... no doubt the answers are scattered about in the boards and I will look for them. In the meantime I'm lazy. Anyhow, here's my situation: just bought a Speed Graphic with Graflock back. It was in fairly rough condition... looks like someone ran over it with a car, or tried a little too hard to drop the fron down way lower than intended. What I did was canabalized the bed and rail and assorted parts from a Crown Graphic (if you see a Crown for parts up for bid on eBay, that's me). First potetial problem is the front shutter cable release. The under-the-bellows cable is bent about midway through it's length. I'm thinking there is a break there. When I hit the side shutter release, the focal plane shutter fires and I see the little thingy (the techincal term I think) that the cable is connected to move (although seemingly not as much as on the Crown). First question is, how difficult would it be to replace or repair the cable? Or the mechanism inside the camera Or is this complicated enough that I should let someone else do it? Any place I can find the layout of this mechanism? I think I just answered my second question, so I'll leave it at that. Thanks for any help.

jeff

I have a top RF that was simular shape, someone used a prybar to open it, haven't got around to listing the surplus Crown parts an E__Y yet, and I don't have a cable for the front shutter release. The slide switch an the side has the following positions from top to bottom TRIP REAR FRONT. Position of this switch determines what the side release lever operates and, Yes, there is an indentiation that requires the switch to be pressed inward to slide. (Press in and push down).

Charles

Yeah, about fifteen minutes after foooling around with it to loosen it up a little more, I found the 3 position slide switch and realized that my cable does indeed work... the switch was set to rear instead of front. I'm going to assume the two prongs on the inside under the curtain are contacts for the flash, since there are metal bits embedded into the curtain that would complete the circuit. The metal bit on "T" looks out of allignmet. I assume this means that if the circuit is not completed, no use of open flash. The curtain will eventually need to be replaced... looks very worn out. Anyone have an idea how moch this costs on average, general ballpark, assuming I have the curtain replaces and the innards tuned up? Trying to figure out what I can afford. Thanks

Go to http://graflex.org/manuals/ select 45 Pacemaker and Crown and look up the shutter replacement/adjustment. It's not hard to do. Small holes and tears can be repaired with sicilone rubber, rubberized tool coat, or other camera focal plane cloth strips with Elmers ProBond contact cement. Watch out for bulkly spots when donig these repairs.
Charles

Ah, thanks, I was looking fo rthe manual the other day on a slow internetconnection. I think the manual will be just what I need. If nothing else I can clean out the interior a little. The curtain itself has no holes, just looks a little rough and like it was left in the open "T" position for a while with someting jammed in it (maybe the shutter caught on something... I had to straighten out the two flash contacts, and the fabric tends to "stray" when I have it open for viewing). I will probably need to tighten the spring a little: when firing each speed in turn from fastest down to "T" it works just fine. When just opening and closing the "T" it really drags. Didn't have this problem with my pre-anniversary, and it looked like it was in wrse condition. I will consult the manual. Thanks.

jeff

Okay, when looking through the manual listed above, I coudn't find anything useful on the shutter release built into the side (I'm still looking it over though, so I may have just missed it). Looking over the connection inside the case to the under-the-bellows cable to the front shutter, the connection looks simple enough, but anyone have any ideas about where to look for exploded drawings of the shutter release itself? Thanks

jeff

Send me your e-mail here or via private mesage and I'll send you the complete pages for the FPS and related IBP drawings.
Charles

You can go ahead and email me at the7thprg@aol.com. Drawings would be greatly appreciated. I can see how to replace the cable externally... it's the internal worklings I'm curious about here. Thanks.

jeff

Oops... added a period to the end of that address by mistake. Omit that final period, just: the7thprg@aol.com

jeff