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Thread: Want to clean an Heliar

  1. #1

    Join Date
    Mar 2015
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    Want to clean an Heliar

    Hello,
    I bought an Heliar 1933/4 150mm in a Compur shutter and Bergheil bayonet. It is seems foggy and dirty in the internal part of the rear lens. Performance is not consistent with another 1950's Heliar I had.
    Maybe cleaning it would make things better. I have little experience (Trioplan, Eurynar), and I am a bit wary. What am I to expect, if I remove the rear part? Would you advise trying it?
    Thanks for helping

  2. #2

    Join Date
    Aug 2000
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    California
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    Re: Want to clean an Heliar

    No. Take it to someone who knows what they are doing.

  3. #3

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    Re: Want to clean an Heliar

    Thanks

  4. #4

    Join Date
    Nov 2006
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    218

    Re: Want to clean an Heliar

    It should be easy to disassemble and reassemble if you want to clean it. If you have good materials ( cloth and solution) to do so, it's a very easy job, if not, then probably better not to do it. I've probably cleaned 100s of similar heliars

  5. #5
    Peter De Smidt's Avatar
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    Jan 2001
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    Fond du Lac, WI, USA
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    Re: Want to clean an Heliar

    Tim, what's your process for cleaning them?
    “You often feel tired, not because you've done too much, but because you've done too little of what sparks a light in you.”
    ― Alexander Den Heijer, Nothing You Don't Already Know

  6. #6

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    Re: Want to clean an Heliar

    Yes, please.
    I had no problem in disassembling into two parts: front and rear. The rear assembly seems easy to open, but luckily it was clean. The front assembly has no cuts for the wrench and I am a little wary of applying torque.

  7. #7

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    Aug 2013
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    Brazil - Rio Grande do Sul
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    Re: Want to clean an Heliar

    Sacco,

    You'll probably need a rubber grip with the size of the front ring to turn it. Some years ago I bought a set at ebay.

    Cheers,

    Renato

  8. #8

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    Re: Want to clean an Heliar

    @RSalles: thanks. I will take a look at it, but it's getting more involved that I expected.

  9. #9

    Join Date
    Dec 2006
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    954

    Re: Want to clean an Heliar

    Could be that some of the problem is with the cement. That can't be cleaned.

  10. #10

    Join Date
    Aug 2013
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    Re: Want to clean an Heliar

    The front and rear components are both cemented pairs, so nothing needs to be disassembled on them. You already figured out that the back section doesn't need to be disassembled to be cleaned, I assume. On the front section the rearmost element--the fifth, middle element, should be removable separately. I think on my lens the whole back end twists off the front part of the barrel, with the middle element..... I think. It's been a while. Once that's off, you can clean the back of the front component without taking it out of the barrel.

    Mine is just like this video. I don't know why the person in this video takes the front component out. You can see by the trouble he's having why you shouldn't:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JS2N1696iWc

    Don't get things so wet that cleaning liquid snakes up the edges of the mount and attacks the cement. You don't have to soak a lens to clean it. That's a good policy when cleaning any lens without disassembly as you do in the normal day-to-day of things: go easy on the liquid so it doesn't go places you don't want it to.
    Thanks, but I'd rather just watch:
    Large format: http://flickr.com/michaeldarnton
    Mostly 35mm: http://flickr.com/mdarnton
    You want digital, color, etc?: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stradofear

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