M6 film not advancing??

[spicoli]

Hey forum, Gotta issue:

Im not sure if its the camera or me, but when I load the film into my M6, it doesnt always want to advance. Ill flick the advance lever, and Ive noticed the fork doesnt always turn. The wheel with the detents for the film will (the wheel on the left), but the three pronged fork that you slide the film into will sometimes just remain still. Not sure why that is, but it cost me a shoot the other day. Any ideas?

Scott
M6

[payasam]

Never even seen an M6, but this sounds like a problem with the clutch.

[Pablito]

if you cock the shutter, the take-up spool should move- every time. If not, you got a problem. Sounds like it's time for a visit to the repair shop.

[slad]

Make sure the sprocket holes on the film make contact with the sprocket roller before putting the back on. Just advance the film once to make sure every thing is turning.

[Silva Lining]

I had this problem once and put it down the the rewind level being partially enagaged (by accident) - never had it since so assumed that was the case

[Steve Bellayr]

The three prongs on the right should move all the time when the advance lever is forwarded. Putting the film in incorrectly will cause the film not to catch but the prongs will turn. What you have described is the camera malfunctioning.

[Harry S.]

As a relatively new M user, Ive had my share of embarrassing mis-loads with my M6.

What I always find to be the problem is the film canister is not all the way inside the camera when I load it and therefor doesn't engage the rewind crank. I always make sure I either hold the lower edge of the leader strip towards the top plate of the camera, or simply hold the camera upside down so the film canister is sitting right on the rewind "cog".

Ive noticed sometimes as I advance the leader the canister moves before I put the bottom plate on. When I stop this happening (as above) the film loads up and advances without issue.

[gflan]

Harry is correct, I am a new M6 user and I had the exact same problem that Spicoli described. I finally figured out how to correct it by pushing the film all the way down to the bottom of th right-hand side, as far as possible.

Once the film correctly feeds into the upper teeth, the problem is resolved. Hope that helps!

[spicoli]

Thanks Guys,

Just to clarify, the tulip/ take up spool/ three pronged thingie (T/TUS/TPT?: the thing on the right you put the film leader in) does NOT always turn when I cock the shutter. I always get the film into the "toothed wheel" and match up the slots to teeth, but have has the bottom plate off and seen the T/TUS/TPT not move when I cock the shutter/ film advance.

Ive had problems with this M6 before, framelines not coming up, and had it CLA'd 2 years ago. Its only had maybe 25 rolls ran thru it since then, so Im not understanding the problem. Ive had issues with every "Pro" camera Ive ever owned (Nikon D1 with a bad shutter, FM3A with a bad meter, now the 2nd issue in 2 years with this M6. Im very gentle with my stuff, so I dont understand.... Then again, I did buy all the aforementioned used.....

I like having a 8 secoond timer, DX film reading and apeture priority metering, so maybe a new M7 is in my future? Or maybe Ill just defect back to Nikon and get a D300.

Scott
M6