Kiev 4a Shutter question

[acheyj]

Just been cleaning and adjusting a Kiev 4a. The upper roller spindle must have been disloged some time before I got the camera as the slow speeds and shutter gap was way off. Finally got the dam thing working, as you may know the gears interact so if one adjusts for the blind gap the large gear controlling the escapments also is affected. After MUCH cursing and swearing with trial and error got all going.
Question .
Does anyone know the correct gap for the blinds for the top speed setting (1250/1000). Did mine by guess its abt 2-3 mm gap when cocked.
Any thoughts on an easy (HA HA) way to set these things.
Am waiting to hear from fedka re a black one, just can not controll myself!.
Boy the little Zorki 1 and Fed's are a delight to work on.

Cheers all

ron

[Spyderman]

Boy the little Zorki 1 and Fed's are a delight to work on.
Compared to Kiev - any camera is delight to work on :D

[ZorkiKat]

I must agree with Ondrej. Not only are FED-1 and Zorki-1 easier to work on (spares the sanity, no cursing, ergo no soap in the mouth, etc), but once repaired, they can be far more reliable as picture-takers. :D

[Jocko]

Not only are FED-1 and Zorki-1 easier to work on (spares the sanity, no cursing, ergo no soap in the mouth, etc), but once repaired, they can be far more reliable as picture-takers. :D

How very true :) So let us for a moment listen to the wind amid the grass, to the bird song and the lapping waves!

I love the lull before the storm! :D

Cheers, Ian

[ray*j*gun]

Well Contax gave up on the shutter design and they had the precision of the Japan culture. Its scary to think of a Russian version of this design.

[acheyj]

All coments noted, no advice tho re my question !. Still I enjoy the friendship of all your quips!
ray*j*gun, well you may be right but having once had a full Leica kit (M2, Visoflex, several lens, Focatar enlarger etc) I have always lusted after a Contax or Nikon sp.
I can not really afford to endulge my desire as I now have gone DSLR and 6x7 MF so I play with Zorki's for pleasure and Kiev's for pain (I'll beat the bloody Kiev u wait and see).
So how about somebody answering my bloody question !

As the yanks say "have a nice day"

ron

[Wayno]

I had the spindle fall out of a Contax shutter when I was replacing it's ribbons, and had the same fun experience as you to get everything back in synch by trial and error. The gap for the top speed was 2 - 3mm as I recall.

I've since obtained a copy of Peter Tooke's repair manual, which doesn't cover everything, but it has a few tips for getting everything in position.