Re: [APML] Pentax 67 purge port........NOT!<g>

[Philip Perkins <philip@astrocruise.com>]

Bobby,

I'm really sorry that you had trouble drilling your Pentax.  About two 
weeks ago Lee Dodge sent me some pictures of the inside of the Pentax and 
they were interesting indeed.  Perhaps Lee would put them on a web page, or 
I could put them on my web site if he doesn't mind.  FYI, Lee is from San 
Antonio, Texas so you guys might want to hook up.  I will write to him and 
ask if I can his pics on my web site.

Lee's pictures confirmed just how close I came to disaster!  :-) I didn't 
drill the tripod hole for any spurious reason - it was because I have a 
standard gas nozzle accessory that screws into a tripod socket, and the 
ability to easily fit this to any camera was a big advantage for me.  I 
knew that I was taking a big risk in drilling the tripod hole without any 
knowledge of what was underneath. But I suppose exactly the same risk was 
true for the first person that drilled the accessory hole - it was lucky 
that it turned out to be the safe option.  I very much wanted to remove the 
baseplate (as I did with the Nikon), but it looked very hard to do.  It 
seemed that the whole outer shell would need to be removed, including the 
whole of the front portion, and the whole of the focus screen 
assembly.  This implied that the camera would need to go to a camera repair 
specialist afterwards for recalibration of the focus screen.  In fact it 
seemed that the camera should really go to a camera repair specialist just 
to get access to the area in the first place.  I didn't have time for that 
because of an upcoming astro trip so in the end it was a risk I was 
prepared to take.  If my risk hadn't worked the camera would have had to go 
to a camera repair specialist - the camera would not be ready for the trip, 
but I reckoned that I would hardly be any worse off than if I had not taken 
the risk at all (maybe a part would have to be replaced but probably not 
any worse than that).

But as it happened I was lucky and everything worked as 
planned.  Personally I would take the risk again in the same circumstances 
(i.e. time pressure) but I am sure that different people will have a 
different approach.  The gas purge itself has worked very well.  Some gas 
escapes into the void, but as it turned out even that is a good thing.  I 
ran test which showed that this gas vents out through the apertures just 
behind the take up spools and so it goes directly into the film transport 
chamber - it could hardly have been planned better! :-)

My wife is always complaining about how I always seem to get lucky - she 
says I get away with blue murder! :-)  But it won't always work out that 
way.  Until I saw Lee's pictures I had no idea that the tripod hole method 
was any more risky than the accessory hole method.  I really thought that 
the risk was just the same.

So Bobby, I don't know whether you will seal up the tripod hole and drill 
the accessory hole instead, or whether you will continue to use the tripod 
hole now that the camera is repaired.  Either way, I hope that the gas 
purge works really well.  Please feel free to convey the following message 
to your perplexed Korean gentleman:  "Englishman drill hoe 'cos he big 
nutcase.  Me copy mad Englishman.  Me not nutcase"... <g>

--Philip
-------


At 18:43 12/10/01 -0500, you wrote:
>Ok guys we've had some tenuous recommendations on how to drill those Pentax
>67's for the N2 gas purge. For those of us using hypered film there's really
>no choice. So after much thought, worry, and fretting I drilled mine this
>week. I went up the tripod socket as others have successfully done. I even
>used a real nice set of pictures sent by Lee Dodge as a guide. (Thanks Lee,
>you tried to help me) There were hazards along the way but so far everybody
>had missed doing any damage to their beloved (and expensive)
>astrophotography med format champions. One APML'er even said in his
>description "As I drilled through, there was initially a solid portion
>immediately behind the tripod hole.  Then there was a void (!) (probably
>about 3 mm deep).  I decided to continue nonetheless - the deed was already
>committed........." Well that sounded to me more like a description of a
>young man's first clumsy attempt at "true love" instead of how to
>successfully drill out a $1000+ camera but I took his advice to heart
>anyway. <VBG> (I won't tell his name but he's from the UK and he has a real
>nice RC <g>) After I had finished the deed I has some frayed insulation and
>a dead battery check. :-o
>
>Luckily I found a Camera shop with someone who knew Pentax 67's. But he did
>not know the English language very well. He was from Korea. He replaced the
>two cut wires in about 90 min. The lady who worked at the counter told me he
>kept asking: "Why driil hoe; why driil hoe?!" <VBG>
>
>Moral of the story: The better choice for drilling the Pentax 67's for a gas
>purge might be the accessory hole.
>Your Mileage May Vary <g>
>Bobby Middleton
>
>
>--  APML Archives at <http://astro.umsystem.edu/apml/>  ---
>              Unsubscribe at <majordomo@seds.org>

Philip Perkins - philip@astrocruise.com
Wiltshire UK & Luberon France
Astrocruise - http://www.astrocruise.com


--  APML Archives at <http://astro.umsystem.edu/apml/>  ---
             Unsubscribe at <majordomo@seds.org>