Excited for my new-old camera, the Petri Racer.

arbeterfroyen said:

So it was actually advancing more consistently yesterday by pure coincidence. It feels so random. I took a little video.

https://streamable.com/gcaf1s

It actually advanced more previously without even putting my thumb down like I do here (which, of course, still didn't work one frame before and one frame after the successful advance). I mostly think it's just not catching on the post in the take-up spool and that's the fundamental issue. It's in the slot securely and all that or it wouldn't work at all ever.

...Ya know, I'm looking at my other Petri (very broken needs parts it's decoration) and... I think my take up spool is just not attached to the post and it's sometimes getting lucky and catching it.

Click to expand...

What’s rotating ? The spool or the sprockets or both ? It looks like it’s on permanent rewind

So the one part consistently moving is the metal rod that goes up through the spool. It is not consistently attached to the spool, the spool can just spin on it.

It can be a little hard to see (bad light in here), but you can see the rod spinning mostly out of sync with the spool when I'm advancing.

arbeterfroyen said:

So the one part consistently moving is the metal rod that goes up through the spool. It is not consistently attached to the spool, the spool can just spin on it.

It can be a little hard to see (bad light in here), but you can see the rod spinning mostly out of sync with the spool when I'm advancing.

https://streamable.com/arqn8e

Click to expand...

It does look like it’s somehow in rewind mode. In rewind the sprocket and winding spool spin freely, which is what looks like it happening there. I doubt it’d be economically worth getting it repaired - you might want to see if there as a service manual available.

The Petri 7s manual might help ? https://www.manualagent.com/petri/7s/repair-manual

Yeah, it's weird that it catches one out of every ten times (sometimes consecutively, sometimes not). Weird. It doesn't spin freely backward, just doesn't move forward. It's odd. It would make sense if it just was totally stuck in a rewind.

Sigh, no, I won't be paying to get this repaired.

I actually ended up here from a much worse off Petri 7S that I worked on - but that had broken parts so it was a no-go. Maybe if something is amiss here I can cannibalize that one...

I'm trying to also think if there is a way to like... manually insert something that will keep them together until I need to rewind and I can just remove it in a dark room or bag. I'm not out on multi-roll shoots so it could wait until I got home. That's kind of just putting the problem off though, but it also may be a practical solution rather than tearing the whole thing down possibly unsuccessfully...

So I broke this down (and I'm mostly just live-blogging this in case anyone ever needs this information again).

I found the culprit - there's a flange that is supposed to basically push the gear that corresponds to the take-up spool. There was a line of wire that was holding it inward - it needs room to move, but it won't work if it falls out of alignment. The wire was off and loose in the bottom and was too short and had no looped or hooked ends - I think it just disintegrated basically.





I image-stabilized this because I did not feel like getting my partner or a tripod and the video was wonky. But you can see how it displaces.




Unfortunately, I don't entirely know how to remedy this. Firstly, I don't even know where the wire attaches to. It ostensibly goes around the pin on the underside in the second image, but the back end is a mystery. I could probably use some sort of epoxy and a sliver or something and attach it to the outer edge of the disc. Unfortunately there's nothing to be cannibalized from my Petri S7 which is significantly different in design. So my options are to:

A. DIY a solution to hold that in place so it doesn't flop all over but that will certainly nuke it for the future

B. Only shoot in one specific portrait mode

C. Risk buying another camera that is probably also broken and hope it can be hybridized

D. Having another pretty camera on the shelf

arbeterfroyen said:

So I broke this down (and I'm mostly just live-blogging this in case anyone ever needs this information again).

I found the culprit - there's a flange that is supposed to basically push the gear that corresponds to the take-up spool. There was a line of wire that was holding it inward - it needs room to move, but it won't work if it falls out of alignment. The wire was off and loose in the bottom and was too short and had no looped or hooked ends - I think it just disintegrated basically.





I image-stabilized this because I did not feel like getting my partner or a tripod and the video was wonky. But you can see how it displaces.

Click to expand...

There is a groove in that piece above the gear. I would think it wrapped through there, but who knows how it terminates. Maybe just a hole with a 90 degree bend in the wire or something. No way to get a better guess without deeper surgery.

arbeterfroyen said:

https://streamable.com/6lh87c

Unfortunately, I don't entirely know how to remedy this. Firstly, I don't even know where the wire attaches to. It ostensibly goes around the pin on the underside in the second image, but the back end is a mystery. I could probably use some sort of epoxy and a sliver or something and attach it to the outer edge of the disc. Unfortunately there's nothing to be cannibalized from my Petri S7 which is significantly different in design. So my options are to:

A. DIY a solution to hold that in place so it doesn't flop all over but that will certainly nuke it for the future

B. Only shoot in one specific portrait mode

Click to expand...

Looks like you could shoot in any position as long as you have it in the right orientation while advancing the film between shots.

arbeterfroyen said:

C. Risk buying another camera that is probably also broken and hope it can be hybridized

D. Having another pretty camera on the shelf

Click to expand...

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"Law and order" is anathema to liberty and justice.

