Canonet Teardown:access to the shutter blades for flood cleaning

[Brian]

I've done with with 20 or so Canonets with stuck and sluggish shutter blades and stuck aperture blades. 75% success rate using Ronsonol (lighter fluid) or 99% Isopropyl alchohol.

Start, the tools I use.

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Spanner (Ebay), needle-nosed pliers (Sears), rubber cork, screwdrivers

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Outer ring off with the pliers to get it started, then either the spanner or fingers after the slots clear the namering. Some spanners can get into this thin slot, but not mine. The needle-nosed pliers did the trick for me.

It's off:

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Namering and ASA mask as seen from the back. They fall out once the ring is out.

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Front of lens, showing the spanner slots. The front assembly is in two pieces, a very thin metal ring that you see here holds the front element in. The second fixture is for the cemented pair underneath. The front element is thin, and can crack easily if you over-tighten the front ring when re-assembling. See notes below on the reassembly section.

[Brian]

6 spanner slot front element. This is for the retaining ring for the front element. It is thin material, and will strip if the front section is stuck (Gooed) in place.

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7 topview

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8 spanner front ring, sometimes you get lucky and the whole front section comes out in one piece. And sometimes, just the front ring comes off as it is supposed to.

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9 front ring loose handturn. After getting it loose, undo the rest by hand, ot use a rubber cork.

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10 front element out. After the front ring is out, the element will drop out. Drop it into something soft, like lens paper.

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[Brian]

11 spanner slots recessed deep no room for a spanner. I've seen some repair sites advise drilling out new holes for a spanner. I use the long-thin needle-nosed pliers, bought at Sears.

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12 use needle nosed pliers to reach in and grab the spanner slots.

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13 to loosen the front group, if it is too tight for the spanners, use ronsonol and let it soak for a couple of hours. I squirt just a little bit into the sides. "Works for Me" a lot of times.

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14 use rubber cork after loosening

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15 front group out, Yaay.

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[Brian]

16 shutter blades

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17 aperture blades

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18 ready for ronsonol. Use a couple of drops on the blades. Then advance and work the camera. Go through the shutter speeds. Sometimes a drop or two is required down the self-timer lever. Let the camera stand until it is dried out, and work it again. If it is sluggish, re-apply and repeat. If it is still sluggish, try 99% Isopropyl Alchohol. Let it dry slowly. If it is working, ready for re-assembly. If it is still dead, time to disassemble. I've not gotten there yet.

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19 front group reassemble with cork. Hand-tighten as much as possible, use the cork. Use the spanner for just the last bit of pressure. If you tighten it too much, the FRONT ELEMENT WILL CRACK IN HALF.


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20 asa mask in, note the pin to catch the hole in the mask.

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[Brian]

21 screw the lens in by hand and with the cork. It is easy to break the front element on the Canonet.

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22 carefully tighten do not overtighten. I like to repeat myself a lot. I broke a perfect front element the second time I did this.

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23 name ring on, clicks into place. Put the thin Silver retaining ring back on using your hand to start, and the spanner/ pliers to finish. The slotted spanner can't get deep enough, which is why I use the pliers.

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VIEWFINDER TIME.

The top plate comes off. Advance Lever, Rewind Crank, and three screws. You need good match for the Phillips head screws.

24 advance lever

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25 rewind crank, and screws

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[Brian]

26 two screws

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27 rubber cork will usually take off the retaining ring for the advance lever.

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28 advance lever parts

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29 top view lever parts. I keep these parts together in a stack, and use ice cube trays to keeo parts together in groups.

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30 rewind crank, hold down with a screwdriver and unscrew the crank by hand. It unscrews counter-clockwise, like the screws. Normal direction.

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[Brian]

31 rewind crank off

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32 take out screws

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33 pull top off

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35 glass windows in the top plate are normally hazed over. I use ammonia based eye-glass cleaner on Q-Tips.

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36 view finder assembly, light guard off. It is glued in place, comes off by hand. I do not bother re-gluing, usually it is sticky enough for reassembly. If not, some light glue will work. I have used a glue stick before.

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[Brian]

37 RF adjust screw is visible with the focus set as shown.

DO NOT CLEAN THE SEMI-SILVERED MIRROR WITH FLUID. The silvering is likely to come off. Do not clean the RF mirror with fluid, it is surface coated. The clear glass surfaces can be cleaned with fluid cleaner and Q-Tips. "Be Gentle". If a mirror is really bad with haze, I have moistened the surface with breath and very gently wiped it with a soft Q-Tip.

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After cleaning, the top plate goes on. Line up the screw holes. Some pressure is required to hold it in place while putting the Phillips head Screws back in.

38 slots for advance paw, the first part of the advance mechanism. It goes in first, all the parts go in order. Tighten the retaining ring with the Cork.

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39 first screws then cork for advance retainer then rewind

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[Brian]

Questions?

I did not cover putting in new seals. Next Canonet, I'll photograph the procedure.

This is a parts camera, waiting for a new front element. But I have two others that I went through all of these steps to bring back to operation.

[Contarama]

Thank you for taking the time to make this tutuorial Brian. Excellent!

[Brian]

How is yours doing?

Post pictures, if that helps.

[disneytoy]

thank you!