Do-it-yourself CLA for FTb

[Alex Thorne]

Hi,

My local camera guy said it wasn't worth having my FTb QL CLA'd because the light meter is broken. I was thinking about doing it myself.

Specifically, I need to replace the light seals, and I'd also like to open the camera up and clean and lube.

What do I need to know? What stuff do I need and where can I get it?

Thanks

[John Koehrer]

Light seals are easy.
But.
There's a geared coupling inside the camera that needs to be set on re-assembly. If the meter's dead the first thing I would check is the condition of the battery box for corrosion. If it's corroded at all it's very likely that the connecting wire is also bad. It could also be a dirty switch, bad cds cell, cold solder joint or the meter coil could be bad.

I'm working from dead & dying brain cells here so be careful!

1)Important!----set the shutter speed to B and ASA to 100. This is a reference point that you have to know for reassembly.
2)Remove the wind lever, There's a spanner beneath the cap & 2 or 3 washers beneath that. Watch the sequence when you pull them off.
3)Remove the shutter speed dial(spanner) & lift off
4)Pull the rewind knob. Put something in the R/W fork inside the camera body & it simply unscrews. I think there's a spanner nut under the knob.
5)Remove the screws around the perimeter of the top cover & the cover should pop off. Watch for a wire connected to the hot shoe, if it's there it may have to be unsoldered,

Tool you may need:
An adjustable spanner wrench.
Jewelers screwdrivers.
Tweezers.
Soldering Iron(?).
Take a look at the micro tools website. It's not gonna be cheap.

[Alex Thorne]

Thanks John.