The “Zorkikat Wrench”

Removing viewfinder and rangefinder bezels from Leica, Canon, FED, Zorki, FED, and other similar Barnack-copies can be difficult.   It is required to adjust the vertical alignment of the rangefinder patch image.  And necessary when disassembling the camera for major repair.

A special wrench made from fibre or soft metal like copper or aluminium was made for that purpose.  The wrench can be quite expensive for one-off jobs.  It can also be made, if you have access to a machine shop.

Substitute procedures like using long-nosed pliers lined with rubber tape or heat shrink tubes have been proposed, and worked.  Often though, it lead to the deformation of the bezel from the heavy grip of the plier jaws.    Using rubber pads to remove the bezels have been proposed too.  This worked only if the bezel has not siezed on its threads yet.  But old bezels tend to be stuck.  And in the factory, the workers made sure that it would remain in place by really tightening it in place.

There is a simple and inexpensive alternative to all methods described above: The “Zorkikat Wrench”.  It’s a DIY tool made from thick aluminium or copper wire.  Single strand copper wire with insulation removed or aluminum wire 2-3mm thick is needed.  Cut a 6-8cm [edited] length.  Then bend it around a metal pen or whatever object which has a diameter slightly smaller than the bezel or retainer nut (it can also be used for removing retainers from advance levers, eyepiece rings, etc).  The two ends serve as the handle and the grip.

The tool can easily lose its shape.  But it can easily be reshaped.  However too much bending can cause fatigue to the metal and cause it to break at the bends.  Nothing to worry about really since a new one can always be easily made when the old tool breaks.

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