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Replacing the seals on a Contax 139Q
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PostPosted: Fri Apr 22, 2011 8:52 am    Post subject: Replacing the seals on a Contax 139Q Reply with quote

By late 2009 I posted a thread on how to replace the mirror damper on this camera:

http://forum.mflenses.com/replacing-the-mirror-damper-in-a-contax-139q-t20483,highlight,%2Bcontax.html

Now is time to show how to replace the light seals.

The first thing to do is to get some seal replacement material. I use to buy it to an eBay guy that is also in some photo forums, a nice person who is always wishing to help. The eBay shop is called "Interslice" an he's Jon Goodman. (No personal interest on this, just a reference). I suppose the seal joints can be obtained in other places as well.

Next, one has to build a tool for resealing. The problem with the cameras is that paint is delicate. If you scratch the painted surface with a metallic tool, probably will end in some unwanted painting removal.

So I use trimmed bamboo chopsticks (the ones at the chinese and other asian restaurants). I trim both sides with different shapes, one for general purpose and the other one to fit inside the door guides. Bamboo is really strong but doesn't damage the paint.

The one for the door guides:



The scratching one:



Besides this, you will need kitchen paper, qsticks and Isopropylic alcohol, it's really good in removing the damaged seals.

Will begin by the back door. Best to remove it from the camera to work confortably. The door has two seals, one in the hinge side and the other one in the latch side.





I suggest to replace the hinge one by a felt one and the latch side by a neoprene one.

First, througfully remove ALL the debris from the old seal. Not to doing so and allowing some to remain, leads to a bad fix and early degradation of the new seal. Not a trivial job, it needs patience a lots of time. Once finished the paint should be shiny clean.

The clean latch side:



The clean hinge side:



Replaced hinge seal:



(Sorry, I forgot to take an snapshot of the latch one Sad ).

Once the back door clean and resealed, we can proceed with the guides on the camera. As you can see, these ones were severly damaged, going out of the guides:



Here is where the other side of the tool is useful. Put some drops of Isopropylic on a piece of kitchen paper and push it with the tool along the guide until the guide is clean.

This takes time (again). I must insist: it's mandatory to let it shiny clean, the debris from the old seal can contaminate the new one.

Once clean, we proceed to put the neoprene strips into the guides. Not difficult, but take care they don't twist and present an uniform surface. The tool is useful to put the seal into the guide.



And this is how the camera body looks with the new seals:



At this point, replace the door and close it firmly. Let it stay for some 12 hours. And then the work is finished.

Hope this will be useful to someone else.
Regards.
Jes.


PostPosted: Fri Apr 22, 2011 12:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thank you for this nice guide! I have to do on my Contax too.