Rolleiflex 4x4 Baby Rollei: Modified 00 Shutter Mainspring
Originally posted on Instagram. Notes from the repair bench, kept here as a searchable archive. View the original on Instagram
Servicing a Rolleiflex 4x4 (Baby Rollei 127). It’s been a while since I repaired one of these and now a remember why I did not find it that joyful. Rollei used a modified “00” shutter that is a bit more work to service than a standard Rolleiflex. To replace the mainspring you need to remove the shutter from the front standard and press out the cocking pinion and gear. This example needed a new mainspring plus the standard cleaning and lubrication service. Also, the flash sync terminal was a bit loose and needed re-staking. I think I will be holding off on any service of these cameras in the future as they can be very time consuming to do properly. I have outlined some of the repair process below:
Photo two shows the camera with the front standard removed.
Photo three is an overview of the shutter with front cover removed
Photo four shows the speeds escapement ready to go back into the shutter after a bath. This part controls all shutter speeds except the very highest.
Photo five is of the self timer (V) getting ready to go back to the shutter after taking the same bath. This is the part that gets dirty and often causes the shutter to lock up after years of not being used.
Photo six shows the cocking pinion being pressed out of the cocking gear
Photo seven shows the flash sync terminal being staked tightly to the front standard. I use a watchmakers staking set which work very well for these sort of things.
Photo eight is of the focusing stage showing the shims and adjustable spacers.
Photo nine shows a technique that I use for adjusting parallelism of the front plate by putting the camera on a fixture and a mirror on the front lens element. When all is parallel, the star target in the autocollimator will be centered.
