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chris jordan
26-Dec-2005, 09:21
Hi guys, happy holidays from Seattle. I am bummed to report that I badly damaged my newly-acquired Toyo field 8x10 while on a photographing trip down in New Orleans last week. A piece of something gritty got lodged inside the gears of the focussing rail, which caused the rail to jam up. When I tried to break it free by turning the knobs, the gears inside broke, so now the knobs turn freely. The rail is solidly jammed, and there doesn't seem to be any way to unscrew any parts and open the assembly up.

Luckily I was able to keep photographing by using the sliding extension rail for focussing, but that was much slower and obviously not as convenient and accurate as using the proper focussing mechanism.

Does anyone have some advice for how I might fix it, or whether it is worth trying? One thing I can do is strip off all the recoverable parts and try to find another chassis, but that might be a wild goose chase. Maybe it's time to ditch the Toyo for a Wehman?

Any thoughts or suggestions would be much appreciated.

~cj

www.chrisjordan.com

Steve Hamley
26-Dec-2005, 09:59
Chris,

If you like it, why not send it off to Mamiya America (importers of Toyo) and have it fixed?

I know you've expressed concerns about wooden field cameras in the past and also use large lenses, so if I were you I'd probably fix the Toyo. Also, if you are a professional, you need professional-grade support and turn around you get from people like Mamiya America and Linhof (Marflex).

Sounds like good alternatives would be some kind of a portable monorail, maybe an 8x10 Arca.

Steve

Colin Graham
26-Dec-2005, 10:00
Sorry to hear it. Nothing worse than having gear go bad in the field. Maybe you should contact Richard Ritter and see what he says. A lot of good things said about him here lately. www.lg4mat.net/page4.html (http://www.lg4mat.net/page4.html)

Wilbur Wong
26-Dec-2005, 10:02
Chris,

I had a blast of sand end up on the focusing rails of my then brand new Master Technica several years ago. Fortunately, my camera didn't end up with any permanent damage.

The Technicas have a focusing rail which is part of their triple extension. On your Toyo, is the focusing (geared) rail separate from the extension?

In my case, I found the only way to disassemble the camera was by running the rail completely off of the end of the track (after removing a stop screw). And of course that cannot be done without the geared rack being rolled past the spur gears. Anything much larger than a single tooth or cog is going to be either pulverized or if hard enough derail or stop the freight train.

In my case, quite contrary to factory notices, the factory themselves slopped a fairly good amount of grease onto the rack beds. It was this grease into which the sand granules embedded themselves on my camera. Between my field efforts, I used my toothbrush on exposed parts of the rack, and eventually at home using a combination of solvents, compressed air and brushes I eventually got all the sand out of the mechanism. I then relubricated with the barest film of Superlube (a synthetic ptfe grease from syncho chemical - super-lube.com)

All of the above is no help unless you can get past the rock on the track. My largest sand granule eventually pulverized and I rolled over it where it has left a minor pit. Unfortunately in the design of my camera there was no other dissasembly method. Indeed it would be nice if you could slide out the focusing shaft out sideways to the gears, unscrew the racks or something other than running right at the train robbers.

I'm sorry that I can't be that much more help.

Good luck

Wilbur

John Berry ( Roadkill )
26-Dec-2005, 10:40
Sorry to hear about your camera Chris. I had problems like that with a metal frame camera. The grit caused the aluminium to gall. Even after I got it apart and cleaned and smoothed the surfaces it was still a problem. That is why I only use wood cameras today.

Michael Kadillak
26-Dec-2005, 10:42
I found myself in a similar situation with my Toyo 810M a while back as one side of my focusing rail was becoming rough as compared to the other. Not sure if I got something in there or what was going on but it was going down - when was the only variable. And I agree with you that you cannot get in there to fix it yourself.

I promptly sent it off to Toyo and requested a quotation for the repair (downloaded an order for from their website with instructions) and I got a quick call back from the service department about getting the work done. It cost me $125 for the work including a complete check of all of the other camera components (not sure how extensive the damage was) but I had the camera back in my hands in about 10 days start to finish. I am sure that if you wanted to go the Fed Ex route it could be faster. The camera is silky smooth and like new and I am pleased as punch. For all practical purposes, the internal damage to the gearing mechanism could have been done earlier and you were just unfortunate to have it fail on you at the most inopportune time.

Great camera and I am sorry that you got in such a pinch. Once fixed, the camera should be trouble free for many years.

Cheers!

chris jordan
26-Dec-2005, 10:55
Michael, I found Toyo's website and will do just what you have suggested. Thanks a ton and have a great day.

~cj

Michael Kadillak
26-Dec-2005, 12:26
No problem Chris. Let us know how it goes with Toyo in a brief follow up post as it is always good to qualify closure (good or bad) for others.

Here is to a great 2006 making images!

Dave Hally
26-Dec-2005, 13:19
When I broke my Toyo 45A on the rocks at Point Lobos, I called Toyo's support number ( I believe I got it from their website), Got the parts guy (MAC Group), and had him send me a parts book. I then ordered the parts I needed. I was also able to figure out how it all came apart. I recently got a new bellows from them also. Their prices are fair and the parts came very fast. I wrote up the repair procedures that I used to disassemble and install the new parts, which included replacing and adjusting the extension bed. If you would like a copy of these notes, ping me.
Dave

jnantz
26-Dec-2005, 15:22
sorry about your problems chris -

the folks at toyo are great - they did work on one of my cameras and i can't say enough good things about them!

good luck and have a great new year

-= - john