Mamiya 7II: Wind Lever Jammed by Broken Self Timer Button
Originally posted on Instagram. Notes from the repair bench, kept here as a searchable archive. View the original on Instagram
This Mamiya 7II came into the shop with an advance lever locked up in the position shown in the first photo. After much examination, I found a very small piece of plastic ground deeply inside the winding gears. With a bit of work of a very fine pick, good lighting and magnification, I was able to recover the broken piece and get the winding working again. Photo two show a view of the winding gears with an arrow pointing out the broken bit (it’s actually quite small, just a millimeter or two).
This broken part was a piece of the selt timer button that had broken. An issue that I see often is a missing self timer button from a Mamiya 7/7II. It is a plastic spring loaded button on the top cover. When the tip breaks off it falls into the camera and is very close to the winding gears. Now, it might live happily ever after in a corner of the camera interior until it has the chance to find a place in the wind gears and cause the camera to lock up.
Photo three shows an outside view of the button and photo four show what the interior looks like and the small tip that will break off.
So, if you have a Mamiya 7 with the self timer button missing, it may be a matter of time before it does find your winding gears. If your wind lever locks up, do not force it in any way as that may cause costly damage.
I don’t like to be the one for giving one more reason for gear anxiety on this camera, but it has to be said…
