Hi.

I recently bought a Crown Graphic and noticed that the top part of the back, the part that you pull to insert the film holder, is not staying tight against the body of the camera.

If I remove the back and then put it back in place, it stays flush top and bottom, but once I move it to insert the film, the top portion stays about 1mm away from the camera body.

Does anybody know how to fix this?

Thanks in advance!

The focusing frame is held in place against the camera body by the upper and lower arm assemblies, each with its own spring. The arms engage hooks, upper and lower. The each hook is held in place by two rivets into the camera body. My guess is that either or both of the following is happening: (1)one or both top rivets are loose; (2) you have a weak spring in the upper arm assembly. Loose rivets would be easier to correct than replacing the spring, IMO. Let us know what you find.

Henry wrote:

The focusing frame is held in place against the camera body by the upper and lower arm assemblies, each with its own spring. The arms engage hooks, upper and lower. The each hook is held in place by two rivets into the camera body. My guess is that either or both of the following is happening: (1)one or both top rivets are loose; (2) you have a weak spring in the upper arm assembly. Loose rivets would be easier to correct than replacing the spring, IMO. Let us know what you find.

Hi Henry.

Thank you for your insight and reply. The rivets are solid. It seems to me that it could be possibly the "curled" spring held by the rivets that has become a little loose. In your opinion, is that a possibility? I'm thinking that possibly pushing that curled piece of metal might make for a tighter fit.

Hello again.

I might have found the solution. One baffling detail was that, if I took off the back cover, the piece with the ground glass and the hinges, and put it back, everything would be tight and normal. Once I inserted the film holder, the back could not go back to normal.

When moving the top spring-loaded arm I noticed that it screaked. It turns out that the hinge just above the spring was a bit gunky and would not let the spring return the arm to its place. A bit of lubricant seems to have solved the problem.

Thanks!

Success is its own reward---congratulations! Glad the fix was so easy.

I've had a similar issue. In my case the problem was that the arm was slightly bent. Bending it back has to be done cautiously so that one does not put any strain on the pivot in the frame of the back. But like you, I also found that a drop of oil helped a lot.