one of you guys, last week, told me that it was easy to get at the shutter inside a Yashica D twin lens camera. Was it Ryuji...Bill H, Gene, Art, ??? Pm me... whoever it is.

drew

Drew,

I think the Yashica-D and the Yashica-Mat have the same Copal shutter. I just finished repairing the shutter on a Yashica-Mat (mine) two days ago. I didn't find it easy, but it was challenging. I thoroughly reviewed the images located at http://davidrichert.com/yashica-mat.htm which help immensely. (click on images to make them bigger and read texts provided). Anyway, I don't want to advise wrong, but to get at the screws I had to remove all the leatherette material on the front face plate. If you do this, take your time as not to slip and scratch something. My leatherette material was petrified. A set of jeweler's type screwdrivers is a must. I also got my shutter to work, but the self-timer is wasted, which is perfectly fine for me. Best of luck to ya.

Also . . . last manual on page . . . http://www.kyphoto.com/classics/repairmanuals.html
Username and password is provided at the top of the page.

and a repair forum . . . http://www.kyphoto.com/cgi-bin/forum/discus.cgi

Some general info . . .
http://www.tlr-cameras.com/Japanese/Yashica.html

Sorry, if I barged in. There's simply no excuse for my behavior.

Yes, I certainly said that servicing TLR shutter is a rather easy job, 1-2 hour job depending on what's needed.

Basically you have to peel the leatherette and unscrew to take the lensboard off. Then take a couple of rings and cams around the taking lens. The shutter assembly is right there. If the contamination is on the timing assembly you can access from there. If you need to clean the shutter blades the absolute best way is to take the whole shutter assembly out (held in place by a retainer on the back) and take individual blades off. Then clean them with lighter fluid. Those blades need no lubrication. Indeed there is only one tiny spot that needs lubrication in the entire shutter and you can forget about lubing. Then you can put the stuff back.

Thanks to both of you! I'll have at it this afternoon! If I get it to work...I'll be able to happily part with it to the most deserving person.

drew

ok, I took the lens board off and screwed off the cover of the shutter...sprayed some lighter fluid on the shutter blades and triggered the shutter many times at different speeds and aperatures and the same thing happens. At 1 sec, 1/2 sec and 1/4 sec, the shutter fires and closes...although at a higher speed than it should. Anything above 1/4 sec (>1/4) the shutter opens but stays open. Any ideas??

Did you carefully check whether any of the pins that engage with the cam is bent? Or perhaps the timing assembly in the shutter unit may be forced to damage... or some sort of mechanical interference to the unit. It's hard to tell unless I have it in front of me and carefully play with the mechanism with a pair of tweezers.

In the worst case you may have to replace the shutter's timing assembly. I think I have one of Yashica TLRs that can be cannibalized.

I once took apart my parent's telephone when I was about 12 years old. Never could put the thing back together again. To think I became an engineer! Fortuantely a civil engineer. I make the targets. Mechanicals, electricals and chemical engineers - they conspire to make the weapons.

Regards, Art.

I once took apart my parent's telephone when I was about 12 years old. Never could put the thing back together again. To think I became an engineer! Fortuantely a civil engineer. I make the targets. Mechanicals, electricals and chemical engineers - they conspire to make the weapons.

Regards, Art.

At least you didn't mention structural...! They're ticking time bombs themselves!

I had trouble with the self-timer assembly in my Yashica D. I removed the whole assembly. The shutter works fine without it.

I had trouble with the self-timer assembly in my Yashica D. I removed the whole assembly. The shutter works fine without it.

Now, there's an idea. Self timer wouldn't be used at all. Thanks for the idea.

Self timer module is also used in many lens shutters to create necessary delay for M-sync mode. In M-sync mode, self-timer does nto work because the timing assembly is used for the M-sync in these shutters. But some of the jammed shutters I worked on had traces that the user forced self timer while in M-sync mode. Sometimes the shutter get stuck for other reasons.

There is no need to remove functioning self timer. They rarely cause trouble unless you force in M-sync mode. If the self timer assembly is wrecked, removing or replacing it is the solution. But if you remove it, make sure that the slot in which the lever goes through is closed. If left open, dust particles going in the shutter through it can cause a lot of headache in near future.

I never noticed if the removal of the self-timer assembly affects the M-synch since I only use the X-synch. All of the shutter speeds seem fine.