Acme 4 wierdness

[swmcl]

Hello all,

Time for me to be dumb.

I've got a new-to-me Acme Synchro 4 with something else (or is it standard?!).

There is a bi-post for the flash then a lever and a thumbwheel then a shutter socket, a shutter cocking lever and then a push button and another lever which pushes inwards.

I think the last push button and lever combination is a pre-view feature. It allows one to stop down without firing the shutter. Why I'll never know !

What I don't get is the thumbwheel and its lever. There are markings 23 yellow, 20 blue, 5 whi and 0 red.

I pressed the lever next to the thumbwheel and now I can't get anything to move. It feel as though the whole thing is jammed. I haven't fired the shutter yet !!

I realise that the blue white thing is probably something to do with old flashes but the weirdness is why cocking its little lever should jam the whole thing...

Please see the digipic and reassure me I haven't bruk it.

Pleeze.

[Louis Pacilla]

OK Steve, So this is how it works. The small push button is the preview. The chrome weird looking flat push lever is for cocking the shutter. This is the one furthest from the cable socket and sync. So push that weird flat lever and if you push the preview button, you must re-cock the shutter to close preview & ready the shutter to fire.

The sync dial has to be set to red for modern flash/strobe then cock the lever in the same spot to fire the flash sync. so to use flash set to red on dial, cock sync then push in shutter cocking lever in & fire shutter w/ flash sync. If no flash is used cock the chrome lever (shutter cocking lever) on far side & that's it. Now fire shutter w/out sync.

I hope this makes sense. It's really pretty easy after you do get it.

[swmcl]

Ah!

I press the level I thought was a preview and it has loosened it. Thanks Louis.

I am familiar with Copals and the Ilex 5 so now this is the third type ...

Good thing it isn't broken. I was worried for a day there ...

Thanks again.

[gth]

Yeah I feel stupid too right now... just got a Caltar 12: /6.3 in No 4 Acme Syncro.

For starters... no cable socket .... just a hole..

The flat flush lever to cock the shutter. It closes the shutter when I press it but but does not latch the shutter closed.

The protruding lever where I trip the shutter (?), only moves when I hold the cocking level in, shutter closed. No tripping.

Also what about this push button?? Between the two levers I have what seems like a screw with a fancy head, nothing can be pushed. The screw is threaded into a hole maybe 1/16 of an inch

Shutter and lens looks good otherwise.

Yeesh... do I feel STUPID, either I can't figure it out (hopefully) or I purchased a dud!! Oh, well, not the first time (either).

/gth

[gth]

And...wouldn't you know... smartypants here, got it to work by unscrewing the screw between the two levers. With it out.. cocking lever cocks and trip lever trips...

Ok, so no cable socket but we can replace that.. RIGHT!?

And whohoa... now I figured out that the weird screw is actually a screw with a button... which enables a open shutter focus state... Hey, Einstein here!!


/gth

[BrianShaw]

The sync dial has to be set to red for modern flash/strobe then cock the lever in the same spot to fire the flash sync. so to use flash set to red on dial, cock sync then push in shutter cocking lever in & fire shutter w/ flash sync.

Just to expand on this statement a bit... the numbers are the number of millisecond delay. So as Louis said, 0 (zero) milisecond delay = X sych. The other delays are for the different variety of flash bulbs that can be accomodated by that shutter.