Basic Eyemo Maintenance

[Aaron Martin @ OH]

I have just come into possession of an Eyemo. It's #2963, one of the earlier types that has a latch on the front that sets the speed. This camera winds and runs - at 12, 16 and 24 fps - but I'd like to know what basic maintenance I should be doing to keep the camera in operating condition. I do see the two wells for oil on the sprockets inside the camera - are there any other places that I should oil? I don't have the tools to safely disassemble the camera and service the spring (which seems to run smoothly and at a constant speed) but is there anything I can do lubricate it from the outside? Is there anything else I should check to make sure the camera is operating correctly before I shoot a test?

Thanks,

Aaron

 

[Philip Forrest]

There should be a little cap in the shutter plate that covers a hole. This should get some oil. Use a decent synthetic sewing machine or watch oil, not WD40 or 3 in 1, both of those will eventually turn thick. Use a needle dripper or a fine watercolor brush to apply oil in small amounts. You don't want it splashing all around in the shutter and governor.

It's not hard to take the shutter out of the camera and give it a really good cleaning. That doesn't involve anything to do with the main spring. It can possibly quiet it down and you can ensure all the cam surfaces are perfectly smooth. If your camera is very early and has the felt governor in the shutter plate, you may need to replace the felt and do a real timing test with a measured length of leader to get an accurate frame speed. 

Dom has a great Eyemo (and Filmo) writeup at his cinetinker.blogspot.com blog.

Phil Forrest

Edited July 22, 2021 by Philip Forrest

[Simon Wyss]

Sewing machine oil, acid free and resin free, one drop into each of mentioned openings. The best thing you can do to keep your Eyemo in a good state is to use it. Wind the mainspring fully and let it unwind uninterruptedly with film loaded. Without film only at lower speeds

These are the oil ports:

1. Front, center, main excentric
2. Front, off center, governor
3. Wind key/crank port, gear train (there should be a felt pad down in there, six to eight drops)
4. Little bore close to the rewind crank bush, if rewind attachment present

You can apply a little grease on every shaft end you see turning in the film chamber. Put finger on while shaft is turning to rub it in.

A complete service will bring the camera back to full potential.

[David Albert Cox]

May I ask who is the ‘go to’ member for Eyemo service?

I have a bombspotter with some shutter scrape and I am in San Francisco.

thanks in advance

Dave Cox

 

 

[Dom Jaeger]

It's fairly straightforward to remove the front to access the shutter.

I wrote this guide some years ago when I had access to the service manual, and used to work on Eyemos a little:

http://cinetinker.blogspot.com/2013/06/inside-bell-howell-eyemo.html

If you don't want to work on it yourself, perhaps contact Visual Products in Ohio or Du-all in New Jersey. Or send it to Simon in Switzerland! 

[Simon Wyss]

Or send it to Dom in Australia!

[Gerard Dalton]

On 7/23/2021 at 1:55 AM, Simon Wyss said:

Sewing machine oil, acid free and resin free, one drop into each of mentioned openings. The best thing you can do to keep your Eyemo in a good state is to use it. Wind the mainspring fully and let it unwind uninterruptedly with film loaded. Without film only at lower speeds

These are the oil ports:

1. Front, center, main excentric
2. Front, off center, governor
3. Wind key/crank port, gear train (there should be a felt pad down in there, six to eight drops)
4. Little bore close to the rewind crank bush, if rewind attachment present

You can apply a little grease on every shaft end you see turning in the film chamber. Put finger on while shaft is turning to rub it in.

A complete service will bring the camera back to full potential.

Hi, I recently got an eyemo 71k and it runs great at all speeds and stays consistent throughout the entire wind while empty 

but when I tested it with a dummy roll of film it’ll run strong and normal for a few seconds and then flutter a little off and on until ultimately running a little slow. Then it will sputter out near the end of the wind 

Can this issue be solved by oil?

Or is it the spring power? 

I’m guessing it hasn’t been used in a while.

maybe I loaded the film in it too tight?

 

 

[Simon Wyss]

The earliest 71-K are from 1937, so your camera could be 87 years old.

If the aperture is off center, it’s from 1939 or younger. Still, the mechanism can use a service, the mainspring looked after.

Here are the oil spots of a Filmo 70, you can compare your model to.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. upper governor bearing, one drop
2. lower governor bearing, one drop
3. intermediate gear, one drop
4. governor drive, two drops
5. counter, one drop
6. stop gears and first drive gear, six drops each 5,000 feet of film
7. turret center, main group, one or two drops
8. rewind crank shaft, one drop
9. magazine drive pulley, one drop

[Gerard Dalton]

3 hours ago, Simon Wyss said:

The earliest 71-K are from 1937, so your camera could be 87 years old.

If the aperture is off center, it’s from 1939 or younger. Still, the mechanism can use a service, the mainspring looked after.

Here are the oil spots of a Filmo 70, you can compare your model to.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. upper governor bearing, one drop
2. lower governor bearing, one drop
3. intermediate gear, one drop
4. governor drive, two drops
5. counter, one drop
6. stop gears and first drive gear, six drops each 5,000 feet of film
7. turret center, main group, one or two drops
8. rewind crank shaft, one drop
9. magazine drive pulley, one drop

Can you tell the age by the serial number on the side? 

I guess I’ll try the oil and see what happens 

but what surprised me is how much differently it runs when film is inside vs empty. probably because I never used a wind up camera.
 

 

[Simon Wyss]

More or less, within a couple years, sometimes precisely. It depends on the model.

[Gerard Dalton]

On 12/28/2024 at 8:08 AM, Simon Wyss said:

More or less, within a couple years, sometimes precisely. It depends on the model.

Also another question. Do I need to get one of these crank lever handles? What purpose do they serve? 
 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/186804094055?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=bV7WOmxLRSa&sssrc=4429486&ssuid=xTXwiNZJQPW&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

 

I know my eyemo has a hole near the bottom front side for it as well as the hole for the motor attachment on the back. 

[Simon Wyss]

You have several ways of winding the spring. Usually one employs a key. The first key on Filmo and Eyemo is simple. Later came a ratcheting key that lets you wind like a watch. The crank is there for fast winding but you must hold the camera firmly. Beneath the spring bulge of the camera body you can insert the rewind crank. It bears a numbered disc that can be adjusted rotationally. The Filmo crank counts to 20, the Eyemo counts to 8. You can turn the mechanism by hand indefinitely forward, there is a clutch inside that allows for. You can turn backwards until the spring is taught.

A pair of stop gears brackets the run time. You have access to them in the film chamber center through a round opening. While putting tension on the spring as if you were winding it up you can slide the lower gear axially free of the other one with a screwdriver. That way it is possible to reset pretension. Beware of tightening the mainspring too much. Set governor at lowest speed.

Edited January 9 by Simon Wyss