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UltravioletPhotography

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun


Andrea B.

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...but sometimes it just does not go well.

 

So.....one of my Novoflexes had some very strange looking spots on an inner element. How hard can it be, says I, to pop it open with the new spanner wrench and clean that stuff off? Not hard at all as it turns out. (And the new spanner wrench is very nifty indeed.)

 

But then.....ALL of the aperture blades fell out. Ten of them laying there -- no doubt thinking they are finally free from all that aperture drudgery.

 

Oh FUDGE and GLORY !!!

Why do I always think I can do these things? I just wanted to be like everyone else and fix something all by myself.

 

For two hours I tried to balance those little boogety blade things back onto the pegged thingie which holds them. It would go well until 6 of the 10 blades were back in place. I simply could not get that 7th blade's peg to stay put while trying to nudge it underneath the 1st blade.

 

To top it all off, the screw which protrudes into the little basket that keeps the aperture blaces in their pegged aperture jail for actual aperture work, well, this stupid screw broke its head clean off. Now I also have a stuck headless screw to deal with.

 

I think I will have to go find the stash of plastic baggies and bag everything up before it all gets lost - or becomes the next cat toy. Then I'll take some time off from this business of having fun with DIY repair and think it all over.

 

The Workbench

workbench.jpg

 

The Noflexar in pieces. Aperture blades plotting next move.

That blue plastic thing is called a "spudger". A new word for me.

lensBlades.jpg

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Welcome to the real world, Andrea. There is a reason for having more than one of the lenses one needs on a regular basis.

 

Learn how to stop just in time. And build your network connections to include a local repair shop too.

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You forget where I live !!

There is no such thing as a "local repair shop". ;)

 

My best bet for local repair is probably KEH in the Atlanta, Georgia area.

There might be a place in New York City, but I don't really know of one myself.

However even if I knew of an NYC lens repair shop, it is very much easier to Fed Ex the lens to Georgia than it is to travel to the City twice for delivery/pick-up. It would cost me $20 for the train and probably additonal expenses for cabs/buses/subways.

 

I have two other Novoflexars, so I'm good on that score. :D

 

I'm just disappointed that I can't get the aperture back together. There must be some trick for putting those blades in place that I just haven't figured out yet. Hmmmm...........

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Bill De Jager
Yikes! Gives me pause as I just discovered a spot of fungus on a nice Pentax A 20/2.8 and was considering a do-it-yourself repair job. Hmmm.... indeed.
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The first-line defense against fungus in a lens is sunshine. Lots of sunshine. Just remember not to have anything inflammable around the focal point to the rear of the lens, and return the lens indoors if bad weather arrives. (I have sinned in both ways).
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Thanks, John. Good link!!

 

Scrolling down that link I see exactly the problem I'm trying to solve where it says you have to push up the last inserted blade and slide the newest inserted blade under it. I figured out yesterday that that is what needed to be done, but I just cannot get it done. Everytime I try to hold down the already inserted blades, lift up the end of one and slide in the new one, they all come unseated.

 

Those little blades are perverse and like to taunt me by flinging themselves everywhere at the slightest touch!

Just kidding....but it is good to see that at least I had the methodology correct. ;)

 

I'll get it sooner or later. But I had to put the lens aside for a bit because I was getting frustrated and therefore careless. This particular Novoflex is a bit of a beater, but I certainly don't want to ruin it. I'll work for awhile on getting the headless screw out before returning to the blade effort.

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Andrea,

 

Would an extra small paper clip or a micro binder clip hold your first six down while you introduce the last four?

 

Good luck!

 

Reed

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Andrea said....

"I'll work for awhile on getting the headless screw out before returning to the blade effort."

Do you mean a broken screw........the head has broken off ;)

Be ever careful.

Is there any, of the broken screw above the surface, or has it broken below the surface ?

Can I see a photo of it please.

Col

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Reed, I will try those kinds of things to hold the blades in place. Something eventually will work.

 

Col, yes the head broke off the screw. ;) I will get a photo posted. It surprised me. I've never had that happen with lens or camera screws.

 

I might order these screw extractor tools: https://www.ifixit.com/Store/Tools/Precision-Screw-Extractor-Set/IF145-118-1

The tools at Ifixit are pretty good. Maybe not the top of the line, but really pretty good. I have the 54 bit screwdriver set which has all the really unusual shapes for electronics - like the macbook penta screws. And I have some of their tweezers and picks and other useful stuff. And I just got a nice new work mat from Ifixit. They didn't have spanner wrenches though. I had to order those on Ebay.

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I might order these screw extractor tools: https://www.ifixit.c...Set/IF145-118-1

 

I an not absolutely certain but that kit looks like it is for removing screws with stripped heads, not broken off heads. Broken off screw is a rather more difficult fix.

 

Let me ask a you, is it the only one holding whatever it it is together? If not, and it is one of 3 or more, you might get away without replacing it.

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Andrea, is the screw one of many holding the same part ?

What size is the screws diameter ?

Is any screw above the surface & how much ?

Photos please.

