Topic: Mamiya C330 issue

[This-is-damion]

Hello all,  long time no speak...

Between a new job and the family free time is a thing of the past... one of the cruel ironies of life if that my new job gives me a few hours commute every day so in theory I should be filmwasters most posting poster, however,  Virgin trains from Birmingham to London must win awards for the most unreliable internet service in Europe, so as such the only thing I can do is plough through endless TV series on my tablet. 

Im currently on holiday  in South Devon and a sickness bug is sweeping through the assembled ranks, so ive been left to myself to work my way through it whilst everyone else goes out to enjoy a rare sunny day.


So to business....  I brought my Mamiya C330 down and first use I loaded the film as usual but it wouldn't catch when loaded so I ended up winding through the whole film, and then again with the next one I tried.
On top of that it keeps having issues with the  shutter not firing and also I noticed the aperture ring happily flies past the widest aperture of f2.8.  Possibly also looks the actual blades might be stuck on f32 or similar.

Does anyone have any experience of fixing a C330 or can you point me in the right direction?

[02Pilot]

No specific experience, but all of those problems sound like the result of dried, gummy lubricants that are now sticking things together rather than allowing them to move easily. I suspect the shutter is a Compur-type (there may be some differences in detail), and should be relatively easy to tear down for a full CLA, which it needs; the immediate problems are probably the blades being stuck together, but I'm sure other areas need cleaning and relubricating as well. The frame spacing gears are most likely on the same side as the crank, probably up at the top where the feeler spindle is. The first thing I'd be looking at is a stuck reset mechanism, which would make it so the ratchet never engaged the gears. Again, clean and relubricate is the order of the day.

If you get in there and can post some photos I may be able to offer more specific assistance.

[6cmsquare]

Not a Mamiya C330, but I had the same winding problem with my Mamiya M645, (maybe they have a similar winding mechanism) -I took it to our local (un-named) camera repair shop, and even though they supposedly repair old cameras, they said they couldn't figure it out, charged me $40, and sent me on my way. Turns out, they never even opened up the side of the camera. I carefully removed the side panel and the base to the winding lever, and the problem was obvious.  A tiny "v" shaped spring that readies the shutter when the arm makes a complete cycle had broken (and disappeared) -I was able to fashion one out of a very thin rigid piece of wire, but it turned out to be too strong, so when you got to the end of the roll, it wouldn't stop engaging the shutter on each revolution, and I had to hold down the shutter button to wing the film off the spool.  In the end, I found a "for Parts" Mamiya body on the web for $40, and easily extracted the spring and replaced it in my camera- works like new.  -As far as the shutter leaves, a little Naphtha on a q-tip should be able to clean out the gunk.

[This-is-damion]

I managed to fix the aperture selection issue, seems a small screw or some such is missing and the arm wasn't connected.  I've clicked it back into place and its holding for now!  Hopefully long enough for me to play with it tomorrow, just need this bug to clear and the weather to hold up and we are away!