[Jean Poitiers]

Bonjour,

I image that this question has been asked before, but here goes anyway ...

I picked up a really great condition ME Super (except for a diagonal split in the mirror) in a lot purchase, but the shutter will not be fire maybe every other shutter lever advance. I have called Eric H for this and possible CLA ... he said it was an easy fix.

I already have a MX and a Spottie F at Eric's, so I really do not want to send him another SLR at the moment ... plus I do not plan to shoot a lot with this ME Super, thus do not want to put too much cash into it ... at the moment.

So .... my question: is this an easy DYI fix (?) ... I have a second body ME Super that fires fine, but is cosmetically a bit rougher ... and it needs seal, but that's another "rainy day" project.

Any advice and/or input would be appreciated ... merci d'avance, J

[MysteryOnion]

If you have some practice digging into cameras, it is not impossible to DIY but will take some time to do the de-soldering of wires to get in deep enough to fix the problem.

Here, sniff around my blog... sorry it is not organized very well. Maybe it will give you some ideas.

Mystery Onion Patch: 01: That is two ME Super cameras now...

[Jean Poitiers]

If you have some practice digging into cameras, it is not impossible to DIY but will take some time to do the de-soldering of wires to get in deep enough to fix the problem.

Here, sniff around my blog... sorry it is not organized very well. Maybe it will give you some ideas.

Mystery Onion Patch: 01: That is two ME Super cameras now...

Bonjour and thanks Mystery ... good to know and great effort on your blog. My "Super ME" seems to have "healed" a bit ... I think that it sat for a long time and definitely had some sort of shock to it, since there's a diagonal crack in the mirror, which cannot be seen in th VF.

I have been dry firing it a lot lately and even ran an old exposed film canister through it several times ... the skipping became more and more infrequent the more and more I manipulated it. Then, I took a gentle cleaning to it via a compressed air can (shutter box area + curtain) and that seemed to help even more ... finally I remove the base plate and applied again gingerly some compressed air and the shutter now seems to fire every time. I am going to let it sit a few days and come back to re-evaluate. If all goes well, I am stopping here for the moment with my minor interventions ... Hopefully, I have gotten lucky and will soon run a real roll of B&W through it.

Again, many thanks ... et salut, J

[MysteryOnion]

I'm glad to hear that it is working better.

Note for later in your endeavors...



... in the above image where it read "... this arm is working smooth..." is an important action in the cycle to reset the shutter.
Certain cases where the camera has some sticky or dried out part, the mentioned part will encounter a failure to complete the travel and will not let the advance stroke to reset or catch the shutter cocking arm... one common symptom is the winding-on with non-firing shutter.

If the camera is exposed to a mostly dry environment, then you see little more success in operating it after it is stuck.
If the camera is exposed to a lot of humidity, then a likely gooey insides and will cause the rubber bumpers to be sticky and sluggish.

Certainly a CLA is a good thing for the future.

[Jean Poitiers]

I'm glad to hear that it is working better.

Note for later in your endeavors... (...)

Certainly a CLA is a good thing for the future.

Thanks again Mystery !

I think that I am going to have it CLA'd someday (maybe soon), but first Eric H needs to send me back my MX & Spottie F that I sent him back in December ... Salut, J

PS - Have you ever had a winder cover cap get jammed ... this ME Super is jammed and the slot striped out by others' previous interventions ... but I haven't gotten a winder for it yet, so no hurry. Know where I can get replacement winder hole covers? eBay?

PPS - Love your tag line ... mine would be likewise, except that I have no time (nor skill ... destroyed more than a few SLR's, but fix a few, too ...)

I am not a camera repair technician, nor have I ever played one on television or stage.
I am an avid camera tinkerer and have fixed many and sometimes destroyed a few, but it is all part of the fun for me. Film is still cool! Yes... I have a dSLR too.

[MysteryOnion]

Thanks Jean Poitiers... I've actually had my 15 seconds of fame on "The Real World" when they shot in Boston and hence... I thought of that television line.

Have you ever had a winder cover cap get jammed...

If the bottom plate is dented or bent in some way, that will sometimes lock the cap on. Although the slot is gouged off, consider removing the bottom plate to have a look on the other side of the lid. If it happens to be bent, place the plate on a flat surface and with a wooden dowel with a well sanded end and a 12oz. hammer... do some auto body style tapping. I've done this to an MX upper plate and got it almost to the point where you could hardly pick out the repair.

[Jean Poitiers]

... do some auto body style tapping. I've done this to an MX upper plate and got it almost to the point where you could hardly pick out the repair.

Thanks ... good idea and I will give it a try. Salut, J