Rant: That time a brass gear stripped on a 1970s Pentax and I nearly lost it

I was in my basement workshop last Tuesday trying to fix a Spotmatic that came in with a jammed shutter, and I found a brass gear in the winding mechanism that had completely stripped its teeth. After three hours of hunting through my parts bins I managed to swap in a nylon replacement from a donor body, but now the tension feels a bit off and I'm worried it'll slip under heavy use. Has anyone else tried swapping gears on these old screw-mount cameras, or should I just tell the customer it's a lost cause?

2 comments

2 Comments

jordan_henderson132h ago

Buddy of mine did that exact swap. Lasted about a week before it gave out.

alice_allen516m ago

Heard a guy had one catch fire in his driveway @jordan_henderson13. Not worth the gamble.