Graflex.org

acedar · Joined: 25 Feb 2006 Posts: 14 Location: Northeast

I'd like to know if there's a way to adjust the body release on my Crown Graphic to make it more sensitive. Right now it takes a pretty good pull before it catches. I ask because I'll be using it alot handheld for portraits and pets and need the faster response. Is there a link that tells how to do it? If this is something better left to a profressional I'll do that. Thanks.

alecj · Joined: 09 May 2001 Posts: 853 Location: Alabama

No easy answer here. Some have tried lubrication. I chose to let Fred Lustig replace it with a new one.

No, there is no adjustment on the camera.

45PSS · Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 9:03 pm Post subject:

1).Go to rich's web site http://www.southbristolviews.com/
click on graflex manuals in the left collum, and Download the Top RF Pacemaker Service manual to use as a reference.
2).Go to the hardware store and get a set of Stanley 66-039 jewlers screwdrivers.
3).The shorter the focal length the lens in use the Worse the body release will be.
4).Increase tension on cable release spring Figure 3 item 24 and make certain that retaing screw item 25 remains tight and does not move when body release is moved (operated). This is a pain to access with the bellows installed.
5).See Release cable installation on manual page 16 paragraph 4 for complete adjustment instructions.

6).If body screw holes become striped, use wood glue and glue the end or shaft section of a round toothpick into the hole then reinstall the screw.

7).Sorry Alex, didn't mean to step on your toes.

Chalres

_________________
Graflex Corp.was a supporter of Rain Forest Devastation.

[ This Message was edited by: 45PSS on 2006-03-01 13:05 ]

acedar · Joined: 25 Feb 2006 Posts: 14 Location: Northeast

Thanks for the info. Great site but it looks way too complicated for me. By the way the lens is a 135(4.7) I guess I'll try to find someone local or just trip the shutter with my finger by pressing down on the little crosspiece.

troublemaker · Joined: 24 Nov 2003 Posts: 715 Location: So Cal

depending on the condition of the release cable and press switch, lubrication canbe helpful anyways. There is a sweet spot for the mechanism to opperate at its optimum and this can ussually befound by adjusting the the fixtures right at the front standard. The bar that trips the release right at the shutter lever should have have just enough return so that when you trip set on Time (T), the lever on the shutter will return enough so that the next depression of the body release will trip and close the shutter. Trying to get too much play out of the cable will prevent the shutter release lever from moving back to its proper resting position.
when I service these cameras I ussually tear them down completely and the cable gets a good dose of WD-40 with a
Q-Tip. the button switch likes to have a couple drops of oil at its top and bottom, small drops with a needle. Let sit, manmipulate and then wipe off excess. After adjustment I ussusally place a couple drops of licht oil at the friction points at the front standard and let a drop flow down the release cable where it exits the couled outer casing. Again, maniuplate and wipe away excess so it can not fmigrate form lens via fingers later on.
At the end of the cable at the front standard you will see a double nut. There is adjustment available there, and at the tab linking it to the shutter release lever itself. These are the only adjusments one can make. And old kinked cable will not opperate very well. Some body releases are smoother than others and range form very nice to not so good causing a littel twist when you expose. Some of the issues are also related to the actual release lever mechanis, of the shutter. I find good running Wollensak shutters tend to trip better than the Supermatic Kodaks. If still not satisfied, you may be as well off tripping at the shutter itself which works very well for some.
Good luck with it... and apologies if too involved, I had been jotting this down as you posted your last message...

[ This Message was edited by: troublemaker on 2006-03-01 23:37 ]

45PSS · Posted: Thu Mar 02, 2006 2:39 am Post subject:

If the adjustment is too complicated then another alternative is to connect a shutter release cable to the lens thenmake a clip to hold it near the back so that the plunger is easy to access and push. An electrical spade lug attached under a back screw is a thought.
Charles

_________________
The best camera ever made is the one that YOU enjoy using and produces the image quality that satifies YOU.

