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CircleofConfusion · Joined: 15 Apr 2002 Posts: 6 Location: Central New York

One of the two screws that holds the metal slide to the camera front standard, that in turn holds the lens board, has sheared away. My local (Syracuse, NY) repair guy says "oh we don't touch those". It seems simple enough for someone to drill out the remains of the old screw and possibly tap a new thread hole. Has anyone had this happen? Do I need to ship it to a better repair shop or do you think a local machine shop would work? Is there a shop you would recommend?

Henry · Posted: Wed Apr 17, 2002 7:05 pm Post subject:

I had this happen inside of a very expensive Minolta 35mm shift lens. After emerging from shock, upon inspection I found it possible to coax the broken screw shaft out of its hole (which was already drilled straight through the piece) by very gingerly turning it clockwise with a jeweler's screwdriver. I just put the screwdriver blade tip in contact with the broken shaft and turned it until the remnant dropped out the back side of the hole. You can imagine the sigh of relief! So depending on the construction of your GVII, it might be possible to either drive the screw remnant all the way through the hole, or alternatively to back it out of the hole. It's worth a try, because the drill-and-tap routine, in addition to requiring a different skill level, will no doubt also require a larger screw than the original.

dkt · Joined: 26 Feb 2002 Posts: 32 Location: se usa

hmmm..that would be a problem...but there is a simple fix for that--gaffer tape, duct tape or anything....compared to paying a repair tech or a machinist to do this, unless you do it yourself, you could use tape to hold the lens board in....I've done this with Toyos in a pinch, and made lensboards out of cardboard too....

Les · Joined: 09 May 2001 Posts: 2682 Location: Detroit, MI

There use to be a poster around with some photographic sayings.

One was"you can repair a camera with a butter knife that the camera store charges $30 to fix"

Below that,

"The camera store charges $50 to repair cameras that have been repaired with a butter knife."

In this case I'd find a local clock repairman. He'll be used to working with antiques (who fixes new clocks?) and will have the dexterity to work with smaller stuff. A job shop may look at a 6-32 as tiny, cause they work with 1/4-20 to 3/4-8 while a jeweler will look on a 6-32 as huge.

I bought a beautiful 15" Portrait Unar on ebay. It uses two sleeves to manipulate the apertures and defocus control. It all hinges on a metal post screwed into the lens barrel. This post sheered off. Seizing the lens along the way.

Not only was he able to remove the stub in a blind hole but made a new stud with an odd pitch thread. Total cost $40. That may sound like an expensive screw, but considering that it turned a $200 paperweight into a $600 imaging marvel, it was dirt cheap.

CircleofConfusion · Joined: 15 Apr 2002 Posts: 6 Location: Central New York

I hate to say it, but using a lensboard made out of mount board is what originally caused the screw to shear off! Would rather pay for a couple of proper boards. I tried going after the screw with micro screw drivers. I also forgot that I'd managed to get it fixed ( at least temporarily by using a small amount of epoxy. I saw the local camera repair guy today ( he's fixing some minor battle damage to my Nikon F2)and I think he misunderstood the problem on the phone and is willing to have a go. He said the same thing you did, to him 1/4" screw is huge. The Clockmaker is a good idea. I know where there is a good one, and I have a broken clock. Thanks for your help

[ This Message was edited by: CircleofConfusion on 2002-04-18 21:00 ]