remove front cell of red dot artar

[mike rosenlof]

Hi,

I've had my 14 inch RD Artar for years. I've never been able to remove the front cell from the barrel. I'm not to keen to force it, so mostly haven't worried, but I'm curious. Is it locked in somehow? The rear cell unscrews just fine.

thanks for info!

[Keith Pitman]

Have you tried a strap wrench? Works for me every time. Inexpensive at Harbor Freight.

[mike rosenlof]

I'll give that a try. So far only using my hands, no tools. That's normally enough, and I don't want to damage anything.

[Louis Pacilla]

Hey Mike

Have you looked around the circumference of the front barrel for a small "set screw"? If you do find one go ahead & remove this screw (don't lose it but not critical if you do) & give it another go. Either way Do try Kieth's suggestion of using the strap wrenches (they do work great) but I find on a smaller lens like your 14" RD Artar they can be just a little to large and cumbersome. At least mine are so I use a pair of thin nylon work gloves (new pair/ dedicated) with the rubber coated fingers/palms. I can get a very good grip w/ both hands when wearing these gloves. Don't be afraid to use a good bit of force (just not brute force) to break the cell free from the barrel.
Good luck and let us know if/when your front cell has been freed from the barrel.

[Mark Sampson]

Why do you want to take it apart?

[Bernice Loui]

+1

Unless there is a need to service the lens barrel, aperture blades or etc. taking apart a stuck lens cell can be risky.

If you're going to try this at all. Swab penetrating oil at the seam between lens cell and lens body then allow days to weeks to months to pass allowing the penetrating oil to do it's work before trying to un-screw the lens cell. What is extremely risky is using the wrong tools and excessive force. That once good and very useful lens can become severely damaged beyond repair or usability if something goes wrong.

Always risky to take apart a stuck lens cell, given this risk, there needs to be good justification to take on these risk.



Bernice

Why do you want to take it apart?

[Mike in NY]

For the really large lenses I've used for wet plate work over the years, I've used a strap wrench as suggested above. For smaller lenses, the strap may not work. In those cases, I've used CRC QD Elelctronic Cleaner Quick Drying Formula, in an aerosol can with a straw/tube sprayer. You can get it at hardware or auto parts stores. I spray it into the seal between the lens and barrel to help loosen the threads. This is not an oily lubricant that will mess up the lens. Instead, it evaporates almost immediately. Just be sure to test it first on the finish of the barrel to make sure it doesn't have an adverse effect. The lenses I've used it with are brass, so that's not an issue.