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My Noflexar is breaking! What should I do?


Andy Perrin

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Between yesterday and today, apparently for no reason, my Noflexar has become inoperable. This morning when I went out on a photo expedition (thanks to the 65F/18.3C temperatures!) the Noflexar would not focus at infinity. At first I thought the helicoid was simply not pushed in far enough, since it can be fairly stiff and the lens was cold. (It was 65F at noon, but when I left at 7am, it was 40F/4.4C.) However pushing hard on the front did not succeed in regaining infinity focus, even after it warmed up. The lens was unusable except at < 4 feet for the whole day.

 

When I got home just now to take another look, I noticed that the aperture was not responding at all to twisting the ring either. Anyone have a clue what the heck happened to my lens???

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Hi Andy, it sounds like the focus is gummed up, apparently common on this lens. Getting the helicoids apart isn't too hard, just start by taking the screw's out of the back and there should be a mount and two helicoids that come off. Give them a clean and maybe squirt a little PTFE lube in there. If you don't take the glass out the lens is pretty basic apart from that pull out macro tube. Be sure to mark the point where the helicoids separate, one of mine could go on 3 different ways, only one of which was correct...
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Thanks Jonny for the suggestion on this.

 

 

Andy, let us know if you can fix it. Do go look at at Jonny's tutorial on taking the Noflexar apart.

 

I'm going to go look at mine and see if I can see anything useful to tell you. Just be careful not to dump out the aperture blades if you get down to them. (Like I did!!!)

 

 

Question: When you grip the preset ring in order to turn the ridged aperture ring, you must have the preset dot lined up with the white line on the aperture settings. You are doing that, yes? If the dot is not lined up with the white line, then the ridged ring will not move while the preset ring is gripped.

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Thanks, guys!

 

Andrea, yes, but what I'm saying is that the iris will not move no matter what I do! In the past, the way it's worked is that I can set the largest F-number with the ridged ring, and then I can twirl the other ring back and forth easily, making the iris close and open freely. But now it's stuck all the way open.

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Even when the dot and the white line are matched?? Because when aperture is set to f/16 and the dot and white line are apart, then the aperture ring will not move until the dot and white line are matched up again.

 

If still stuck when unmatched then that sounds like to me that it might be an aperture lever problem.

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The ring MOVES fine, it just has no effect on the iris. I can twiddle it back and forth merrily (ok, grimly) and nothing happens to the iris. It's like when you get an eye test and they give you those drops.
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Hi Andy,

 

Misunderstood your problem, didnt realise the aperture was broken too. Sounds like the iris has jumped out of place. Inside the lens there is a small ring which holds the aperture blades, it has a flat base the blades sit on and then raised sides. Part of the raised side is cut away, and a screw goes through the lens body (inside, cant be accessed without taking it to bits) and couples the iris to the iris ring on the outside. I'm guessing that the ring has jumped over or onto that screw, so when you move the lens the iris is jammed. You can access the iris from the front of the lens (remove the glass using suction cups or the iris will fall out!) but I think you need the helicoids off to get to the retaining screw

 

I'm going to guess that in the extreme temperature some of the lens materials have flexed further than they should, then the lens has been moved, and when the materials have flexed back into place, that place has moved, causing a jam. Could just be that one screw both not holding the iris and fouling the focus

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Andy Perrin
Can you give me a list of what tools I need to get inside? I don't own a suction cup, for example, and I MAY have the right screwdrivers but I haven't checked yet and I'm not sure which ones they are anyhow. (And thanks for all your help so far, everyone!)
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You will want some small screwdrivers (mine are nothing special, some cheap small ones, a cheap multi-bit and a cheap set of jewelers/watchmakers, something will always fit)

Something to loosen the front retention ring - either a lens spanner, a rubber lens tool (looks like a bath plug) or a foam backed mouse mat works a lot of the time. You can also bodge it off with some force and a screwdriver but I don't think its worth the risk

Something to remove the glass from inside the lens - sometimes you can lift them out, turn them over, use tweezers, but a small suction cup (like a mini nerf bullet) will be the best as it can reach deep and not scratch anything

Something to keep the various bits in - I use pill boxes

a white cloth/paper on the table so you can see all the bits easily if they are dropped

Some lens cloths to clean up any optics if you wish

a blower or canned air to clean stuff

a dirty (or soon to be dirty) rag for anything greasy you have to clean (helicoids, mostly)

gloves so you dont get prints on the glass

 

Sounds a lot now I wrote it out but its pretty basic stuff!

 

All the best with it

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For a suction cup, look for those clear suction cup hooks at the grocery/drug/hardware store in the household section. For hanging small pictures or potholders. Places like Bed, Bath & Beyond also have them. Maybe Staples too??
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  • 3 weeks later...

Andy, what is the status of your Novoflex?

In the past I've had good repairs done by KEH.com down in Georgia. They look at the lens and provide good estimates which they used to call to discuss with the customer. I hope they still do that. Anyway, maybe call and talk to one of their repair guys about it.

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Andy Perrin
Noflexar still no-flexing. Lives up to the label, that one. It's in a drawer waiting for me to try to disassemble it, but maybe you're right and I should have a professional look at it.
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