Col

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The screw is on the inner barrel of the Noflexar. It acts as a aperture control screw by protruding into the slotted retainer inside the barrel which keeps the aperture blades in place. So we do need to have it there.

 

I'm not sure how long it is. There's not really anything above the surface unfortunately. The head of the screw was supposed to sit flush with the surface.

 

As you can see, there seems to be some tiny bit of space around it. I was hoping to grip around it somehow (tiny hemostat?) and unscrew it. It's not clear that it could be drilled into in the usual manner for removing headless screws because it is so little.

 

Of course I should not have unscrewed it at all because that screw was keeping the aperture blade retainer in place. Once the retainer was free, the aperture blades took it on the lam. I was being way too curious about how everything worked. Oh well.

 

Inner barrel

DSC_001401.jpg

 

Headless screw close-up #1

DSC_0015.jpg

 

Headless screw close-up #2

This barrel fits inside the helicoid portion of the lens, so I think there is helicoid kruft & grease in there.

DSC_0024.jpg

 

ADDED: When the screw broke, it was not fully screwed in, unfortunately. So it cannot function like it is supposed to. If it had gotten fully screwed into the barrel, it wouldn't have mattered if the head broke off.

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Bill De Jager

The first-line defense against fungus in a lens is sunshine. Lots of sunshine. Just remember not to have anything inflammable around the focal point to the rear of the lens, and return the lens indoors if bad weather arrives. (I have sinned in both ways).

 

Thanks, I had forgotten about that! We are getting into UV season here, where I traditionally forget that UV levels are way up and get sunburned once or twice as a result. There is no worry about rain given our nearly relentless drought, but I do want to take the lens in before the nighttime dew. The fungus is close to the rear of the lens so I'll turn the lens with that side up. I don't imagine there will be a problem with the image of the sun but I'm not taking any chances. The other lenses that were in the same container all look good, fortunately.

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Andrea

You may try a fine electrical wire side cutter, & grip the screw & turn it.

A Dremel tool with a thin, small diameter diamond cutting wheel, could be used to cut a slot into the top of the screw, so you can use a small straight bladed screwdriver to unscrew it again.

Failing that, you will need to take it to an engineering business that can do Electrical Discharge Machineing, EDM, to spark erode out the screw, without damaging the threaded hole.

I wish I could be there to help you.

Col

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You are in luck! The fact that so much of the broken screw is exposed offers a good chance of removal.

 

If I were attempting to remove it, the first thing I would do would be to put ~1/2 drop of a penetrating lubricant, Liquid Wrench is my favorite, into the well and just let it sit a few days before trying to get it to move.

 

I sometimes resort to using heat and cold to induce a bit of expansion and contraction of stuck parts. Several cycles of thermal expansion/contraction can really help penetrating lube intercalate stuck threads.

 

Of course with lens elements inside the barrel you would only attempt this with utmost caution. Nothing to aggressive, perhaps you might consider sitting the lens on a sunlit window sill to gently warm up and then move it to a cool dark room a few times.

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My invaluable helper, aptly nicknamed 'Dr. Lens' (Erik Lund), would take his Dremel and cut a surgically clean slot into the remains of the screw, so as to be able to get a grip with a flathead screwdriver. He probably would do this concurrently with a discussion of some intricate lens operations :D His nimbleness is stunning, even more so considering he is a true Viking ancestor around 2 m tall with shoulders and hands to match.
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Thanks everyone for the good suggestions. I have to wait for the SigOth to return home from judging the Math Contest in California because only he knows where things like Dremel tools and Liquid Wrench are hidden in the vast man-cave of our basement. :D ;) B)

 

I will keep everyone posted about how this turns out. The reconstruction of the lens is straightforward - only a bit tricky for the manual dexterity part.

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Doesn't look that bad Andrea. The end of the screw is not too deep inside.

 

The screw looks like brass, the barrel is aluminium. Am I right?

 

This means one can try to solder another brass screw onto the remaining piece of the broken one. There is no risk of soldering the screw onto the barrel because tin doesn't "glue" or "stick" to aluminum. It acts like oil and water...

 

Normally the heat loosens the screw (or the glue inside the thread) and makes it easy to unscrew it.

 

I have one or two of this small screws here in my workshop... :-)

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Yes, I think the screw was brass. And the barrel is very light weight so I am thinking yes it is aluminum.

Thanks for the solder info !!

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The barrel should not get too hot to avoid separating/delaminating of groups. If there are any...

 

As long as you can hold it in your hands it should be ok.

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If it is any help Andrea, could I offer to purchase the lens from you, as long as it doesn't get any worse, & you can cut your loses.

I think you said somewhere you had another of the same lens & I don't, so we may keep two birds happy ?

Col

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Col, I will write you via PM and we will talk it over, OK?
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Well, haven't we all been there, I least I have been, too.

 

If Colin takes it, it's a done deal. If not, I know a very good service tech in Florida, not expensive and really good.

Did wonders to a quite expensive lens I bought which turned out that someone had tampered with and bent the iris blades.

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I know a very good service tech in Florida, not expensive and really good.

 

That would be good to know for general purposes.

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