Troubled FED

[Range Loser]

Some time ago I bought what was ostensibly a Red Army FED PKKA, which by popular opinion here on RF turned out to be a makeover camera.
The fact it isn't genuine doesn't really bother me and the camera seemed to work okay without film, however when you use film in it, it gets very tight by about frame 20 and tears the sprockets. I sent it to Oleg for repair, and while it seemed a little better, it is not cured of the problem.
Not a big issue as I don't intend this to be a regular user, but I wondered if anyone has had this kind of problem?

Andy.

 

[wolves3012]

Since no-one's replied I'm guessing they're all stumped - and so am I to give you a definite answer! My suggestion would be to put a scrap roll through and wind till things get rough, then open the bottom up and look for a cause. I can't think of a reason for this, except maybe it's related to the film cartridge. Some early FEDs do have issues with certain film cartridges, I believe.

Let us know if you get anywhere, especially if you solve it!

 

[januaryman]

Well, it happened to me once, but that was due to my ignorance in loading the thing properly. I doubt that a recurring problem of this sort would have this type of an answer... but who knows.

 

[TVphotog]

I had this problem with my Z4. I don't know what was causing it though. I ended up doing a complete teardown and rebuild with it. I do not think that it is a problem with the film canister. I think that if that was the case it would have problems throughout the whole roll and not just towards the end. In the Z4s and such there is a small spring under the advance knob that keeps the knob under tension. In the Z4, if there is too much tension on the spring, or it is out of alignment, it can be very hard to advance the film. This might be the cause. Without taking the top and shutter crate out of the body it might be hard to diagnose. It might be as simple as the body is crimped and putting pressure on the take up side of the film. Something tells me that the advance sprocket is not turning enough in relation to the advance spool. Basically, the sprocket is stopping its advance before the take up spool, thus the tearing of the film. Definitely try the scrap roll and see if you can see something impairing the travel of the film.

 

[fanshaw]

. Something tells me that the advance sprocket is not turning enough in relation to the advance spool. Basically, the sprocket is stopping its advance before the take up spool, thus the tearing of the film. Definitely try the scrap roll and see if you can see something impairing the travel of the film.

I have had this problem as well, with a Zorki-1. I think that you are right about the sprocket/spool being the problem. The reason it happens after 20 frames and not before, is likely to be because the film then is being wound on a spool which has a larger effective diameter. The spool needs to slip a little, otherwise the film is dragged across the sprockets, since the distance the film moved for one turn of the spool increases as the effective diameter of the spool increases.

 

[clarence]

I've had this problem before. What's happening is that the film ends up feeding into the area behind the film advance sprocket, and ends up winding itself around the sprocket rather than the film advance spool. Eventually the sprocket jams up from the accumulated film, and when you attempt to rewind or advance the film, the film tears.

I believe this is usually caused by a defective film advance spool. It may not be defective per se, just ill-suited for your camera. I attempted shaving the core of the spool to decrease its diameter. I also shaved the two ends to increase the inner height of the spool, since it was initially rather tight for the film. I cannot say if these are effective solutions, as I have not tried using the camera with a 36-exposure roll of film since.

Clarence

 

[Spyderman]

Also to me it seems like problem with the take-up spool being too tight. There is a kind of "clutch" connection between the advance knob and the spool. Perhaps you should disassemble the "stem" and clean it...

 

[wolves3012]

I have had this problem as well, with a Zorki-1. I think that you are right about the sprocket/spool being the problem. The reason it happens after 20 frames and not before, is likely to be because the film then is being wound on a spool which has a larger effective diameter. The spool needs to slip a little, otherwise the film is dragged across the sprockets, since the distance the film moved for one turn of the spool increases as the effective diameter of the spool increases.

I think I was having a bad night when I posted my reply! Your idea is the most obvious and likely answer! If the clutch fails to "give" enough, it'll cause the sprockets to tear and that'll require more effort.