Post by PeterW on Dec 30, 2006 14:35:24 GMT -5
Hi gang,
Doing some sorting out this afternoon and came across some small proof prints of a Vario shutter stripdown on an Ilford Sportsman (Dacora) I did some years ago. I looked for the negs, but they're 'filed' somewhere. However, the prints didn't scan in too badly even though they were small, made in a hurry, and very soot and whitewash. I'm posting them in case anyone wants to get inside a three-speed Vario, or a four-speed Pronto which is almost identical. They are nice simple shutters to work on and a good introduction to the more complex multi-speed Prontors.
On the Sportsman, and quite a few other compact 35mm cameras from the 1950s, the front plate and shutter assembly lift off after you undo four screws inside the camera. On the right is the release mechanism operated by a button on the front plate. The small shaft with a pin through it at the top engages with a dog inside the camera body to cock the shutter when you wind on. The wire I'm holding in tweezers is the flash synch wire. As I'd got to take the shutter off the plate I snipped this and joined it later with solder and a length of shrink-wrap tubing. I prefer this to soldering to tiny terminals.
Back at the front the next job is to take off the focus ring. Don't take the three tiny screws right out, just slacken them and the ring will lift off. Then you can unscrew and remove the front element of the lens.
Under the focus ring you'll find a large serrated ring locked by a dog screw with one side cut away. Undo the screw till the cutaway part lets the ring turn.
Now you can undo the serrated ring, normal right-hand thread. Please don't try to push it round with a screwdriver. I've seen some horribly chewed-up rings from this. I'm using a cheap pair of circlip pliers with interchangeable jaws - £1 on a market tool stall. Note that the ring has a small lip on one side round the thread, and this usually faces the camera. When you put it back, tighten it firmly but not over-tight and back it off to the next serration for the dog screw.
With the ring undone you can lift off the black plastic plate and the plated speed selector ring. The speed rings from the three-speed Vario, left, and the four-speed Pronto, right, are almost identical. You can often convert a Vario to a Pronto by swapping the rings and black plastic plates. With some shutters that are just stiff and haven't been messed about with this is often as far as you need to go with a stripdown. A few drops of lighter fuel on all the pivots will often free it all off.
This shutter was so gummed up with old oil- I think someone had squirted it in through the slots - that I had to strip it completely to clean it. So the next step, after snipping the synch wire, was to undo the outer ring at the back which holds the shutter to the front plate. It's advisable to take out the rear lens element first.
The shutter comes apart after undoing the outer screws through the back of the casing.
One of the problems with this shutter was that the little arm I'm indicating with a screwdriver was gummed so solid it wouldn't release the cocking snail.
A good soak in lighter fuel freed all the mechanism, but the blades were still sticky so I had to remove the holding ring from the back, take them out and clean them individually.
When you've got it all together again, and back on the camera, you have to set the front lens element at infinity before you put back the focus ring. Different people use different methods for this, but I use the two-camera method which I find quick and positive - and you can do it on the workbench. Rick Oleson aptly calls it 'bringing infinity indoors'.
I did post a piece about it some eighteen months or so ago, but it's been pushed off by later postings. If anyone wants it I'll post it again together with a pic of my set-up for doing it.
Good luck. If you've got any questions I'll do my best to answer them.
PeterW
Doing some sorting out this afternoon and came across some small proof prints of a Vario shutter stripdown on an Ilford Sportsman (Dacora) I did some years ago. I looked for the negs, but they're 'filed' somewhere. However, the prints didn't scan in too badly even though they were small, made in a hurry, and very soot and whitewash. I'm posting them in case anyone wants to get inside a three-speed Vario, or a four-speed Pronto which is almost identical. They are nice simple shutters to work on and a good introduction to the more complex multi-speed Prontors.
On the Sportsman, and quite a few other compact 35mm cameras from the 1950s, the front plate and shutter assembly lift off after you undo four screws inside the camera. On the right is the release mechanism operated by a button on the front plate. The small shaft with a pin through it at the top engages with a dog inside the camera body to cock the shutter when you wind on. The wire I'm holding in tweezers is the flash synch wire. As I'd got to take the shutter off the plate I snipped this and joined it later with solder and a length of shrink-wrap tubing. I prefer this to soldering to tiny terminals.
Back at the front the next job is to take off the focus ring. Don't take the three tiny screws right out, just slacken them and the ring will lift off. Then you can unscrew and remove the front element of the lens.
Under the focus ring you'll find a large serrated ring locked by a dog screw with one side cut away. Undo the screw till the cutaway part lets the ring turn.
Now you can undo the serrated ring, normal right-hand thread. Please don't try to push it round with a screwdriver. I've seen some horribly chewed-up rings from this. I'm using a cheap pair of circlip pliers with interchangeable jaws - £1 on a market tool stall. Note that the ring has a small lip on one side round the thread, and this usually faces the camera. When you put it back, tighten it firmly but not over-tight and back it off to the next serration for the dog screw.
With the ring undone you can lift off the black plastic plate and the plated speed selector ring. The speed rings from the three-speed Vario, left, and the four-speed Pronto, right, are almost identical. You can often convert a Vario to a Pronto by swapping the rings and black plastic plates. With some shutters that are just stiff and haven't been messed about with this is often as far as you need to go with a stripdown. A few drops of lighter fuel on all the pivots will often free it all off.
This shutter was so gummed up with old oil- I think someone had squirted it in through the slots - that I had to strip it completely to clean it. So the next step, after snipping the synch wire, was to undo the outer ring at the back which holds the shutter to the front plate. It's advisable to take out the rear lens element first.
The shutter comes apart after undoing the outer screws through the back of the casing.
One of the problems with this shutter was that the little arm I'm indicating with a screwdriver was gummed so solid it wouldn't release the cocking snail.
A good soak in lighter fuel freed all the mechanism, but the blades were still sticky so I had to remove the holding ring from the back, take them out and clean them individually.
When you've got it all together again, and back on the camera, you have to set the front lens element at infinity before you put back the focus ring. Different people use different methods for this, but I use the two-camera method which I find quick and positive - and you can do it on the workbench. Rick Oleson aptly calls it 'bringing infinity indoors'.
I did post a piece about it some eighteen months or so ago, but it's been pushed off by later postings. If anyone wants it I'll post it again together with a pic of my set-up for doing it.
Good luck. If you've got any questions I'll do my best to answer them.
PeterW
