Shoutout to the old repair manual that showed me how many shutter parts are actually stamped steel

Found a 1973 Nikon service guide at a flea market, and it blew my mind that over 60% of the components in the F2's curtain assembly are just stamped and folded. Anyone else get surprised by how much basic metalwork is in these 'precision' machines?

3 comments

3 Comments

bailey.xena22d ago

My grandpa's 1968 Pentax Spotmatic was the same. I had to fix a slow curtain and found the whole advance lever assembly was just three stamped plates riveted together. The claw that catches the film sprocket? A single piece of steel, folded into a tiny hook. It's kind of beautiful in a cheap way, like they solved a hard problem with a simple punch press.

lilyt9022d ago

Yeah that stamping thing is wild, right? I had a similar shock taking apart an old Minolta. You learn to check for stress lines on those folded edges, they crack there first. A lot of those parts you can actually flatten and re-bend if you're careful, saves hunting for impossible spares.

simon_chen7d ago

My 1972 Konica had a stamped film counter gear that cracked. Tried the flatten and rebend trick lilyt90 mentioned, but my hands are too shaky. Ended up making a new one from a soda can. Looked terrible but worked for another decade.