The easy way to clean and re-lube a Carl Zeiss Pancolar 1.8

Andreq · Joined: 30 May 2011 Posts: 184 Location: Quebec, Canada

Eureka!

I knew it... I knew that those 2 part wasn't supposed to be frozen togeter.

I finaly bought lighter fluid tonight and I was able to loosen the focus ring from the aperture assembly.... now I'm working it in until I can rotate the ring from 0.3 to infinity (getting there!)

I'll probably have to find a way to grease rotating joint, no clue if its an helicoid or just a "bearing" of some sort. I'll keep you posted.

Edit :

I did it ! I was able to remove the whole inside helicoid from the aperture assembly (part #5 on website).

I'll clean that up and regrease, then the helicoid... than I'll have to fix the aperture blades... lots of work for that little lens, let's hope it does a great job Smile

Andreq · Joined: 30 May 2011 Posts: 184 Location: Quebec, Canada

I quit... this lens is way too much trouble. I cleaned it up, re-grease it and re-assembled it : The focus is ultra stiff on some point.. as if the lens wasn't round anymore (might have been dropped).

I lost too much hour trying to fix that thing, it's going on the bay as-is!

Just for information purpose, my lens serial number was 91xxxxx.
The easiest way to remove the helicoid is to unscrew the front part of the lens, I've figured that out WAY to late.
One must be careful as the front element will fall when this is removed.

The aperture pin (m42) is a pain it the ass to keep still when trying to screw the helicoid.

The helicoid only fit one way to get infinite focus.

Strangely enough, I didn't take any picture. If anyone is struggling with one of those lens, let me know, I'll do my best to help!

Andreq · Joined: 30 May 2011 Posts: 184 Location: Quebec, Canada

Just to let you know,

I took 5 minute to rethink about this lens... it was looking at me, on my desk... waiting to be trashed.

Everything looked "ok" but the focus wasn't moving past 0.4m so I got that idea that maybe the focus ring was just not at the right place.

- I took the front of the lens apart (it unscrew and the front element fall with it).
- Unscrewed the focus-ring retaining disk/screw.
- Re-seated the focus ring to infinity (making sure to turn the helicoid to infinity first)
- Re-screwed everything back

Voila! It's working now! got focus from 0.35m to infinity. It's a bit stiff in the middle, I might need to work some more grease or something!

I found out that removing the front of the lens could be another way to relube the helicoid since it's way more exposed and easily accessible, I'll try to post picture when I have time. One would only have to set focus to 0.35m and unscrew the black/filter holder part.

mareinke · Joined: 14 Nov 2013 Posts: 33 Location: LA, CA

Hi all,
Recently I bought a pancolar(8 blades version) in separated parts, in this post, I got the key information about how to assemble it. many thanks to eddieitman,Andreq and other guys.

I'm almost done, just a bit confused about its aperture mechanism, the aperture lever won't work unless I pull it backward manually.
is it supposed to work in this way? or use aperture pin instead?

#1

#2

y · Joined: 11 Aug 2013 Posts: 305 Location: EU

Sorry, I have one with stuck aperture, so I can't help you.

Does anybody here successfully cleaned the aperture? I can't figure out how to reach the aperture mechanism itself. After disassembling everything in reach still have a single piece of the optic assembly. There is no obvious way to get into "the middle" of that and reach the aperture mechanism.

mareinke · Joined: 14 Nov 2013 Posts: 33 Location: LA, CA

y · Joined: 11 Aug 2013 Posts: 305 Location: EU

mareinke · Joined: 14 Nov 2013 Posts: 33 Location: LA, CA

I just followed the ideas of eddieitman and Andreq, below is how.

pic1, remove 3 small flat head screws, and pull out the Front Casing.

pic2, use a Lens spanner unscrew the retaining ring and then Front Element is out, now switch to the back

pic3

pic4

in pic3 and pic4, after removing screw #1, you get enough angle to unscrew #2 and #3.
push down #4(the aperture arm) and #6(inner lever), shake #5(aperture pin with bottom spring) out of its original place, now #4 and #5 are free to pull out.
if you like, simply pull out #7 and free #6
after removing #8 2 screws, take out the #9.
and finally the front helicoid assy can be turned out as well, mark its position for later works.

pic5, turn the outer helicoid out of inner helicoid.

pic6, remove #1 aperture plate locker

pic7, #1 inner retaining ring, take it out, pull out #2 retaining disk and #3 plate spring, and #4 aperture plate is out.

turn it upside down and get everything you want.
the rest part could be harder because of infinity adjustment.

but, anyway, I still don't know how to enable its aperture without pulling the lever, any idea?

y · Joined: 11 Aug 2013 Posts: 305 Location: EU

Thanks a lot for the detailed guide. I'll try to get into this.

mareinke · Joined: 14 Nov 2013 Posts: 33 Location: LA, CA

y · Joined: 11 Aug 2013 Posts: 305 Location: EU

mareinke · Joined: 14 Nov 2013 Posts: 33 Location: LA, CA

Shaz101 · Joined: 01 Oct 2021 Posts: 1 Location: South Australia

Zamo · Joined: 08 Feb 2019 Posts: 168

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