SX-70 Adventures

I feel like Austin Powers..I've just found a local shop that has a laser cutter so popped in with a veneer sheet to see if they could cut it without blowing the edges and they can.

I'm sending over a template image for the full skin pieces so they can cut them for me. That will save some of the swearing as a result of cutting/sanding 0.6mm veneer by hand and deliver perfect results every time.
 
I wanted to add some inlaid detail to my previous veneer skins but there was no way I could cut it by hand. As I can now have intricate detailing, what are everyone's thoughts about this?

View attachment 29490

I'm thinking of inlaying the Polaroid logo in either a different contrasting veneer or possibly a coloured acrylic? Not sure if that's taking it too far though :0)
 
Actually, I've been playing with the cutouts from the laser cut and when the round piece is rotated 90 degrees it gives enough of a contrast in grain to stand out without looking like marquetry :0)
 
Love the idea of the polaroid logo in contrasting veneer Steve, although the rotated grain is nice as well and very subtle. It'd be cool if you could do the lettering cut at the other angle as well, so it's a really subtle polaroid logo
 
Great minds and all that :D

Are you selling these off once they're done, they're getting me mighty tempted into buying an sx70 to play with
 
I will be. As much as I enjoy all types of photography, I stick to just digital and 35/120 day to day. I'll keep this thread updated with the customisation.

Cheers
Steve
 
Thanks to Chris @ped I've now got a film pack with working battery so I can sort out the shutter button issue. When the pack is inserted, the pick arm moves correctly so I know that the camera is mechanically sound but the button does nothing. On other SX-70's this has been because of dirty contacts so I've just had to sand the copper points lightly. However, after testing the remote trigger contacts using a bent paper clip I discovered that's not working either so it's more than muck :0(

After removing the 4 T4 screws on the back of the shutter assembly, the whole unit drops forward. After that you can remove the two long screws from the top corners and then unclip the chrome front cover to reveal the mechanics and the two copper contacts (below my finger);

View attachment 29584

Shorting these out with a screwdriver should fire the shutter but not in this case. Looking at the rear circuit board, if I short the right contacts out, the shutter fires and the camera ejects an (imaginary at the moment!) photograph through the rollers.

View attachment 29585

I was relieved when this fired the shutter because I now know that the issue is with the copper trigger contacts rather than the circuit/camera :0). I think I'll start by re-melting the solder on the contacts to make sure it's not a dry joint. If that doesn't help I'll have to strip down the front of the assembly to track the contacts back and I really didn't want to do that...fingers crossed!
 
Last edited:
I don't understand any of this but I'm always very impressed with those that do. :)
 
Lol, cheers Andy. Happy to help you in your gentle confusion. Basically, shutter button doesn't work, going to fix it ;0)

In other news, I've been offered space in the window of the gallery selling my prints to display any modified cameras as well as a display case pending some commission negotiations. I'm not sure I want to commit to converting a larger volume of cameras, sounds a bit like a job :0). Nice to know I've got the option though.

Right, time to get the soldering iron warming up!
 
Hmmm, I guess some cameras are sent to test me :0) I've rigged up an external battery pack now using the expired film pack so I can keep testing but, without stripping down the shutter unit, I can't see where shutter button contacts' connectivity stops. I've managed to find the original SX-70 repair/workshop guide which has a section dedicated to the strip down so that's what I'll be doing tonight. :0)
 
It's alive! (95%of the time..)

I'd been focussing on the shutter circuit looking for bad earths but spoke to a guy on Flickr who repairs SX-70's and advised me to re-solder all of the flex circuit contacts.

View attachment 29761

When I was doing that I noticed that the sprung connection at the rear of the camera that connects the bottom half to the top was hanging by a thread :0(

http://flic.kr/p/q3AxMQ

I attempted to tack it together again but the solder joint wasn't really strong enough

I've now made a new contact and re-attached it to the frame. Whilst it works the majority of time I've still got a few gremlins so not quite there yet!

http://flic.kr/p/qZwauQ

To help with my testing, I've rigged up a 6v battery pack to the internal contacts of the film pack sent to me by @ped

View attachment 29768

Also, my new veneer has arrived. I'll get the skin pieces cut before I make a decision though. It's slightly more 'different' to the last one :0)
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top