Rail troubles (Not about trains; about a Speed Graphic.)

[BrianShaw]

I'm not trying to do anything crazy, and I'm not going to send it out for repair until I've exhausted all options.

James, what part of the world are you located in? Fred is an option but if you are in LA (meaning Los Angeles, not Lower Alabama) there are local people (including repair professionals who specialized in Graphics) who will likely give you some walk-in advise.

[thedevilyourneighbor]

The infinity stops on Anniversary (and I think the earlier models too) definitely do NOT fold. They are fixed and have a "spring-like" side appendage that the front standard slides under when it is properly pulled to the infinity stop.

This.

I have an anniversary that exhibits similar symptoms of difficulty pulling the standard on and off of the rails. In my case it is simply a matter of dirty rails. I think the tolerance between the rails and front standard are tighter than in later Graphic models, IDK for sure though.

Sometimes I need to hold the front standard between my fingers with fingers at the bottom of the standard and "wiggle" it into position along the rails.

It doesn't seem like you should have to remove the standard from the rails to re-engage with the rail section in theody. They are linked so you can't really do that anyway. But removing the front standard will definitely allow you to cleant he rail and the underbody of the standard. I don't think any lubricant was in the original spec on those parts but using a wax-based lubricant has crossed my mind. I keep thinking I heard people refer to something called "Pedro's Sex Wax" that is used in bicycles and is often recommended for this kind of application. Maybe I just want to get some becuase the name intriques me????

I'm pretty sure it's not dirty rails. I'm not saying my rails can't do with a cleaning, but it had no trouble moving between them before. I'm pretty sure I had to have closed it when it wasn't in completely. I've tried wiggling it like crazy and still can't get it onto the inner rails.

And this is embarrasing, but I don't have a screwdriver that's both small enough to fit into the screws on the infinity stops AND big enough for me to get a good grip on to unscrew screws that have probably not been touched in 60 years.

Sigh. Now I need to buy a new screwdriver too.

[thedevilyourneighbor]

James, what part of the world are you located in? Fred is an option but if you are in LA (meaning Los Angeles, not Lower Alabama) there are local people (including repair professionals who specialized in Graphics) who will likely give you some walk-in advise.

Oh. And I'm in Bakersfield. It isn't far from LA, but I don't own a car and can't afford to go back and forth since I'm trying to save for a move to Sacramento.

[thedevilyourneighbor]

Okay. Now I'm sure my inner rails are bent. Trying to figure out what's up, I stumbled upon what's wrong (kinda)

The left side (when facing the front of the camera) of the inner rails were not in the track for them. Instead, it was sitting on top. That's why the front standard would not go back onto the inner rails. Because one side was sitting too high.

Now...

Using the drop bed feature, I managed to get the inner rails back into the track, but it'll only move so far backwards when I use the focus knob.

Because it must be bent, right? It's stuck good. If I turn it harder, the focus knob is going to break (perhaps that what happened to the other focus knob which was broken when I received the camera.

I can't blame the previous owner though because it really did work fine before. It's obviously something I did. I don't even know what since I was so tired that my brain was mush.

Let that be a lesson: Never experiment with cameras you don't understand yet when you're not fully aware.

I don't know if I'm going to need new rails or not, but I think I'm onto something.

[thedevilyourneighbor]

Hot Diggity Damn!

I managed to get it back in. It's a little awkward and I have to lift the one side of the inner rails when I extend the rails, but I can close the camera and resume normal operation!

Time to run some film through this bad-boy!

Everything is going to be alright...

For Now.

The End?

-James.
Is happy now.