Classic SLR film advance jam, my fix and a question

My neighbor dropped off a film SLR with the film advance lever stuck. I took it apart and saw a bent metal tab blocking the gears, so I bent it back. Do you ever see bent parts like this, and what tools work best to fix them?

3 comments

3 Comments

eva4682d ago

How do you bend it back without the metal snapping?

noah_brown13h ago

Oh man, bending those tiny parts back is a nightmare. I once tried to fix a shutter curtain and ended up making it worse, like I was playing operation with a hammer. Bent tabs show up all the time in old cameras, usually from someone forcing the advance. For tools, I just use a small pair of pliers and a lot of patience, but even then I hold my breath. It's amazing any of these old things still work after my "repairs".

mia_hart902d ago

Ever seen a bent catch like that on a Kodak Retina? My buddy had one where the film counter spring was all twisted up from someone forcing it. He used a pair of smooth jaw needle nose pliers to straighten it, but he said you gotta go slow or the old metal can snap. He also had a tiny metal file to clean up any rough edges after bending. It worked, but that camera was always a little fiddly after that.