Werra 3: getting the top off

Roger Hicks

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I'd be much obliged if anyone could tell me how to remove the top cover from a Werra 3 so I can adjust the rangefinder. I'm reasonably confident I can figure out the adjustment; it's just getting the top off I'd like information about. The only archive thread I can find does not seem to mention this.

Thanks in advance,

Roger
 
I think you will also have to unscrew the eyepiece after lifting the top cover slightly. I'll admit that I have yet to try this, but I have a Werra III sitting on my desk waiting to be stripped down. Should be fun.

If it's of interest to you, Thomas Tomosy covers this camera in his book, 'Restoring the Great Collectable Cameras', although he refers to it as a Werra II.
 
Don't lose the little plastic washers off the lugs, and likewise the little shim or shims atop the shutter plunger!

ruby.monkey, Tomosys probably made a better job than me but I have a set of notes I was emailed that got me through a rebuild of a Prestor shutter - PM me if you are interested, and I'll find them.

Take lots of pics on the way in and out again - they are about half as complex again as most other shutters.

In my (very limted) experience, the big problem is that eventually one or both of the two springs that drive the actuating ring stretches. Once this has happened, you need a spare shutter, as I cannot find a source of springs man enough for the job.

On the other hand, if you have a completely locked shutter, there is a neat "gotcha" if you wind on whilst pressing the shutter down... This locks it solid, but unlocks if you take the top off and prod it - strange flaw, but easy to fix!

Hope that helps,

Adrian
 
I have now been inside it, and fixed it -- though I had to use the other RF adjustment as well as the one you can reach from the opening revealed by the grub-screw. I'll be writing this up, with step-by-step pics, on www.rogerandfrances.com (a free bit, of course) in due course.

Yet again, thanks.

Cheers,

R.
 
I understand that Ray Czerkas in Welham Green bought up a lot of the Werra bits and pieces when the British distributors closed down. He might, just might have springs etc that you need for shutter repair, and just might be prepared to sell them to you.
Ray@rccr.co.uk
is one of his contact addresses.
Worth a go anyhow.
He did a fix on one of my Werras although hadn't got a new top plate replacement - there are a fair number of different ones but he did have a brand new Werra 3 top in original wrapping paper!

jesse
 
Thanks Jesse, much appreciated! I'll try him and see.

Always good to see a Werra thread - wish I'd known about them when I spent three months on the banks of the river Werra (not that I could have afforded on...)!

Adrian
 
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