Les · Joined: 09 May 2001 Posts: 2682 Location: Detroit, MI

Buy a 9-12" cable release, perferably one without the collar lock, but it's okay if it's there. Just don't get one of the huge-handled $40 jobs. You want small and neat.

Thread the cable release into the socket.

Bring the business end around to the handle side. Hang the collarof the cable release on the top lug of the handle so the collar is in back of the lug and pressing the button pushes the collar against the lug.

Tie in place with whatever is available, cotton string, zip cords, etc. On some Crown Specials, there was a special piece of plastic screwed to the side of the body just above the handle to do this, but you need 1960s styled cable releases and they are hard to find now.

I've used this set up for many occasions, Even if the body release is graphited, lubed and teaked, it always had an inherent and VERY frustrating delay in it. I never got mine to work like I wanted it to. The cable release is far more responsive than my body relase ever was.

Les

_________________
"In order to invent, you need a good imagination and a lot of junk" Thomas Edison

tsgrimm · Joined: 04 Apr 2004 Posts: 158 Location: SE Michigan

Les and Charles,

Good idea. I just dug out a spare 10" cable release with a 3/8" collar. I find that it lays between the flash bracket and the body very well. Easy to remove when closing up the camera.

Wrapping my fingers around the body my thumb is in perfect position at the top of the body. Of couse, hand size and winter gloves may be factors to consider and a attachment point on the outside of the flash bracket may be necessary.

[ This Message was edited by: tsgrimm on 2006-03-02 22:20 ]

acedar · Joined: 25 Feb 2006 Posts: 14 Location: Northeast

Thanks again for the help. I just wondered if pressing down on the cross piece that attaches to the shutter will harm anything as it's stll attached to the body release connection? It's comfortable to use and reacts quickly. Bob.

troublemaker · Joined: 24 Nov 2003 Posts: 715 Location: So Cal

that shouldn't cause any problems at all, and will get you making photos. I find I prefer tripping the actual release at the shutter on the smaller 2x3 Graphics myself, but do like a good body release on the bigger ones, but it is a matter of getting use to which ever release I am using.
Check your private messages on the board here for my email and I can drop you a couple photos on servicing the release...
Stephen

45PSS · Posted: Fri Mar 03, 2006 1:32 am Post subject:

About the only problem will be blury photos from camera shake if all does not work smoothly or requires extra pressure to trip the shutter.
Charles

_________________
The best camera ever made is the one that YOU enjoy using and produces the image quality that satifies YOU.

troublemaker · Joined: 24 Nov 2003 Posts: 715 Location: So Cal

Does someone know if the Crown ever came with the Copal #0 shutter as this is waht he has and based on mine it will not work with a body release very well and mine not at all. I sent Bob a photo of mine and he varified that this is what he has. the only shutter I have been able to varify as standard, or even non-standard with the 135 Xenar as being installed on the Crowns is the more body-release friendly Synchro-Compur, but my literature limits me to about the mid-sixties. My Copal also came damaged and the release is such that even if it could be rigged it would still not be able to be tripped with the body release.
In the meantime I sent some photos and info on adjustment points and lubes for him of my Crown with Graphex shutter and release properly installed so he can see how the thing is was intended to opperate etc...
Thanks,
Stephen

Les · Joined: 09 May 2001 Posts: 2682 Location: Detroit, MI

Late in the game Graflex did offer a Copal shutter. Proably sometime '69 or '70.

disemjg · Joined: 10 Jan 2002 Posts: 474 Location: Washington, DC

I have a late Crown Special with the Copal #0 shutter. The shutter works perfectly with the body release paddle. This is because the release arm on the shutter has been modified; the same short post frequently seen on other shutters has been mounted at the release tip, and the paddle presses on this rather than the edge of the normal Copal release lever. Either Graflex had the shutters delivered this way, or modified them themselves. A home made version should be easily done. I'll send Les a photo and ask him to post it.

The camera assembly code, from under the yoke, is B9B if someone wants to date it.

Les · Joined: 09 May 2001 Posts: 2682 Location: Detroit, MI