Kiev 88
The Body
So as a break from the Skutter project decided to finally service this thing properly. All external hardware was removed & places somewhere safe (On top of a hoard pile). I then looked up a guide on taking these things apart as they are very tricky & not an easy process.
First part to remove was the ground glass, four screws & it was free, use a microfiber cloth the clean it. The mirror was more tricky but not to hard, unlike putting the mirror back in. Careful of the copper shutter, it is almost as thin as foil, I came close to putting a hole though mine a few times.
The next part was to remove the lens mount, note down where any shims were located unless you don't want your camera to ever focus again. Also the Aperture control arm was removed.
The internal covers on ether side & the bottom are really fiddly & annoying to get out. The one of the right off the camera where the shutter speed select & crank are likes to jam the shutter. It is worth putting the camera in bulb & firing it so you have room to remove the panels. The lens aperture is slightly to small, ironic for how big the camera is.
Once you have all the internal bits out, you can put them somewhere safe so they don't magically disappear on you. You cam also clean things like the mirror while it's out to.
Then pick your favorite lube, in this case Three In One. You want it to be relatively thin but also don't douse the whole thing with to much. Just put a little bit on every part that moves, since this is a mechanical camera, that is a lot of parts. Most of the gearing is in the bottom of the camera.
I am always impressed that just though the use of mechanics these machines are so precise.
Reassembly is the reverse of what you did to take it apart & it's a nightmare. The internal side panels are one of the worst parts & can jam the mechanics. This side panel that goes over the gearing for the winder was such a pain I just left it out. Every time it was installed it jammed the camera. The other part that is a nightmare to reinstall is the mirror, remember I said about cleaning it. Do it after you have finally managed to get it in.
Once it is back together make sure to run some testing to make sure everything is still working as it should & that none of the internal parts have jammed everything.
The Lens
The lens had a sticky aperture that would not always return back, while not critical for the taking of an image it does make seeing though the viewfinder harder. So time to crack it open.
Luckily I did not need to take much of the lens apart to get access to everything I needed access to. A spring needed to be moved back to it's correct resting place & Some lube to loosen up the bearings that made the aperture sticky. I also had to repair the springs as they had stretched. Then I put it back together it worked.
The Film Backs
One film back needed an internal spring put back in the right place, So I did that. These are a little trick to take apart due to quite a few hidden & hard to reach screws.
The last thing I needed to do was replace the light seals. Totally surprisingly the original light seals had failed & needed to be redone. So I did that, it took about an hour to do.