Turn, turn, turn …

Another job for the Unimat.

My Rollei 35 is missing the strap … more important, it is missing the removable strap lug.

Some measuring, guesses … and turning of metal.

Back in the saddle … again.

Ok, so common theme … I find another issue after putting a camera on the shelf.

This time it is the Rollei 35. I had taken it apart long ago to repair the lens lock mechanism. Fixed that, cleaned a bit, then put it on the shelf. I recently took a look at it again and notice the light meter was off … so time to figure it out.

In the Online Learn Camera Repair lessons there is a chapter on this camera and it has a brief explanation of the light meter circuit.

Ok, there are two potentiometers … hmm.

Some research has pointed me to the usage of the two.

Ok so take the top off (again).

Now I think R1 is there on the right side of the camera and R2 is the one on the back. From what I got on the Web, R1 would be adjusted for hi light levels and R2 for low … Ok, so I point the camera to a bright source in parallel with my handheld lightmeter …. then turn the pot until the match needle lines up … then I point to a low light area and do the same … then I go back to the bright and … go back and forth until I am satisfied !!!

Great, so now it is calibrated as close as I can get … so I put the cover back on and … hmm, the light meter is off by about 2.5 stops ?? Ahh, the port for the light meter is about half the size of the sensor … so I take the cover off and adjust the pots with the ISO set 5x lower. Cover back on … and much better !!!

I have to mention the film rewind release lever … it is a pain to get out and a pain to put in.

I had mentioned in a much earlier post on taking the top cover off that you have to turn the post and move a spring to get the rewind lever post off … which is D shaped to get past the spring easier. You can see the spring in the above image … also note the scratches on the cover caused by some previous owner trying to get that thing off … you can see just behind the hole there is a T post, when lifted it will release the film pickup sprocket so that it can turn in reverse (so you can rewind the film without ripping it to shreds). When you put the reverse lever post back in you should lift that T post first so that the pin will sit under it.

Also note in the above image my hand made advance lever plastic stop that I just turned on the Unimat, as I got this camera with it missing so the lever was marking the top cover as it slammed into it.

Now … sometimes you get into more trouble fixing a trouble. In my case, as I was putting the advance lever back on the threaded post on the top cover sheared off @#$%!!!! I had to drill it out carefully so as not to damage the internal threading … then I drilled a hole in the cover, tapped it and found an appropriate screw to replace the threaded post.

Rollei 35 … correction.

Hmm, in my haste I forgot a step …

The front consists of two plates, instead of one.
The first one holds the two dials … and underneath that is the main front plate that holds the lens and gears. I forgot about that and forgot about the first plate.

So the first plate is screwed onto the second.

This is what happens when I take everything apart and try to explain it in reverse … or at partial stages when I have to take it apart again because I missed something.

The Rollei 35 … fix

The Rollei 35 is not all that difficult to disassemble, that is after I guessed at what to take apart … though putting it back together is a different story. My main purpose for the fix is to figure out what is jamming the lens mechanism.

Tools:

• Slotted screw drivers
• Pointy tweezer
• Pliers
• Ronsonal
• Q-tips

 

The first Remove the top plate

Unscrew the winding arm cap. There are two washers underneath. Remove the three screws holding the arm on. Pull off arm.

Remove screw from rewind release. The shaft is held by tension spring wire – turn it the so the flat edge can pass by the wire, then pull it out.

Remove the three screws holding the top plate.

Turn the camera sideways while pulling off the top plate … you will probably have to wiggle it on the viewfinder side first. Note that there is a small slider pin and washer underneath/within the shutter button and it may fall out.

If you are not taking out the viewfinder, put the winding arm screw back on to keep the winding gear from falling out. if you do want to pull it out, then put two marks on the big gear to register its position.

If you want to pull out the viewfinder (which is not actually attached to the camera), first take off the large winding gear and the bits underneath. Then unscrew the plate and remove it.

Note that there is a spring arm attached, that keeps the winding mechanism under tension (this tension is used to pull the winding arm back).

The viewfinder is housed in a plastic case. You can get in between first two viewfinder lenses, so it can be cleaned without removal.

Put this all back together. You will probably have to fidget a lot with the spring to get it under tension … just be patient and it will happen.

Then (as I mentioned earlier) put the winder cap screw on the large winding gear to keep it from falling out.

Unlock and pull off the back of the camera

Now we need to take the front of the camera off. Luckily, the leather is not the flakey leatherette material … so the first thing to do is to neatly peel back the leather in the front corners to get access to the four screws that hold the entire front plate on

My picture shows all the leather has been removed, but you do not need to go that far … and also the shutter speed and aperture control dials have been removed, which you do not need to do either.

There is a differential arm on top that slides behind a screw, so you will have to remove screw. There is also a spring under tension between the arm and the upper body, so pop one end off.

Now you can pull off front and look at the back.

The back is filled with gears, arms, levers, do dads, and thinga majigs, that couple everything together.

The shutter gears are also here.

In my poking around I found that there was a loose screw jammed close to the shutter speed mechanism (you can see it at the 10:30 position). When the screw moved around it would get caught by the lens as it is extended, and also would stop the lens from rotating. I never did figure out where that screw actually originated from.

Ok, so now put it all back.

For the dent that I had in the top plate I used a hammer … no, not directly against the metal … I placed the plate on a hard flat wood surface, then I used a bamboo chopstick (from my local famous Chinese Food restaraunt) to use as a punch. Work softly and continuously move around … patience Danielson … and eventually you can get to an acceptable flatness.

Reassembly note:

• Do not over tighten the winding arm top plate screw.
• When putting the rewind release shaft back in, note the position of the pin, then put it in half way, then turn the shaft so the pin is at the bottom, then you can push it in all the way

Rollei 35 (original)

The Rollei 35 was a 35mm roll film camera made by … Rollei.

It was conceived and designed by Heinz Waaske who was an engineer at Wirgin. He had designed 16mm subminature cameras for them, but when he presented his design for a miniature 35mm format camera to Wirgin, they declined … he even asked Leitz and Kodak.

Heinz later would work for Rollei. It was during this time that Heinrich Peesel (general manager at Rollei) accidentally saw his prototype, and immediately wanted this camera in production.

The Rollei 35 is a cool looking camera (hmm, I’ve stated that before … well it is). The design of the camera made it the smallest 35mm roll film camera in 1966. It utilized the old rangefinder collapsing lens concept, except the shutter and aperture were coupled to the mechanisms in the body, this means when the lens is extended levers/arms would inter-connect to ones in the body. The camera used scale focusing, with big shutter speed and aperture dials on the front. It also had a built in light meter.

Too bad that it was too small to have a coupled rangefinder mechanism … that would have made this camera “excellent!!!” … to all you dudes and dudettes.

The first model had a Tessar lens, Gossen light meter, and a Compur shutter. Production changed from Germany to Singapore for some models (the one I have is Singapore) … but they kept the same manufacturing standards. They produced a number of versions of the camera with different components or mechanisms … I think the Rollei 35S is the most sought after model because of the Sonnar lens.

You can read much more here: http://www.rolleiclub.com/cameras/35classic/info/index.shtml

I was lucky enough to be offered a Rollei 35 (original) model to repair. There was a problem with the lens locking mechanism, it would sometimes engage/disengage) it seems like something was interfering. The body also had a big dent, and was missing some screws (I am not the first one to disassemble this camera.

In my haste to restore this camera I never took a picture of it when I got it … so here is a picture of after I fixed it up … did I not say is looks cool !! FYI: I would guess the Rollei 35 is about 75% smaller than my Sony NEX-6.