Yeah, the terminal point is what threw me. You're right I'd need to do some more dissection which

I'm trying to avoid... I took some stiff but equivalent wire and made a guardrail to hold the flange in place - it hasn't fallen out of alignment but it's not as deep as need be so it's not working.he scrap that came out didn't have a spring so I don't think it involved that.

Im beginning to wonder why it was built this way in the first place - it doesn't need to move when rewinding which I tested, so why is it needing to move at all? Kind of a rhetorical question ultimately.

Really scratching my head.

This guy offers a reprint of the service manual for $15.

http://www.photobooksonline.com/books/petrirepair.htmlhttps://www.craigcamera.com/lit_newrep.htm

Probably somebody who repairs old watches could help with the spring.

arbeterfroyen said:

Yeah, the terminal point is what threw me. You're right I'd need to do some more dissection which

I'm trying to avoid... I took some stiff but equivalent wire and made a guardrail to hold the flange in place - it hasn't fallen out of alignment but it's not as deep as need be so it's not working.he scrap that came out didn't have a spring so I don't think it involved that.

Im beginning to wonder why it was built this way in the first place - it doesn't need to move when rewinding which I tested, so why is it needing to move at all? Kind of a rhetorical question ultimately.

Really scratching my head.

Click to expand...

If it’s any help it looks like you’re not alone - https://www.photo.net/discuss/threads/how-to-fix-film-advance-for-petri-racer-f1-8.430956/

Given that it wouldn’t make economic sense to have it repaired, you couldn’t just expoxy the whole wind on arrangement together ?

I actually came across that! Which is sort of why I am documenting this - hopefully this will some day help someone out in the future.

I was considering making a small shim to do the job of epoxy to make sure that is a solution. Holding it in place, see how it goes, maybe there was a reason it wasn't integrated as one piece and I can discover that. But that doesn't feel like it could be used permanently. But who knows!

Oofa doofa. That's a pricy manualball. Thank you for tracking this down for me though, maybe I can find a use for this in the future.

arbeterfroyen said:

Yeah, the terminal point is what threw me. You're right I'd need to do some more dissection which

I'm trying to avoid... I took some stiff but equivalent wire and made a guardrail to hold the flange in place - it hasn't fallen out of alignment but it's not as deep as need be so it's not working.he scrap that came out didn't have a spring so I don't think it involved that.

Im beginning to wonder why it was built this way in the first place - it doesn't need to move when rewinding which I tested, so why is it needing to move at all? Kind of a rhetorical question ultimately.

Really scratching my head.

Click to expand...

Perhaps it has to do with partial advance - how it behaves if the advance lever is only pushed halfway.

I think what will be my final post on the matter.

This obviously requires a part I simply don't have and can't begin to figure out the shape of. Tried about ten shapes with different gauge wires and can't do it.

Until I am ready to pay $15 for a repair guide (that judging by the Petri 7S one I have was not useful) and another at least $50 for an as-is/parts second camera in hopes that it will be what this needs, I will be leaving this be.

The suggestion here that I should simply advance it in the appropriate portrait position and then reorient to shoot is what I'm going to be doing. It sounds very silly but this camera IS very fun so I'm willing to give it a shot and see if it's tolerable.

Wish me luck.

arbeterfroyen said:

I think what will be my final post on the matter.

This obviously requires a part I simply don't have and can't begin to figure out the shape of. Tried about ten shapes with different gauge wires and can't do it.

Until I am ready to pay $15 for a repair guide (that judging by the Petri 7S one I have was not useful) and another at least $50 for an as-is/parts second camera in hopes that it will be what this needs, I will be leaving this be.

The suggestion here that I should simply advance it in the appropriate portrait position and then reorient to shoot is what I'm going to be doing. It sounds very silly but this camera IS very fun so I'm willing to give it a shot and see if it's tolerable.

Wish me luck.

Click to expand...

Wishing you luck and loadsa fun. At the end of the day that is what it is truly all about............... or is it? :-D

arbeterfroyen said:

So I broke this down (and I'm mostly just live-blogging this in case anyone ever needs this information again).

I found the culprit - there's a flange that is supposed to basically push the gear that corresponds to the take-up spool. There was a line of wire that was holding it inward - it needs room to move, but it won't work if it falls out of alignment. The wire was off and loose in the bottom and was too short and had no looped or hooked ends - I think it just disintegrated basically.





I image-stabilized this because I did not feel like getting my partner or a tripod and the video was wonky. But you can see how it displaces.

https://streamable.com/6lh87c

Unfortunately, I don't entirely know how to remedy this. Firstly, I don't even know where the wire attaches to. It ostensibly goes around the pin on the underside in the second image, but the back end is a mystery. I could probably use some sort of epoxy and a sliver or something and attach it to the outer edge of the disc. Unfortunately there's nothing to be cannibalized from my Petri S7 which is significantly different in design. So my options are to:

A. DIY a solution to hold that in place so it doesn't flop all over but that will certainly nuke it for the future

B. Only shoot in one specific portrait mode

Click to expand...

You should be able to shoot in any orientation, just wind on with the right side of the camera uppermost...

arbeterfroyen said:

C. Risk buying another camera that is probably also broken and hope it can be hybridized

D. Having another pretty camera on the shelf

Click to expand...

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