Anyone know how to remove front element of Super Ikonta Tessar?

[mtjade2007]

I discovered this product by accident. Tried it first on filters and fund it work like magic. It's soft and will not scratch and leaves no lint or dust behind. I then tried on lenses and again it works perfectly. I now use it to wipe my glass film carrier for my MF film scanner. Again it cleans so well and it really leaves no nothing on the glass. My scanned image will see any scratch or dust left behind but I can not see any. I have thrown away all my Kodak lens cleaning tissue paper. In fact I have stopped using anything other that this product. It is really nothing new. It's a piece of micro fiber cloth made specifically for cleaning glass and plastic and my lenses. The onlything I will not use it to clean will be the mirror of my SLRs. But other than that I have great success alway in cleaning lenses. You can see this product here at:

http://www.tapplastics.com/shop/product.php?pid=119&

Last time I visited a Tap Plastics store they have this micro fiber cloth for $1.79 a piece. I purchased some plastic products over $100. The store manager threw one in for me free of charge. I now have half a dozen of it. I have so many of it so I use some for cleaning my cameras. It really gets all the dusts off and leaves no scratch and no dust behind.

[Paul Goutiere]

I'm not sure how far you want to go with this but here are a few pics to give you an idea. This gets the top off.

[Paul Goutiere]

1) Make sure the infinity symbol is at infinity. Mark infinity somehow on the lens barrel.
Remove the focus mechanism.
2) Lots of things to remember here. Don't screw up the infinity setting and remember the point in the helical where the lens releases from the threads. ( I hate this)
3)The lens lifts out. This is where it can be cleaned. These surfaces are quite fragile.
4) In the last image I am removing the inner lens to clean the other side. This tool is a real good idea.

[walter23]

Looks a bit painful but doable. I need to lubricate (or clean) the focussing gears as well. Thanks for the pictures - this gives me an idea of what to expect. In terms of removing the front element, once you've got the cover off it just lifts out, or is it threaded? Do you have to unscrew the little micro screws around the barrel of the front element or are those just to hold the glass inside the housing?

I think I'm going to have to shelve this until I move next week as I've realized that all my small screwdrivers are in storage.

[Paul Goutiere]

It would be hard for me to explain but when you remove something, like a lens or gears, make sure you have marked things so they go back exactly the way you took it apart. Do not assume anything.

The micro screws around the barrel, three of them, holds the focus ring. It just comes off when these are loosened. The focus ring has a slot which receives a little tooth from a ring gear, part of the focus mechanism. This area can really mess up the focus if you don't somehow ensure things go back the same way as they came apart. (how do I know this??)
The lens then unscrews from the helical threads. As you carefully unscrew the lens gently pull the lens away from the body, when the threads disengage carefully note where this happened so you can put things back the way they were.
Good luck.

[Paul Goutiere]

By the way, if you've worked on a Rolleiflex successfully this thing should be relatively easy. Much different, but easy.

[walter23]

Okay, thanks for the help, Paul. I'll get on it in a couple of weeks.

[walter23]

I have the proper wrench
I could lend you if you were in the Canmore area.

You're right, I did find removing this element impossible. Does it unscrew, or does this wrench do something else? I can't figure it out. I think I saw the tool you mean on microtools - it's just a round wrench, right? They call it a flexitool or something like that.

Also I mucked up the rangefinder. I just mean the optical assembly; I didn't realize that it was the "lower" gear which contacts the focusing gear / helical, and turned the lens focusing helical while this gear was disengaged. Oops. I know how the lens goes back together so I just have to go out and find something at infinity and reset the rangefinder (I think). Hopefully it's that easy. Better to have to measure / calibrate just the rangefinder than measure / calibrate the focus of the lens, I think.

[Paul Goutiere]

The wrench really grips the lens element but does not damage the helical.

If you didn't mark the lens when you removed it, and did not mark where the gear when you removed it, you made things just a little more difficult to put back together. Nothing is damaged or irreversible or too complicated just more difficult now.

I PM'd you.

[walter23]

I got the lens marked so it goes back in just fine, I just screwed up the rangefinder by rotating the helical-coupling gear, when it wasn't contacting the rangefinder gear. I think it will be easy to fix; I already got it pretty close by mucking around in my front yard calibrating the rangefinder on a tree, but I think I may need to find a slightly more distant "infinity" object to calibrate on as the one I used was only about 50 meters away. I'll head to the shore where I can see the distant olympic mountains and make sure it's okay.

My only problem is getting the second element out (the one adjacent to the aperture & shutter). It turns out that's where the fog is, not where I originally thought on the back of the front (focusing) element. And I guess that requires the wrench, as I couldn't budge it by trying to turn it (assuming it just unscrews).

Guess I'm repeating things by responding here and in PM. Respond where you want