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#1
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Anyone know how to adjust a synchro compur?
Thanks for looking.
Before you tell me to send it off for a CLA. (The sensible option in 99.99% of cases) a little background. The shutter/lens was purchased from e-bay for not a lot of money, the glass isn't perfect so I'm reluctant to spend money on a CLA or new shutter. When recieved the shutter had a few faults, failure to fire on occasion, sticking B, and slow speeds especially at the slow end. To date I've fixed the first 2 by carefully stripping, cleaning and rebuilding the shutter and using a tiny amount of watch oil on the mechanism for B. As of yet I haven't figured out how to adjust the speeds, has anyone here ever done this? if so a few pointers would be much appreciated. TIA Martin |
#2
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Anyone know how to adjust a synchro compur?
Mine was too screwed up so I DID send it out (needed repair too).
If you haven't yet, do some research on Compur & dry or oil. If it's not a lubed shutter, you may only be temporarily fixing it. Sorry I can't help with instructions. I hear CLA is only $55 at Flutot's in Calif, if you do need one. Good luck. |
#3
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Anyone know how to adjust a synchro compur?
Martin Doyle spake thus:
Before you tell me to send it off for a CLA. (The sensible option in 99.99% of cases) a little background. The shutter/lens was purchased from e-bay for not a lot of money, the glass isn't perfect so I'm reluctant to spend money on a CLA or new shutter. When recieved the shutter had a few faults, failure to fire on occasion, sticking B, and slow speeds especially at the slow end. To date I've fixed the first 2 by carefully stripping, cleaning and rebuilding the shutter and using a tiny amount of watch oil on the mechanism for B. As of yet I haven't figured out how to adjust the speeds, has anyone here ever done this? if so a few pointers would be much appreciated. The short answer is, no, you can't. Contrary to what some folks believe, apparently, there are no separate adjustments for speeds, at least none that mere mortals (that is, anyone except those at the Deckel plant who made the things in the first place) should contemplate trying. If the mechanism is clean and properly lubricated, the speeds should be correct. Richard Knoppow can give a more detailed response on this. By the way, nothing you said leads to the conclusion that the speeds are off. Do you know for sure whether they are or not? If the slow speeds are OK, the fast ones probably are too. -- Just as McDonald's is where you go when you're hungry but don't really care about the quality of your food, Wikipedia is where you go when you're curious but don't really care about the quality of your knowledge. - Matthew White's WikiWatch (http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/wikiwoo.htm) |
#4
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Anyone know how to adjust a synchro compur?
To date I've fixed the first 2 by carefully stripping, cleaning and rebuilding the shutter and using a tiny amount of watch oil on the mechanism for B. As of yet I haven't figured out how to adjust the speeds, has anyone here ever done this? ************************************************** ****************** I went to National Camera's Repair School in Englewood Colo. which is no longer in business, however I guess you can get the manuals from one of the former teachers. I have long forgotten how to adjust the speeds but one thing you should do is sprinkle a little graphic lube powder on the blades as they will slide over each other better. Unless you only put a micro drop of oil on the works, the oil will eventually find its way on to the blades and guess what! Rather than take the whole shutter apart, you can some times get away with just dunking the whole thing in cleaning solution and blowing it out with compressed air. I know no decent repair tech will tell you to do that and you didn't hear that from me. As for calibrating the speeds, if you have an accurate phonograph you can calculate the speeds but putting a platter on the table with a bar on it and take a picture of it at a given speed. Then do a little math to figure out how far it traveled and how long it would take for it to travel that far. It doesn't work like an electronic speed tester but it would get you in the ball park. (Probably in the outfield.) The best bet is to have a pro work on it if you want it right. If the picture is worth taking, why take it with less than the best you can afford? Ric in Wisconsin. |
#5
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Anyone know how to adjust a synchro compur?
Ric Trexell spake thus:
I went to National Camera's Repair School in Englewood Colo. which is no longer in business, however I guess you can get the manuals from one of the former teachers. I have long forgotten how to adjust the speeds but one thing you should do is sprinkle a little graphic lube powder on the blades as they will slide over each other better. Whoa, pardner: that's just plain wrong. Don't know anything about that so-called school you went to, but if they taught you that then you didn't get much of an education. Graphite powder anywhere in a shutter will eventually migrate to a lens surface, where having little black dots cannot help the image quality. At most, you might want to rub the blades with a pencil to deposit a very thin film of graphite on them for lubrication, but even this has to be done carefully. And oil--never! -- Just as McDonald's is where you go when you're hungry but don't really care about the quality of your food, Wikipedia is where you go when you're curious but don't really care about the quality of your knowledge. - Matthew White's WikiWatch (http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/wikiwoo.htm) |
#6
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Anyone know how to adjust a synchro compur?
