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Lenses vivissection - sissies beware! :-)
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 14, 2010 11:51 am    Post subject: Lenses vivissection - sissies beware! :-) Reply with quote
Some of the lenses I have disassembled, cleaned and relubed...

















PostPosted: Wed Jul 14, 2010 11:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Wow. Shocked

There must be a reason you haven't put the "after" pictures here. Or those are already the "after" pictures? Laughing


PostPosted: Wed Jul 14, 2010 12:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Impressive ! if i had the tools and especially the patience to do this ... but i prefer watching your pix Wink

anyway, congrats on doing this.


PostPosted: Wed Jul 14, 2010 12:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Put them in an aquarium : fishes will have photographic wrecks Laughing


PostPosted: Wed Jul 14, 2010 12:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
You make it look so easy!...did they go back together?? Very Happy


PostPosted: Wed Jul 14, 2010 12:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Putting back aperture blades into order can be a pain in the ... .
Did you succeed?


PostPosted: Wed Jul 14, 2010 12:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Spotmatic wrote:
There must be a reason you haven't put the "after" pictures here. Or those are already the "after" pictures? Laughing

The reason is simple, everybody knows how this lenses looks in one piece Wink. Those pictures are made "after" disassembling and cleaning and "before" relubing and assembling.
Here is the outcome for example. Pentacon 2.8/100 from last shot. It came with foggy lenses and stuck oily aperture.


PostPosted: Wed Jul 14, 2010 12:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
LucisPictor wrote:
Putting back aperture blades into order can be a pain in the ... .
Did you succeed?

Modern 6-8 blades apertures are really simple to assemble. But old Helioses or Meyers with 13 or more blades are real pain! You can simply spend 2 hours of your life putting one aperture together. Over and over again, because it usually fall apart when you are trying put one of the last two blades in place Mad


PostPosted: Wed Jul 14, 2010 6:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Call me a sissy but this hurts... Laughing

Even though I trust the OP for knowing his/her stuff it really makes me a little scared to see all those in so many pieces. Very Happy


PostPosted: Wed Jul 14, 2010 7:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I would understand shocked response if it was a renaissance sculpture but cameras/optics are not unreplaceable objects of worship - they are tools.

I thing taking apart precision mechanisms for cleaning, re-assembling them and putting them back in use to be very normal procedure. I bet more than 1 rifle or gun owner on this forum agrees with me, be it a rare handcrafted Flodman or simple mass-manufactured Remington 1100.


PostPosted: Wed Jul 14, 2010 7:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Dear brunner --

I do not completely understand what's going on here Confused

especially the last picture -- there are two lens elements touching each other

you're sure what you doing?

Another thing is that it's not very good to take apart whole lens - if this is not necessary...

tf


PostPosted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 9:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
trifox wrote:
Dear brunner --
I do not completely understand what's going on here Confused
especially the last picture -- there are two lens elements touching each other
you're sure what you doing?
Another thing is that it's not very good to take apart whole lens - if this is not necessary...
tf

I'm absolutely sure what I'm doing. I already successfully serviced over 30 of my lenses. As Esox lucius stated above, lenses are not "magic boxes" and likewise other human mechanical products, they sometimes needs service. As a collector of East German and Russian lenses from '50-'60, I can state, that 90% of lenses from this time, needs it. On most of them the grease turned in to a glue during more than 50 years. Especially Russian lenses, sometime later I will post pictures of disassembled and uncleaned silver Helios or Jupiter - it's a mess.

I prefer, not to fix what's not broken and I try to avoid touching optics whenever it's possible (as you can see on most photos). But when the aperture is stuck because of oily blades, there is no other solution than disassemble the optical block and aperture and clean every blade separately.

The Pentacon on last picture came with stuck oily blades, stiff focusing ring and oily haze on all internal lenses - most people will say "worthless junk". After some work, now I have fully working rare lens with smooth focusing and clean optics - for only 20€ including shipping.
Indeed the best for me is the feeling, that this nice piece of human workmanship didn't end on junkyard and I gave it new life! I'm sure, that with proper storage, it can flawlessly serve for another 40 years.

And lastly, many people like to play with puzzles. Servicing old lenses is like resolving teasers for me Very Happy

PS: to clear up any doubts, i will post later today picture of all lenses above in they current compact form Wink


PostPosted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 10:21 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
I've spent some time restoring old cars, and you hear the conflicting advice of "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" and "Give it a full teardown semi-annually" over and over again - a perfect mirror of what photographers say about cameras & lenses.

I can say one thing for 100% certain: A rusty bolt is a thousand times easier to loosen, and with substantially less risk of damage to the bolt or the surrounding area, if it was loosened once every few years over the life of the car. It's those bolts that haven't been touched in 40 years that are a real PITA to remove. Confused

There are also age related consequences which you cannot undo, but could have prevented. Proper greasing on metal-to-metal friction surfaces is one of these. Cleaning & re-greasing is child's play compared to putting those little specks of worn off aluminum back on the helicoid threads. Wink



Thanks for the pictures, BRunner! Have you ever considered taking more pictures at the intermediate steps, and making how-to guides? Heck, with 30+ lenses, you could even make a book! Cool


PostPosted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 11:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Quote:
Thanks for the pictures, BRunner! Have you ever considered taking more pictures at the intermediate steps, and making how-to guides? Heck, with 30+ lenses, you could even make a book

+100
I always get stuck at the helicoils...I like your tools as well especially that double ended one Very Happy


PostPosted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 4:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Brunner, you know what you're doing ..

