Basic Leica Fix №1: Bringing a Leica Back from the Dead.

Ok.  It’s not basic.  Don’t try this at home.  Just look and see what is inside an average Leica!  (Zorki and FED are more simple).

1. The Dead Leica As It Came. Nekkid, no covering whatsoever. The winding knob, counter disc, and shutter dial were removed in preparation for further dissection.

2. The Shutter is gone.  What remained of it were bits of fossilised rubberised cloth. 

It appeared to be suffering from a Very Serious Shutter Problem. Wait, IT IS A SERIOUS SHUTTER PROBLEM!  The shutter blinds and tapes were not the only problems. The lower pulley of the Shutter Drum broke off the shaft. And the Shutter was not its only problem. Its RF mirror was totally clear. Nothing can be seen moving in the viewfinder.

Rust, dirt and old dried grease everywhere. These had to be removed with solvent (I used lighter fluid and petrol for the really tough detritus).  Some parts had to be removed and soaked in petrol.  When clean, the parts were relubed.  Fine oil on the fast-moving small parts, heavier oil on the larger parts, and automotive grease on the slow moving gears like those found in the advance knob.

3. Near-total assembly was required. So many parts…

…and there’s still lots and lots left in their original stations in the camera assembly.

4. Shutter Repair. A (n old) shutter drum was taken from a scrapped IIIc. Good thing that it fit. The shutter curtain and ribbons are totally home-made DIY. That includes the new fabricated metal laths. All made here.Ends are sewn, not just glued. The same I use for FED and Zorki shutter replacements.

5. The new shutter cloth and ribbons are attached to their respective rollers and pulleys.  The detached part in front is the slow speed mechanism.  It was removed to facilitate the installation of the rollers.

Long curtain and tapes attached to the main drum and pulleys.  Short (”first” or “opening”) curtain and closing tapes still to be glued to their respective spring rollers.

All blinds and tapes attached to their respective drum, pulleys, and rollers. The thin rollers on the right are spring-loaded and power the shutter.  The blinds and tapes appear loose because the rollers haven’t been tensioned yet.

Rollers tensioned.  The mechanism in front is the slow-speed train.  This gives the 1/15…1 sec “slow” range.  It had been removed to allow proper curtain installation, as well as proper engagement of the slow train’s gears with the second (closing curtain).

6. The slow speed mechanism is put back in the crate. The rollers are lightly tensioned to see if the newly installed curtains  can reel smoothly. 

Then the crate is reattached to the top plate.  Reattaching the shutter assembly to the top crate is really difficult.  There are about 5 or so pins which need to be aligned by ‘touch’ alone.  No way to see or poke them to position.  You’d wonder how they ever put the whole thing in the factory so easily.

Then comes the other parts of the slow speed mechanism.  This is one of the most complicated engagements in the camera.  No wonder it (the slow speeds) are among the most common ailments of old Leicas.  The protruding black rod on the right over the main shutter drum acts as the linkage between the lower mechanism and the controls at the top.  On the ‘top’ of the main drum (bottom in the picture) can be seen a silver disc.  This is the main shutter speed control disc.

7. The cover plate, which holds the lens mount and the slow speed dial are restored.  Within, the baffle plates – the metal pieces covering the shutter rollers to prevent light from breaching the shutter blinds- are restored.

The optical components of the range and view finders are covered with tape to protect them from dirt and physical damage.

8. The new shutter seen from the back (focal plane side). The rails where the film is pressed against is exactly 28.8mm from the lens mount flange surface.

Flash PC contact and accessory shoe added. The eyepiece cover is still out.

More parts added: The VF and RF bezels, etc.  At this point, the shutter is tensioned as well to see if the blinds are able to traverse properly and smoothly.

10. The top plate, the shutter dial, shutter release, advance/rewind switch, accessory shoe wind knob, and frame counter were next to be installed.  At this time, the shutter is tensioned according to official specs.  It is also tested (degree dependent on available testing tools) for ‘accuracy’.  I am able to use only CRT screen testing and play it by ear.  Not too scientific and accuracy is suspect.  But eventual exposures reveal that the calibrations are close enough to produce satisfactory exposures….but the camera is still naked!  (In this set, the bezels were removed again…I forget now why I did that)

… The next step is to recover the body shell.  Ordinary vinyl leatherette is used here, the black material the naked camera is sitting on.  Cheap and available from upholsterers.  The right texture and thickness must be used.  Black is the original colour, but you can always recover with whaterver colour you desire.

11.Making a template for the new covering using masking tape.

The tape template is then stripped and used to make a pattern on leatherette. The leatherette used cost about Php 60.00 (for a 1 metreX1,5 metre piece- enough to cover many, many, many cameras) from a local upholsterer’s supply shop. Note the rusty scalpel blade. Actual cost of vinyl leatherette for this camera, maybe Php 2.00 (that’s 5 US cents!)

12. Installing the new leatherette covering. Fine cutting required for proper fit.

13. A close-up of the finished product, with the lens mount. The lens mount flange surface should exactly be 28,8mm (a variation of only 0.02mm is allowed!) from the surface of the focal plane (that’s behind the shutter curtain).  Any deviation will affect the focusing accuracy. From this view, the shutter curtain looks like the real thing- complete with the sewn laths.

14. Back from the Dead. With an American-made copy of the “Industar-22″ (Wollensak Velostigmat Tessar type for Leica) (!)… A lot of effort went into replacing the RF mirror and recalibrating the RF. The shutter speeds were hard to calibrate as well, 1/1000 setting was difficult to set; the adjusting screw cam on that curved thingie near the shutter speed regulator disc was hard to turn. The flash sync is OK at 1/25, synchro dial at 0. But this Leica is supposed to synch at 1/50 (sd at 20) as well, but won’t.