"Martin Doyle" wrote in message ... Thanks for looking. Before you tell me to send it off for a CLA. (The sensible option in 99.99% of cases) a little background. The shutter/lens was purchased from e-bay for not a lot of money, the glass isn't perfect so I'm reluctant to spend money on a CLA or new shutter. When recieved the shutter had a few faults, failure to fire on occasion, sticking B, and slow speeds especially at the slow end. To date I've fixed the first 2 by carefully stripping, cleaning and rebuilding the shutter and using a tiny amount of watch oil on the mechanism for B. As of yet I haven't figured out how to adjust the speeds, has anyone here ever done this? if so a few pointers would be much appreciated. TIA Martin The only real adjustment is the position of the slow speed escapement assembly. It is set on some Compurs to get 1 second on and on others to get 1/10th on. Once these speeds are on the rest of the slower speeds should come in. The higher speeds are partly controlled by the escapement but the highest speed is controlled by inertia. Frictional losses are what slow down most shutters. The friction is minimized by proper cleaning. Anything at all on the shutter blades will slow them down. The opening and closing speeds will be slowed making the shutter less efficient. If you test using a shutter tester that measures at a small area at the center of the shutter the higher speeds will read slow. Most shutters are calibrated for _effective_ speed at maximum clear aperture of the shutter. For smaller Compurs the highest speed will measure about 20% low, i.e., 1/500th will read 1/400 or even a bit less (around 1/380th) when the shutter is running correctly. This is due to the finite opening and closing times of the blades. At slower speeds the measured speed will be more nearly the effective speed because the opening and closing times of the blades is the same at all speeds. The factory settings, done by adjusting the speed control ring cam surface will usually not require any adjustment. In fact, its more likely that you will get it off than improve matters. Springs may have become fatigued with use but springs do not lose strength with age contrary to the common wisdom. Properly cleaning a shutter requires quite a lot of disassembly. Often, an adequate cleaning can be done by spraying out the shutter with solvent several times to make sure no residue remains on the parts. The slow speed escapement is not hard to remove for cleaning. Be careful because it will fall apart if not carefully handled when out of the shutter body. Compur factory instructions indicate several types of lubricant being used but they are refered to by Deckel part numbers. The trunions of the slow speed escapement and flash synchronizer should be lubricated with synthetic watch oil. This is a very light oil which does not migrate. It can be applied using a length of fine wire dipped in the oil. Modern synthetic oils do not oxidize and become gummy. Sliding surfaces can be lubricated by a fine Silicon grease. Use a minimum of lubricant. Actually, most shutters will run dry if really clean. This is in fact how shutters were once prepared for very low temperature use although modern synthetic lubricants will usually not become too viscous at very low temperatures. There are some books available. Many newer Compur shutters are covered in a reprint factory manual available from both Petra Keller at http://www.camerabooks.com and from John S. Craig at http://www.craigcamera.com I strongly recommend these. Also, someone, I think Craig, has the old National Camera instruction books. These are very helpful. You don't need many special tools. mainly a set of good jeweller's screwdrivers. Also get a set of cheap ones and grind down the tips to make them thin. Many of the screws in cameras and shutters have very narrow slots which will be damaged by standard drivers if you force them. Its also helpful to have a couple of pairs of "Dumont" pattern tweezers made of non-magnetic stainless steel. These are pretty standard jeweller's tools. They are very useful for handling small screws and other parts. Those with angled tips are made for handling springs. Two good solvents are Naptha and pure Isopropyl alcohol. For final cleaning the Naptha should be pretty pure so it does not leave a residue. Ronsonol lighter fluid seems to be OK and isn't expensive. 99% Isopropyl can be gotten at many drugstores. It is also sold, at a higher price, by electronc supply places. The purity is mostly a matter of dryness. Rubbing alcohol is about 70%, the remaining 30% being water, which is left behind when the alcohol evaporates. That's too much so get the dry stuff. The standard cleaner some years ago was 1,1,1,Trichloroethane but its damaging to the environment and the other solvent work nearly as well. I learned to fix my own shutters out of self protection although there are a handfull of really good shutter and camera repair people around. -- --- Richard Knoppow Los Angeles, CA, USA |
#7
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Anyone know how to adjust a synchro compur?
