example, so the shims can stay where they are for the time being—adjustment of the front cover being entirely dependant on correct alignment of the lens board itself.
Speaking of this; there are a few issues that can throw this off, impact damage being the most obvious I suppose. But wear of the cam followers, old, dried out grease making things stick, and incorrect adjustment of the focus rails the board slides along can all need attention.
In this case, I'm hoping that cleaning the components and adjusting the followers and rails will get the board straight into the ballpark. The camera's not obviously bent, there is clearly excessive play or "float" on the wind side cams as it is lagging behind the focus side, and—having removed the wind side cover—I see just enough of the lens board and the rail to note some side thrust or "rocking" as the focus knob is gently rocked off and on infinity. Ie. excessive play between the board and the rail—hence I think (and hope!) it is just the focussing cams and rails that need wear adjusted out.
If I'm unlucky on the other hand, the lens board itself won't be sitting straight and will have to be removed for trial and error re-assembly to re-shim it true. The tolerance is 0.05 millimetres across the board, corner to corner diagonally. A dial gauge and surface plate are the go in assessing all of this.
You 2.8F owners get off lightly here; the F model was modified so that instead of shim adjustment four slotted collar and screw adjusters enable the parallelism to be set without actually taking the board off. On the plus side, the meter of the Tele Rolleiflex, being based on the E model is uncoupled, making it that much easier to deal with than the apparently complex coupled meter connections of the F. I say "apparently" because I haven't tackled an F yet.
With the wind side leatherette peeled off, removing two screws releases the cover disc for the wind shaft and the double exposure cam. After the five fixing screws for the cover are removed, the wind side cover may unshipped towards the top. Watch the loose washers underneath the holes for the cover screws, some of which are shaped to suit the body and are location specific! You'll then be presented with the beautiful Rollei wind and automatic spacing mechanism:
And there we leave it for tonight.
Next I'll get to discover the process of removing the winding gear, etc. to reach the focus system. More to follow...
Regards,
Brett
I hope to get out to a local market and grab a couple of shots, but most of the weekend will probably be spent fettling this:
I purchased it ex-ebay late last year, where it was described in the listing as being in "good working order" a couple of months ago. Naturally, this meant that, when it arrived: the slow speeds were sticking; the self timer, doesn't, and, most seriously; the lens board is not moving evenly (it rocks slightly from side to side coming off infinity). Have I been down this road before? You better believe it! But it winds well enough and the shutter, although sticking on one second, seems to otherwise be OK.
The seller and I discussed the problems the camera suffers from and which differed from the item description. He offered to take the camera back, but I had decided I would rather keep it because, in spite of its faults, it has one massive point in its favour: both lenses are gorgeous. There is not a hint of the element separation so many Teles have been afflicted with over the years (Zeiss was an early adopter of synthetic bonding agents), and even the front coatings of both the lenses are like new.
On this basis I decided to work with its faults, and we agreed that the price would be adjusted. The refund more than paid for the purchase of a set of 0.35 Rolleinars, so I wound up with a Tele with some issues but with perfect lenses, and a set of Rolleinars, for about the same ebay price as a Tele with dodgy lens separation. I was satisfied with this and left some good feedback for him as, to his credit, we were able to negotiate this quite amicably.
Not surprisingly, the focussing issue is the most problematic. These parts are accessed from each side of the body. On the focussing side access is reasonably good—on the winding side—not so good! Much of the wind, film spacing and auto film sensing components reside in front of the wind side focus mechanism and this must be removed to reach it. It's one of the things that makes a Rolleiflex that much more complex than a Rolleicord.
First, in order to remove the winding side cover from the body the crank handle has to come off. Some of the repair texts recommend using a punch to drift it out. I don't like the idea of applying unnecessary force to a Rolleiflex. They're so beautifully and precisely built, so I'm not about to use a drift and a hammer (even a small one) to extract the pin that retains the handle. But what to do? Not possessing an extractor small enough to press it out, I thought about it for a bit, and eventually decided to try my drill press, which gathers dust out in my shed rarely used.
