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.

Another … back … again

Man, I really am going back to the beginning … seven years ago I got my first Mamiya Six.

I did some exterior cleaning … internal view/rangefinder cleaning … got knob … then I put it on the “collection” shelf.

Ok, so I decided to pull it off the shelf and take another look at it. Figure I should check out this flash delay mechanism on top of the shutter … hmm, not much to it but not the easiest thing to understand.

Two screws to take of the cover .

Hmm … no comment.

Things move but I am still not sure what it is supposed to do … oh well, put the cover back.

One of the things in my reassessing is that the shutter is not working at lower speeds. Back when I first got this camera I did not have the knowledge to understand how this shutter worked so I just could not fix it … now thanks to https://learncamerarepair.com/ I now know.

The NKS-Tokio shutter is a Gauthier type shutter.

Ok, so opening it up … unscrew some stuff on the front.

Firing the shutter I can see that the star wheel is not engaging the pallet smoothly.

I noted the spring that pushes the shutter was not sitting right under it’s shouldered screw thus impeding its tension. I took that apart and seated the spring correctly.

Ok, so now the slow speed escapement needed to be removed and cleaned.

This is when I found that the pallet lever was not attached properly, so I took it apart, cleaned it and secured it back on.

Now it engages the star wheel without sticking.

Put it all back together … fiddle with the positioning … now I have the slow speeds back to expected levels.

When I got this camera I knew that there was a missing part.

One of the spool securing knobs was missing. Lucky for me a friend made me a new one

I finished the knob on my Unimat with exception of the knurling.

Back … again Frank

Soo, I was going to put the Frank Six up on my Etsy Shop when I realized there was something wrong … the back did not lock on. Strange that I have not noticed this before, as I have had this camera for a while.

Looking over the camera it became obvious that the problem was a missing part.

The camera back slides on and a circular locking switch secures it to the main body. When I looked at the inside of the locking mechanism I noticed that there was nothing that could lock in.

I searched the entire Webiverse for an image of this part of the camera … and came away with only two … which only showed me a wide topped post … nothing I could really use to figure out the dimensions.

The body has a hook, and the back has a pin with a large flat head that locks in. You can see the circular scrape pattern that shows the pin movement.

Well, I am missing that pin on the back. I found a tall screw that fits the lock switch but it doesn’t have the right shape to keep from falling over and also engage the hook.

Ok, time to get the Unimat. First I tried to make a new post with a small threaded end, to screw into the locking switch, and has a wide top head to engage the hook … well my tools and skill let me down (probably more about my skill) trying to make it using stainless steel … and using softer metal didn’t have the strength.

Soooo, hmmm, I could use that tall screw that fits … but I needed to make a outer shell with a wide top head that that would hold the screw. Ok, so lets take some measurements … some guessing … some more measurements … and lets go.

The head I guessed was 5mm wide and 1mm thick … the lower post part is 3mm tall and 2.5mm wide. I would need to drill a 1.7mm hole through the middle of it for the screw, and then chamfer the top for the screw head.

OK, so I burned through a couple of prototypes and ended up with this little brass part … that screw is 5mm tall and 1.65mm wide.

This is what is looks like attached to the circular locking switch … and it WORKS !!

You can stand under my umbrella …

OK, so I told you that I got a Unimat … so, what do I do with it?

Well … the first thing is to fix my patio umbrella. Last year the (cheap) umbrella that I got failed. The rope broke. This was due to the wheel at the top that the rope turns on … it broke and fell out (into the post), so the rope was rubbing on the metal and well it didn’t like that.

I used a makeshift coat hanger hook to keep the umbrella open for the summer.

Now that I have the Unimat I could make a new wheel.

I got some new tool bits (Taig set from Lee Valley), an 1″ diameter acrylic rod, and new cord line rope (you can actually find “patio umbrella rope” on Amazon).

It’s been about 35 years since I used a lathe so it took me a long time (machinist time) to replicate the broken wheel … I had to “learn” how to use such a small lathe with thick material.

… anyway, I think it turned (hmm, sounds like a pun there) out very well … though there was a lot of mess since the wheel was only about 1/2″ in diameter. One thing I noticed about the original wheel was the sides are cut through with a slot … this is actually the part that failed first. When I made the new wheel I did not slot it first before I fitted it into the umbrella … I am not sure why they did that, as the wheel spins freely.

Oh, and when you use the vac to clean up the workspace make sure to keep important things away from the area … I almost “lost” an important hex screw that secured the tool post.

Now one thing I will say about repairing a patio umbrella … it’s a pain in the ass if you haven’t done it before.

I should have stated at the beginning … when you take apart the crank, make sure you document. In my case I should have taken off the cover on the other side of the handle and really looked at the latching mechanism … make sure to document what place everything is, otherwise you end up scratching your head and cursing for half an hour … and possibly (like me) end up with some extra washers. Also, melt the ends of the rope to a nice point as you may have to thread them though some small holes.

The Universal Machine

Back in my youth I made a hammer entirely of metal. This was in grade 9 machine shop course.  I have kept the memory of machines ability to shape material (metal and also wood) … so when a friend of mine offered me his old metal lathe, I jumped on it.

NOOOOOOOO !!!

Now, I will have to say that my friend is a skilled metal/wood worker … and he also does have a metal lathe like that (I even helped moving it out of the basement of his house when he moved … he had to use a block/tackle to get it down there and assembled). When I told my wife our friend was giving me a lathe she wondered how it was going to fit in the car … but that is not what he was offering me.

So here is the primer …

Maier & Company in Austria introduced a machine in 1953, called the Unimat. This was a multi-purpose device aimed at hobbyists making small things. Some of their first ads were presented in model train magazines. The advertisement states it is 8 tools in 1 – lathe, drill press, table saw, surface grinder, mill sander, screw cutter, portable drill. It was also known as the Emco Unimat, though I am not sure where the Emco name came from.

It was made with die-cast ZAMAK and offered all the mechanisms that you would expect from a metal lathe, including the ability to change the layout to do other jobs, but was made on a scale so small it would fit in a small box. The wood box with all the accessories packed in it.

Sometime after 1956 Simpson-Sears Ltd. started distributing it in Canada. This Unimat, I suspect, came from the original owner to his son (who was another friend of mine) and was given to my machinist friend as he had no use for it. He was using it for very small metal work, but he needed to upgrade for his clock repair … so now it has been passed down to me.

This is the Unimat DB 200 … light ZAMAK with the green tone, made sometime after 1965.

It still had some of the accessories to change it up like for milling, table saw, and also had the auto feed … but no original box. It needed a cleaning, new belts, and bearings (Doug has parts) … also it was missing the pinion lever. Since replaced the headstock bearings, we took parts of it off … and so we forgot to put the tailstock back on before I brought it home.

Did I mention it is small ?

To give you a better idea of scale vs. my Dremel drill press.

… and vs. a Canon AE-1

Now I have to figure out what to make with it … hmm, off to watch youTube videos.

You will find that the Unimat lathe is still sold new … this is not the same as the early models … the Unimat 1 is considered a “toy” lathe.