Graflex.org

[jpmose]

Good news for all of you with the Graflex 1000 shutter, offered with a 135mm Rodenstock Optar and 270mm Rodenstock Tele-Optar lenses! Fred Lustig now rebuilds them. At one point he wasn't fooling with them. I spoke with him today and now its feasible. As he said, "I've come down the learning curve and will know rebuild them".

This is a breakthrough for you collectors that insist on authenticity, along with users that enjoy the extra high speeds. I have been checking around for the past four years and haven't found anyone who will touch them, including Steve Grimes. They are just too complicated to work on.

For those of you who own them but aren't aware of the common problem, 1000 shutters have plastic gears which control the movement of the shutter blades. They don't stand the test of time and often break. Once this happens, the shutter is usually retired.

Fred Lustig's phone number in Nevada is 775-746-0111.

Take care,

J. P. Mose

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Best regards,

JP Mose

[sobahguy]

Yes, indeed, and a fine job Fred has just done rebuilding my Graflex 1000 shutter. He spent the best part of three full days on it and he said it is in far better condition now than it ever was. Just as JP mentioned above, Fred told me that eccentrics associated with leaf movement were made from plastic and once fouled, they need to all be replaced. He said it should all be fine now, but he did say that even after a year of working on several of these shutters he is still learning something new on each one, including mine. He went on to explain in great detail that the 1000 shutter has 4 separate timing mechanisms that all must be synchronized with one another, and this sometimes requires taking the shutter apart several times to adjust & calibrate. He also said that if he followed the Parts/Service manual right down to the letter the shutter would be often doomed not to work. There are literally hundreds of miniscule adjustments that must all come together for proper operation. I just spoke with him again today to thank him on the work he has just done, the paperweight i sent him 4 weeks ago is now a functional piece of folklore again...another camera saved from Graflex Purgatory!!!!!

[45PSS]

I agree 110% with every thing Fred Lusting said about this shutter. I, using the factory repair manual as a guide, CLA'ed mine. Luckly I did not have any broken geras, eccentrics, and did not have to disassemble the timing gear ring. The manual was written for econimical repair when the shutter was in production and now one has to improvise and not throw old parts out.
Charles

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The best camera ever made is the one that YOU enjoy using and produces the image quality that satifies YOU.