Only looking at your lenses I don't feel very well Smile

I am not a serviceman, so don't take my comments ...

I know just that you don't have to go in to great depth Smile

tf


PostPosted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 5:47 pm    Post subject: !! Reply with quote
Esox lucius wrote:
I would understand shocked response if it was a renaissance sculpture but cameras/optics are not unreplaceable objects of worship - they are tools.

I thing taking apart precision mechanisms for cleaning, re-assembling them and putting them back in use to be very normal procedure. I bet more than 1 rifle or gun owner on this forum agrees with me, be it a rare handcrafted Flodman or simple mass-manufactured Remington 1100.


if you think that your APO Lanthars are just tools, let me take in bits your Lanthar 125 Smile ..

Please, just once, promise! I don't guarantee to put it back in its previous shape, of course!

But you've got still 2 more, haven't you? Smile

tf


PostPosted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 7:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
mo wrote:
Quote:
Thanks for the pictures, BRunner! Have you ever considered taking more pictures at the intermediate steps, and making how-to guides? Heck, with 30+ lenses, you could even make a book

+100
I always get stuck at the helicoils...I like your tools as well especially that double ended one Very Happy

I will try it with some typical lenses. There are groups of lenses built same way and if you learn how to service one, the others are easy.
Old Helioses and all Jupiter 9s, Mir-1s. All Takumars and most newer lenses are built very similarly. Old silver Meyers and so on. The worst lenses to service are probably CZJ lenses, every model is different.

The Bernstein screwdrivers looks fancy, but despite famous brand, they didn´t prove good and I don´t use them anymore. They are too refractile. The Narex screwdrivers (Czech brand) on fifth photo are more durable.

trifox wrote:

Only looking at your lenses I don't feel very well Smile

I hope, this picture will make you feel better Wink


PostPosted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 8:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
ok -- brunner Smile I feel better now, of course

-- but CZJ lenses are not the worst ones -- I would say they are 'suitable' for service and taking apart

tf


PostPosted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 8:33 pm    Post subject: Re: !! Reply with quote
trifox wrote:
Esox lucius wrote:
I would understand shocked response if it was a renaissance sculpture but cameras/optics are not unreplaceable objects of worship - they are tools.

I thing taking apart precision mechanisms for cleaning, re-assembling them and putting them back in use to be very normal procedure. I bet more than 1 rifle or gun owner on this forum agrees with me, be it a rare handcrafted Flodman or simple mass-manufactured Remington 1100.


if you think that your APO Lanthars are just tools, let me take in bits your Lanthar 125 Smile ..

Please, just once, promise! I don't guarantee to put it back in its previous shape, of course!

But you've got still 2 more, haven't you? Smile

tf


I actually have partially disassembled and assembled my 125/2.5 Macro APO-Lanthar. I wanted to take a look at it to see whether it would be difficult to chip or not. Later, I found on Nikongear.com a walk-through to chipping that lens and as it seemed more complicated than chipping my Nikkor Ai-S lenses I decided against it.

I have only 1 Macro APO-Lanthar. Thanks for the offer, but if I'm going to chip it some day I'll do it myself. Same applies to the 90/3.5 and 180/4 Laughing


PostPosted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 11:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Thank you
Even if you could show just the helicoils going back together and how to mark where they come apart as for me it often happens so fast and I miss the mark...so to speak... Rolling Eyes
I was looking at the long thin silver tool it looks like a dentist tool...is that a bernstein as well?
The lenses I treasure the most are in my signature...I would like to know how to clean them only if I had to...but having some idea is better than none Very Happy The dust is gathering in the macro tak... Sad


PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 10:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
mo wrote:
I was looking at the long thin silver tool it looks like a dentist tool...is that a bernstein as well?

The Bernstein has replaceable double-sided extensions.


PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2010 10:05 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
First try of quick photoguide. CZJ Sonnar 2.8/180.


PostPosted: Thu Jul 29, 2010 12:31 pm    Post subject: Tools and tools to disassemble them. Reply with quote
Thanks for the photos and feedback on the equipment!

We need to do the servicing ourselves and every encouragement helps.

For those few we mess up, we now know to whom to send them! I have a small collection of Nikon FM2s that I bought, in parts, with a view to one day making one or maybe two out of them. Someday soon....


PostPosted: Thu Aug 12, 2010 1:36 am    Post subject: I would love to be your apprentice! Reply with quote
If only we lived on the same continent. I have dozens of old, dusty, stuck, oily, hazed, etc. lenses that need attention. I've picked them out of garage sales and junk bins. I've some real gems, but they just need a little TLC. You inspire me!
Thanks,
George
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