Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

[Guest]

Andrea, I almost fell out of my chair when I saw this thread. I went through the same hell with this lens two weeks before I signed up with UVP. So many redos. It sat on my desk for days until I unlocked the Da Vinci code. I probably made 20 or more attempts at refitting the aperture. It finally came down to getting weird tools from a Swiss army knife and keeping them from magnetizing.  Oh, and that rear element which is nearly identical on both sides. 

 

 

 

[Andy Perrin]

This pic makes me want to cry. 

 

[Guest]

I've repacked assemblies for maybe 3 dozen lenses and this was certainly the most difficult aperture blade I have ever attempted.

 

For future reference if anyone wants to try this before joining UVP maybe this will save a few days of stress.

 

If my I remember correct this is how it was accomplished. Set the silver thimble guide flat on a table. Don't place it on a cloth because it can snag. Line up the blades on top of that little silver thimble guide. Take the can and turn it upside down. Take the thimble with blades on top and push that up into the can. If you don't feel the blades engage with the can holes, drop the thimble rotate a bit and try to push up again.  While pressing the thimble guide firmly into the can flip everything upside down. Set the can on the table so that the opening is facing up. Slowly remove your finger without pulling away the thimble. Make sure your finger doesn't stick to the thimble. If you are lucky only two or three of the blade will have popped out of the thimble guide (or not engaged with the can) but still remain within their location. Take the two non-metallic tools (plastic fork tip or something, cut Qtip 45 degree) or non magnetized tweezers (shown above), and using two tools at the same time to guide the blade end back into its slot. You have to touch it in two places or it will shoot out like a hockey puck. If it turns into a mess immediately dump it out and start over or take a break. Once everything is set, don't get excited. You still have to insert the lens group to secure the thimble. There is some other deal with alignment to the outer ring but that is just a matter of setting stops. The best advice is to walk away from the table after every couple tries and come back fresh. 

[dabateman]

So does Colin own two of these now?

[colinbm]

25 minutes ago, dabateman said:

So does Colin own two of these now?

I still have the box of parts.......

[Andy Perrin]

I have a broken Noflexar in my drawer still and I can't bear to toss it, but I don't think there's any hope of me repairing it based on this thead!

[colinbm]

10 minutes ago, Andy Perrin said:

I have a broken Noflexar in my drawer still and I can't bear to toss it, but I don't think there's any hope of me repairing it based on this thead!

What is wrong with it ?

 

[Guest]

It was definitely a challenge reserved only for the bold. 

[Andy Perrin]

Colin, one day I was using it and the aperture stopped changing. It stopped wide open almost. But changing the aperture ring had no effect anymore. 

[colinbm]

If I remember there are two hidden screws in there, one may have come loose or broken ?

[Andy Perrin]

Yeah. If I can find someone experienced I’d love to have it fixed. That was my sharper Noflexar. 

[Guest]

I packed mine away after it pinched my hand the millionth time. I quickly was done with that feature. 

[Andy Perrin]

Yes, it was correct to name it NOflexar. It does not like to flex!

[Andrea B.]

I did not re-read this entire old thread, but we might? have mentioned somewhere? that we think there are specific tools for resetting apertures. Those of you who enjoy taking apart old lenses might want to look for such a thing.

 

The only problem with taking apart old lenses is the resetting of the elements. That *really* should be done on an optical bench for maximum sharpness and minimum distortion. I always try to mark the orientation of an element before removing it. If you know this already, kindly ignore.

 

[Andrea B.]

Having just written that about some kind of aperture resetting tool, I've decided there probably is not such a thing. What could it possibly be? You have to put the blades on the pegs and there isn't anything which can help with that. Especially with seating the last blade which has to be fitted under the existing others.

 

The only thing I can think of which might be useful would be some kind of block with holes where the pegs are. You set the block on the already fitted blades so that you don't knock them off while trying to fit that last blade??

 

Reminder - when you are reseating the blades, they should extend outwards. That's obvious, right? You only close them up after the very last one is in place.

(Nothing at all was obvious to me when I started trying to fix the mess I made of my Noflexar.)

 

*****

 

Andy, KEH has always had a good repair service. You can talk to them first to determine whether they think the lens is fixable and what it might cost.