Repair and Restoring 1967 Nikomat FTN vintage film camera.

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The nikomat FTN. The shutter is stuck in the cocking position. I will clean the lens later. Let's check the mirror box. I couln't not rotate the speed selector ring. There are some brass oxidation on the surface.

The internal condition is still good. The Old battery. There is no visible broken parts. The self timer is engaged. Let's see... Oh..

The shutter still not release. The shutter only release when facing downward. Anyway, let's start the repair and CLA. applied WD-40 and wait for hours. There are oxidation underneath. There is no visible broken parts in here.

Don't forget the shim washer. I applied some CA glue softener/remover to the screws. The mirror box unit.

Removing the exposure counter unit. This is the one I used for softening the glue. The Copla square shutter. Removing the light meter indicator. The viewfinder eye glass and light sensors unit.

Now the main units are seperated. Let's start working on each units. The shutter speed control unit.

Slow speed cams section. Flash sync contact. Slow speed escapement unit. Bulb mode engament lever.

Removing the self-timer unit. Relase the tension of the spring by unhooking the latchet from the gear. High speed control cams (1/60 - 1/1000).

This screw is left hand threaded. Shutter cocking and release section. Let's clean this slow speed escapement unit too. Self timer. This screw is left hand threaded. Concentrated cleaning solution (mild alkaline).

Raise and dry. Copper / brass cleaning and brightner. Coated with PTFE Dry lube for rust prevention.

Remove the excessive lube. Applying smooth Silicone grease. Remember this screw is left hand threaded.

Rotate this to the end. The dots on the gear and the base plate should be aligned. And at the two of the gear teeth shout be engage to the middle gear. The spring also hook to the cutout groove of the upper plate gear.

Reinstalling the self timer unit. Reinstalling the slow speed escapement. Select the speed to 1s.

Let's see... Now, it's functioning. We will adjust the speed later on. The shutters seem to be in good condition. But let's do this anyway so we can learn more about it. Unhook the latchet before removing the gears.

There are two tiny washers. Fast dry cleaning solution. 99.99% IPA will also do I think.. The blades should be clean of grease or oil.

Turn the gears about 3/4 turn. The sync contact should be touch when first curtain fully open. Seal the screw with lacqure paint. Let's check the whole mechanism.

Bulb mode. 1s speed. Everything is working great.

Let's adjust the shutter speed. Start with 1s speed first. Increase the tension of this spring one teeth at a time to get 1s speed. 1s speed. 1/15s Now increase the tension of the curtain spring to get around 7ms curtain travel time at 24mm distance.

Sorry I put this one wrong place so I corrected it. Initial. 1.500s (spring tension adjustment only) 1/1000s. One end of the sensor is faster and two curtains are a little bit out of sync.

Which mean the second curtain doesn't close as soon as the opening curtain reach the end. Bending the second curtain latch very slightly for finer adjustment. Inward -> slower response, Outward -> faster response.

1/1000s Try to get the reliable and resonable shutter speed. Try not to get the perfect speed cause you will never get. seals the screws if you are satified the result. If you want to learn more detail about Copal square shutter there is a great service manual about it. Now it's time for the mirror box. This gear is stuck.

Applied some wd-40 and waited for few hours. It is now moved. Let's clean these parts same as before.

Cleaning with hand soap water. DO NOT use IPA or other chemical. That will damage the coating because of the first surface mirror. Adding the new foams.

Adjusting the shutter speed indication strip is a little bit tricky. The string should pull the indication to 1/1000 mark. This one is the winding spring loaded pully that pull the string.

Most of the time winding the string to pully should be enough. This one is a little bit off, so I had to remove the glue attached to the string. And adjust the strip and glue back with the string.

Do not tighten the screws now. Let's check the light meter indication coil. The needle should move when applying small voltage. There is no internal resistance showing. Let's check the coil.

The coil is dead.. may be internally broken connection. So I replaced with the another one scavenged from another broken FTN. I used the resistor from original one. This side light sensor seems ok but This side may be degraded? Let's see are they still response to light or not.

The sensor are still response to light. Can they still reliable? Let's find out later. The mirror box assembly is almost finish. The main body frame is still good. Let's do some quick cleaning. Let's replace with the new wires. Contact cement glue.

Adjust the gear so that the shutter speed from shutter and viewfinder indicator are matched. Oh.. again.. I forget to add the wire and hook back this spring too. Applying some dry lube for rust prevention.

Now most of the main Unit are finished. It's time for some body work. The heavily oxidation one. The dof preview button is stuck.

3d printed paint covers. Wiping the surface with paint degreaser. Polyurethane 2k black paint. Heat treated with heat gun for better adhesion and surface finish. Satin Matte 2k clear coat.

I found out there are two debossed serial number overlap each other.. Made in Japan. Relettering with Acrylic white paint.

Let's clean these rings. Clean, Dry, and Lube. Connecting all the wire back. Yay!! The last parts to clean.. Adjust the two screws so that the inner ring should release when rotate left. Check the metering accuracy and adjust with the didicated light meter.

Adjust the needle as needed. It should not very differ from didicated light meter. Let's check the focusing accuracy. Set the shutter to B mode and lens focus to infinity at widest aperture. Set the two cameras face to face with both at infinity focus. Image infinity focus sharpness is great. Now, I switch the glass plate to another know-good camera and set face to face same as before.

Check from the viewfinder to see infinity focus is sharp or not. Now.. everything is checked. We are almost finish.. Replacing the new light seals with black yarn and glue.

Eco friendly white leather glue. Wipe out excessive glue with moist cotton swap. Leather shining polish (liquid). Finally, film loading test..

Exposure counter test. Now the restoration of Nikomat FTN is finished. What do you think about satin matte finish? Let's have some fun with FTN!

2025-03-30 20:13

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