Another waiting to be restored

[Nikon photographer]

Bought this one in to restore, this one is going to need a little more work than the previous one, the wind on lever and shutter release is jammed, the self timer also doesn't work, this all points me in the direction of the idler gears, or spring, as apparently it hasn't been used for a number of years, it might just be gummed up, I'll find out soon, I've got an OM10 on the bench having the light seals replaced.

 

[AndrewFlannigan]

I carried a couple of OM1s in the early 1990s.

They took a great weight off my shoulders, which had been supporting a pair of Nikon Fs for a few years. They were nice cameras but I went back to Nikon after a couple of years - I never quite felt comfortable with the Olympus kit. This cat doesn't seem particularly impressed with them, either!

 

[Flighter]

It’s against the cat creed to be impressed by anything

 

[Nikon photographer]

I haven't stripped it down yet, as I'm busy working on other cameras, but I did give a good clean before it went in the pile of cameras to get repaired, it's never going to be a mint condition camera, but hopefully when I've finished with it someone will be happy with it.

 

[Nikon photographer]

Well I had some time on my hands today, so the baseplate was removed, and sure enough the idler gear was way out of place, but there must be a reason for it to be so out of sync, after taking out the idler gear and spring out, I started looking for the problem.

Turned out the gear that tensions the shutter curtains was too tight, a quick clean with Isopropyl alcohol, and once that had dried, I applied a few drops of watch makers oil, and left it to soak in.

Thankfully after everything was put back together, everything works, including the self timer, time to start on the light seals.
Idler gear out of Sync


Idler gear removed



All put back together

 

[Nikon photographer]

Baseplate fitted back on, luckily the meter works, but there's some corrosion in the viewfinder, it's only going to get worse, so I'll be replacing the prism, luckily I have one that serviceable, I couldn't sell it on knowing there's a fault with it, plus it will make it more sellable.

 

[Nikon photographer]

Took the top plate off, definitely a little gunky in there

9

 

[Nikon photographer]

All back together, just the light seals to fit, it's had a good condition used prism and focusing screen fitted, all tested, shutter, self timer and meter are all functioning properly

 

[Nikon photographer]

All finished and now for sale in my eBay store, it's not mint, but still a very nice usable camera, it's had all the decomposed foam removed from the viewfinder, and a good condition prism fitted, new idler gear spring fitted and idler gear cleaned,lubricated and reset, new light seals and mirror bump stops fitted, meter, self timer both working.

 

[Nikon photographer]

This one is on its way to a new home,I really hope they enjoy using the camera,it should have many years of use still left in it.