"David Nebenzahl" wrote in message .com... Ric Trexell spake thus: but one thing you should do is sprinkle a little graphic lube powder on the blades as they will slide over each other better. Whoa, pardner: that's just plain wrong. Don't know anything about that so-called school you went to, but if they taught you that then you didn't get much of an education. Graphite powder anywhere in a shutter will eventually migrate to a lens surface, where having little black dots cannot help the image quality. __________________________________________________ __________________________ _ I should have explained that a little better. I didn't mean to just dump graphic lube on there like putting salt on the eggs you ate at breakfast. We would put some on and wipe it off with a Q-tip. Ofcourse anything that is extra will get in the lense. The lube we put on would be like waxing your car. It wasn't loose and was actually polished in. I reread what I wrote and that did sound rather silly. I guess I wasn't thinking. Sorry. However, I still think a light layer of graphic powder was the standard lube. Ric in Wisconsin. |
#8
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Anyone know how to adjust a synchro compur?
Thanks for the information.
I'll look into measuring the shutter speeds before proceeding further. For the record, the amount of oil I used really was tiny, but I will keep an eye to see if any migrates to the blades. My decision to use oil followed a cleaning in lighter fluid, immediately after which the shutter worked but after a few hours failed to close on B. It's largely an academic exercise, as I stated the glass ain't great but I would like to take the opportunity to learn a little about shutters. Cheers Martin "Martin Doyle" wrote in message ... Thanks for looking. Before you tell me to send it off for a CLA. (The sensible option in 99.99% of cases) a little background. The shutter/lens was purchased from e-bay for not a lot of money, the glass isn't perfect so I'm reluctant to spend money on a CLA or new shutter. When recieved the shutter had a few faults, failure to fire on occasion, sticking B, and slow speeds especially at the slow end. To date I've fixed the first 2 by carefully stripping, cleaning and rebuilding the shutter and using a tiny amount of watch oil on the mechanism for B. As of yet I haven't figured out how to adjust the speeds, has anyone here ever done this? if so a few pointers would be much appreciated. TIA Martin |
#9
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Anyone know how to adjust a synchro compur?
"Martin Doyle" wrote in message ... Thanks for the information. My decision to use oil followed a cleaning in lighter fluid, immediately after which the shutter worked but after a few hours failed to close on B. ************************************************** ************* Martin: Try using Carbo-Clor, it is made by Sunnyvil or something like that and is sold at your hardware store. It is the replacement for carbon-tetrachloride which had the tendency to destroy your liver and the environment. The new stuff just destroys your liver, but helps to save the world. A good air compressor will allow you to blow out the hidden remnents of cleaning solution. Chances are the shutter speeds will not be that far off, however that is the big problem with cleaning. When I took that course I had to clean a Nikon F and could not get the speeds to come in. Only after the third cleaning would they come in. Ofcourse that was not a leaf shutter but the gears must have had a little dirt that only came out after that last cleaning. If you plan to do a lot more of this sort of stuff, Calumet Photography has a little shutter tester for around $200. These are not as good as the $2000 ones a repair person uses but will get you in the neighborhood. Ric in Wisconsin. |
#10
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Anyone know how to adjust a synchro compur?
Illustrated repair and adjustment "instructions" are on
the web. There are several variations on the Compur shutter but they all have a strong family resemblance. Some sites, supplied with no warranty, a http://pheugo.com/cameras/compur/compur.html http://www.daniel.mitchell.name/came...ly/compur.html http://www.rolandandcaroline.co.uk/synchro-compur.html Several sites sell the factory Compur manuals. -- Nicholas O. Lindan, Cleveland, Ohio Darkroom Automation: F-Stop Timers, Enlarging Meters http://www.nolindan.com/da/index.htm n o lindan at ix dot netcom dot com "Martin Doyle" wrote in message ... Thanks for looking. Before you tell me to send it off for a CLA. (The sensible option in 99.99% of cases) a little background. The shutter/lens was purchased from e-bay for not a lot of money, the glass isn't perfect so I'm reluctant to spend money on a CLA or new shutter. When recieved the shutter had a few faults, failure to fire on occasion, sticking B, and slow speeds especially at the slow end. To date I've fixed the first 2 by carefully stripping, cleaning and rebuilding the shutter and using a tiny amount of watch oil on the mechanism for B. As of yet I haven't figured out how to adjust the speeds, has anyone here ever done this? if so a few pointers would be much appreciated. TIA Martin |
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