Finally got a Rolleiflex back together after 3 weeks on the bench

It was a 3.5F that came in with a stuck focus helicoid. Some patient work with lighter fluid and a brass shim finally freed it up. Anyone else find helicoids on these older Rolleis way tighter than the later models?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_daniel19d ago

Actually had a Rollei come through my shop with the exact opposite problem - helicoid was so loose it would drift focus just from gravity when pointed up. Turned out someone had polished the hell out of the brass threads trying to "fix" a sticky spot. Ended up having to make a custom shim out of an old feeler gauge to get the drag right. Your stuck one sounds like it just needed that factory grease cleaned out and replaced with something lighter. The 3.5F models seem to have more variance in tolerances than people give them credit for.

kai_ramirez3819d ago

the variance in tolerances" is real and people don't talk about it enough. I've seen a 3.5F that was butter smooth right out of the box and another one that felt like it had sand in the helicoid from day one. That custom shim out of a feeler gauge is genius by the way, I've had to do similar stuff with thin brass shim stock on a few Rolleis where the factory didn't get the spacing right. It's funny how people treat these cameras like they were all perfectly made when really they were mass produced with all the usual QC issues. The whole "they don't make em like they used to" crowd forgets that old cameras had just as many lemons as modern stuff, they just had more repair guys around to fix them. That polished helix story is exactly why I always tell people to never mess with factory grease on these old cameras unless you actually know what you're doing.

viola_garcia5619d ago

@kai_ramirez38 you're totally right about that factory grease thing... but what gets me is how the storage environment plays a bigger role than most people think. I've seen a 3.5F that sat in a humid garage for years come out with a helicoid that felt like it was welded shut, while a similar one stored in a dry closet was almost too loose. The brass swells with moisture and it changes the fit completely over time.