An old 1.5 millimetre drill bit has been inserted into the chuck upside down to offer a flat surface to the end of the pin. It's not mounted particularly true, but for the purpose and force required is good enough! Note the block of wood next to the boss of the handle. The idea is to support the end of the wind shaft that the lever is fastened to, so that the pin can be pressed out very gently, but while transmitting minimum force into the shaft. Clearance between the side of the body and the drill chuck was tight—I would have been grateful for a longer bit—but it had just enough reach, and worked a treat as you can see below.
Of course, the front has to come off, in order to reach the shutter escapement and timer. First the screws that retain the bayonet rings must be removed, and the rings un-shipped. You can see two of the left side screws in the left side of the bayonet rings in the following shot.
There are three for each bayonet; the taking lens screw is easily seen at around two o'clock, the one for the viewing lens is just visible in the shadows at four o'clock. There are two more on the right side of the lenses, and also at the six and twelve o'clock positions for the taking and viewing lenses respectively.
There are three for each bayonet; the taking lens screw is easily seen at around two o'clock, the one for the viewing lens is just visible in the shadows at four o'clock. There are two more on the right side of the lenses, and also at the six and twelve o'clock positions for the taking and viewing lenses respectively.
The Tele is a little different to most Rolleis. The three screws which retain the bayonet for the viewing lens serve double duty. They also double as the locking screws for the viewing lens. Loosening or removing them enables the viewing lens to be unturned—and of course also permits the focus to be dialled in to that of the taking lens. This makes the Tele possibly the easiest Rollei model ever with which to match the lenses. Unlike the usual arrangement, the front does not need to come off it to loosen the lock screw for the viewing lens and adjust it. In the next shot, the viewing lens has been removed:
After removing the locking rings for the shutter release and the PC connector terminal the front leatherette may be carefully prised back and the fixing screws for the front cover removed followed by the cover itself. The taking lens may then be removed presenting the front of lens board and shutter.
At twelve o'clock you'll see "500" in marker pen. This is the shutter setting ring, under which resides the profiled control ring (loosely, a type of cam) that positions the pins for the escapement gears and sets the speeds. The series of marks give a reference for all the shutter speeds down to bulb. Next to the (f/) "22" is the lever connected to the aperture control. Of course both these parts hook up with the setting wheels on the front of the camera via a small differential drive that manages the EV numbering (sigh...).
At each corner a small washer is lacquered into position quite securely. These are the shims that adjust the alignment of the front cover which will often be found somewhat wonky. I don't think this is an issue with this particular example, so the shims can stay where they are for the time being—adjustment of the front cover being entirely dependant on correct alignment of the lens board itself.
Speaking of this; there are a few issues that can throw this off, impact damage being the most obvious I suppose. But wear of the cam followers, old, dried out grease making things stick, and incorrect adjustment of the focus rails the board slides along can all need attention.
In this case, I'm hoping that cleaning the components and adjusting the followers and rails will get the board straight into the ballpark. The camera's not obviously bent, there is clearly excessive play or "float" on the wind side cams as it is lagging behind the focus side, and—having removed the wind side cover—I see just enough of the lens board and the rail to note some side thrust or "rocking" as the focus knob is gently rocked off and on infinity. Ie. excessive play between the board and the rail—hence I think (and hope!) it is just the focussing cams and rails that need wear adjusted out.
If I'm unlucky on the other hand, the lens board itself won't be sitting straight and will have to be removed for trial and error re-assembly to re-shim it true. The tolerance is 0.05 millimetres across the board, corner to corner diagonally. A dial gauge and surface plate are the go in assessing all of this.
You 2.8F owners get off lightly here; the F model was modified so that instead of shim adjustment four slotted collar and screw adjusters enable the parallelism to be set without actually taking the board off. On the plus side, the meter of the Tele Rolleiflex, being based on the E model is uncoupled, making it that much easier to deal with than the apparently complex coupled meter connections of the F. I say "apparently" because I haven't tackled an F yet.
With the wind side leatherette peeled off, removing two screws releases the cover disc for the wind shaft and the double exposure cam. After the five fixing screws for the cover are removed, the wind side cover may unshipped towards the top. Watch the loose washers underneath the holes for the cover screws, some of which are shaped to suit the body and are location specific! You'll then be presented with the beautiful Rollei wind and automatic spacing mechanism:
And there we leave it for tonight.
Next I'll get to discover the process of removing the winding gear, etc. to reach the focus system. More to follow...
Regards,
Brett
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