The Sleepless Perfectionist Strikes Again

It's late again and my allergy meds are finally kicking in so tonight's post may have to be quick and to the point. This latest repair hails from right here in New York. This is very similar to what was just done on Nightwing as there was some major gear train problems and it needed a gear swap. Of course there's little hidden things that make me pull my hair out, like a fresnel carrier hanging up inside the bellows or a weak fresnel carrier return spring. There were some other adjustments that needed to be done like the viewfinder needed some tweaking and the film door needed tightening... these are all the little things that can really pull the final product together but also take up a LOT of time. The problem I have is that I won't sleep until things are right... and if there's things that I can't fix or adjust, I'll be up all night thinking about it. I had some problems on this one... a lot of little roadblocks. I've done research in the past and I remember reading that different fresnel lenses were used on old model 1 cameras. I think this one may have had one of those lenses as getting an ultra-crisp focused image was next to impossible. It looks as though the grooves are a bit more coarse. After an hour or so I finally found the "sweet spot" on the viewfinder mirror and cleaned it up! As always, I hope its owner likes how it turned out and it treats him well :). *YAWN* ok.... shop's closed.

Here's the progress pics of this beautiful SX70. I start off with inspection and disassembly and sure enough I found the gear train cover plate wheel had been all chewed up.

Next step was to swap in a new cover and replace one of the idler gears. Here's the new gears and cover in place.

Next, I found that the fresnel carrier was having trouble springing into taking position so I had to pop the camera open and do some very light trimming. I've had this happen on another camera before... I'm thinking it was common on old model 1s. Here it is open and put back together...

After some adjustments, I polished up the plated parts and prepped for new skins...

And the final product!!! :)

Nightwing and Current Sales

I received a camera in need today from a customer all the way out in Denver, CO. This SLR680's name is Nightwing, an early generation SLR680 SE. I am sooo glad that I'm not the only one that names my cameras. Sooo glad. :) So anyway, Nightwing needed a new gear train cover and a few new gears. The old ones were beat up and the recock ram switch that signals the camera to brake (stop after a cycle) was busted up. So I picked an old Sonar geartrain from the graveyard and BLAM-O! Works like a charm. A few other adjustments to the viewfinder mirror and support arm and the whole camera gets cleaned and skinned. Dubbs even worked her painting magic and refaced the lettering on the camera nameplate. What can I say... the girl's got skills with a brush! So below you'll see some pics of this evening's repair and I sincerely hope Nightwing's owner is very happy with the results. I also wanted to point out that there are 3 new cameras on Ebay including a MINT SLR690, yes this thing is gorgeous. I would love to keep it but I need to start clearing out cameras at a faster rate. They're starting to take over!

2nd Shot SX70 Ebay Sales

Shop's closed! Here's some yummy pics!

Here's a quick overview of Nightwing's refurb including the new gear train cover, progress pics, Dubbs doing what she does best, and a before and after shot (and a few shameless plugs).

Here's the current lineup up 680/690s including The King... had to put him aside for a while and concentrate on other cameras. Quite the head-scratcher.

The Politics of 'Letting Go', The King Strikes Back, and Happy Birthday Dr. Land!

Today is Dr. Edwin Land's Birthday. I'm going to go outside and take a picture... :)

From time to time I get attached to a camera... unfortunately it's often one I have to sell or send back to its owner all shiny and new looking. That's what happened to me and Sonar this evening. Sonar came to me looking like someone stuck the leathers back on with boogers and Elmer's glue (2nd Shot SX70 Service is in no way affiliated with Elmer's brand adhesives). It reeked of 70s basement smoke and had the feel of being abused and left for the dump or an estate sale, to be listed the next evening for 600.00 as "untested but really cool!". After a ton of elbow and knee grease, ew, Sonar was spit shine new again! There's something about the matte silver finish against the black leather that feels like a well designed machine... *sigh* but Sonar has to go back to its owner. Off to take loving pics in another's hands... </drama> Cheesy I know but working on these they start to take on personality. Cut me some slack...

OK... So The King right? The SLR690? I thought he was working OK but something still didn't seem right with the focus... I strip the AF section down and sure enough, more dried up pop causing one of the gear's pawl to stick not allowing the focus to stop at certain distances. Note to self... discharge all capacitors before working on the electronics. I zapped myself like 5 times last night... I even used harsh language (2nd Shot SX70 Service does not encourage or approve the use of foul language during shop hours). And not like a little tickle... it was like *PA-POW* zapped. This sucker is hard to work on. A real challenge. More to come about him later. For now, enjoy some pics!

Once in a while a test shot comes out really nice... Here's a test shot with Sonar. There's currently 21 cameras scheduled to go up for sale. :)

Here's some shots of cameras all finshed up (except for ol Zappy)

And here's some parting shots of tomorrow's shipment... Thanks again Steve!

Finally... here's The King waiting to bite me again... I'm usually not this messy but it's been a struggle.