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K3 Reassembly Nightmare


Mike Lary

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Hey folks,

I removed the baffle plate from my K3 to clean out a shard of film that was leaving scratches on my new film and so I could remove the loop formers. I reassembled the camera per instructions found here and on K3camera.com, but something went wrong when I reattached the baffle plate. It took a dozen tries to get those pesky spring-loaded pawls to stay in place and line up with the ratchet gear, and once I succeeded the motor started making irregular noises (like it was speeding up and slowing down) then it stopped working - I can't wind it at all unless the shutter release button is depressed. I'm thinking maybe the pawls didn't stay in place and the main spring unwound as a result. I've removed the baffle plate and inspected to make sure nothing is out of whack, broken or misaligned. The winding crank just locks when I try to turn it. Has anyone had this problem or know how to deal with an unwound spring if that's the problem?

Thanks in advance,

Mike

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Not sure exactly of your problem. When the plate is off the only thing that happens when you wind it is the spring forces the crank back. You should feel that it shouldn't be "locked."

 

The trick with the pawls is to remove the gear that the pawls engage from the winding shaft. Just pull it off the square keyway and place it into the pawls on the back of the baffle plate making sure the pawls are engaged in the gear and the springs are in their grooves. Place the baffle plate with pawl gear back into the camera until it presses against the winding shaft. While pressing down gently on the baffle plate with your left hand, wind the camera with your right hand very slowly until the square keyway in the pawl gear engages and the baffle plate drops flat with no binding or warping.

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Thanks for your reply. I'll try to describe the problem a little better.

 

I managed to get the baffle plate back on the way you described (seating the gear inside the pawls). I thought they were properly in place because I could wind and run the camera. But after a few seconds the motor started to slow down and, after it stopped, I was unable to wind it again. This is why I suspected the main spring may have unwound. K3camera.com mentions that the pawls keep the gear in place which in turn keeps this from happening. I think things might not have been aligned properly when I wound and ran the camera, so the spring unwound. Regardless of how well seated the baffle plate, and regardless of gear/pawl position, the wind handle won't move in the wind direction.

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Not sure what to tell you in that situation except to check carefully that something isn't jamming the camera. That could happen in a lot of places. Sounds like something may have broken.

 

Sometimes when they jam you just have to take off the baffle plate and perhaps the front cover and try moving the interior parts. The shaft behind the release button with those spring loaded fly weights is the culprit of a lot of jams.

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Looks like I'm back in business. Here's what I did:

I reseated the baffle plate until it was perfectly flush and I took off the front of the camera. By looking at the gear assemblies I couldn't see anything jamming, but the wind crank just wouldn't turn unless the shutter button was depressed. I found that I could wind the camera by manually turning the shutter with my fingers while depressing the shutter button. I'd let go of the button before taking my fingers off the shutter, then depress the shutter button again and - the camera would run. After doing this a few times the wind crank started working again. I could wind the camera and run it. This doesn't make any sense to me, but it worked.

 

Thanks again for the help, J. This is a sweet little camera. I'm glad it's working again.

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