
Posted: Fri Aug 03, 2007 11:08 pm
There were three ways lens makers assembled lens cells.
The early version had the interior half unthread from the front half. This was common with Pre war lenses. Look closely at the threads and brass of the interior section to see a seam somewhere.
The next easiest, but not necessarily easy, were front loaded cells. The retaining ring is the front bezel. Look how the front bezel meets the outer area, if there's an internal thread then that's what you have.
The best way is to find a white rubber stopper and carve a concave section on the top or bottom to allow the stopper to clear the glass and touch the bezel. Then Squeeze and turn. Stoppers are sold for this purpose at
www.micro-tools.com
the last way is where they assembled them from the rear, then "burnished" or rubbed the metal over the edge rear cell, in effect permanently sealing it. Professional repair people usually mount these in a metal lathe and slowly cut part of the housing off and then have to fabricate a new way to hold the lens elements in after cleaning.
SKGrimes no longer does this work, but they still have a page up showing how it was done when Steve was still alive.
http://www.skgrimes.com/popsci/burnish/index.htm