Replacing Light Seals And Mirror Damper

Well today was the day to replace the seals! I have suspected that they have been leaking a bit of light into the film chamber as it was quite a loose fit, also some images have had a slight colour cast to them or its struggled with other colours. So after a bit of searching around I brought a complete kit from an eBay seller called "interslice". The kit is of a very high standard and even includes a little tool that's just right for the job. The kit costs around £12 and came within a week from the USA.

Having read the instructions thoroughly, twice, I got stuck in. The old seals turn to what can only be described as "goo" after 25 odd years of abuse and all of this goo needs cleaning out. It is a messy sticky affair but the instructions are very clear and easy to follow. This goo can be seen here on the film door and in the groves that the door sits in. You need to remove the film door which is done by sliding the small screw in a slot at the top of the hinge.

There is also a couple of very small seals on the door, these are made from a fabric like felt and quite tricky to replace, its best done with a pair of tweezers. The tip in the instructions to lick the sticky side really works and makes life a lot easier. On the paper towel to the right you can see just how much goo has come out already. It also helps to clean off the edges of the door as it picks up goo from the body. The instructions suggest using the tool as a dropper by squirting the light fluid on to it , as you don't need to use much, but I ran out of hands so poured some fluid into a small glass pot and dipped the tool in.



Here we are the first finished seal! A sharp Scalpel is essential and a good cutting mat helps and some tooth picks to help press the material down into the corners.

Right now to clean out the goo in the body. As per the instructions use the tool to clean out the goo before using lighter fluid. Its important at this stage to not let any bits of goo fall into the camera mechanism, in particular the film counter reset catch. The instructions warn about this and I found easiest to work away from the latch, rather than pushing stuff towards it. Once you've got most of the goo out, go in with a bit of tissue paper dipped in fluid, not dripping squeeze some out if need be, and clean out the rest.

Once that's all done its time to but the new seals in, these come in pre-cut lengths and you just push them in with the tool. I found that as long as you get the first bit in straight and tidy the rest will follow. I didn't push it to hard I planed on letting the door settle it when it closed to give a good seal.

All done! You can see here the film counter reset latch try not to let any goo fall in here. At this stage I put the door back on and closed it carefully just to make sure nothing stuck where it shouldn't and to seat the seals properly. The difference was immediately noticeable before I started this job you could close the lid with one finger and there was a small amount of movement, now it needs to be pushed home to shut and the movement is gone.



Last but by no means least is to replace the mirror damper. Scrape the remains of the old one away with the scalpel. DO NOT use any fluid here as there is a risk it will go on the focusing screen and wreck it. I did this with camera pointing down so the bits would tend to fall out rather than on to the mirror of focusing screen. Once replaced I flicked the mirror up gently and used it to push down on the foam to seat it properly. I checked every worked OK, the shutter action felt a little more precise so I guess the mirror was not slapping about any more.

That's it job done! Hopefully soon I'll be able to get out and run another roll of film through it and see if there is any improvement in the images.