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Appreciation post: the 1970s Nikkormat that took me 4 hours to unjam and it was just a bent film guide
Had a rough Tuesday where I cracked a customer's Canon AE-1 shutter curtain while trying to fix a dragging mirror, so I was already feeling low when this old Nikkormat came in yesterday. The owner said it sat in a barn near Topeka for 20 years and the advance lever was frozen solid. I spent 4 hours pulling the bottom plate and soaking the gears in lighter fluid before I found the real problem, a tiny bent film guide rail that was catching the sprocket. I straightened it with a $6 pair of needle nose pliers and the thing fired like new on the first test roll. How do you all handle it when you find the actual fix was something way simpler than the hours you already sunk into it?
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paulw8720d ago
Been there way too many times man. I had a Pentax spotmatic with a stuck mirror that I tore half apart and cleaned every gear in sight, turned out to be a dried out foam bumper that had turned to goo and was grabbing the mirror. The hours already spent sting for a bit but I just try to remember the next one like it will take me 20 minutes now. That knowledge is worth something even if this repair paid you about two bucks an hour. Crack a cold one and let the test roll do the talking, that first click after it fires smooth is the best part of the whole job.
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