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Discussion of diving methods and equipment available prior to the development of BCDs beyond the horse collar. This forum is dedicated to the pre-1970 diving.
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timbo
Lung Diver
Posts: 53
Joined: Fri Apr 02, 2010 1:56 pm
First Name: tim
Location: belgium

Nikonos V internal O-ring replacement

Sun Sep 05, 2021 3:31 pm

Hello,

Someone gave me his vintage Nikonos camera kit. It is a Nikonos V with a SB102 flash and
some other accessories.I would like to learn how to use this but the camera has not seen water in 20 or
so years. So it needs to be serviced. The users manual only mensions 4 O-rings but I have done some reading and
there are 14 in total in the housing. I can't seem to find someone whe services this camera here in europe so I would like to try it myself.
A bought a broken Nikonos V for 40 bucks online and would like to try dismanteling this one first to see how it is assembled. I have more than 10
years experience in proffesional diving gear repair and maintenanceand have acces to a testing tank. Did somone here already did an full O-ring replacement on a Nikonos V?

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antique diver
Master Diver
Posts: 2210
Joined: Sun Dec 10, 2006 12:50 pm
First Name: Bill
Location: North-Central Texas

Re: Nikonos V internal O-ring replacement

Sun Sep 05, 2021 3:52 pm

Hey Tim, You are the guy that can probably handle that challenge! I may need to do that some day, so keep us posted on your progress. :)

(I wonder what it costs to send o-rings to Belgium?... BTW, Tim's not in Belgium, Wisconsin)
The older I get the better I was.

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timbo
Lung Diver
Posts: 53
Joined: Fri Apr 02, 2010 1:56 pm
First Name: tim
Location: belgium

Re: Nikonos V internal O-ring replacement

Sun Sep 05, 2021 4:06 pm

Hi Bill, how are you?
Nice to hear from you. I don't know where to start because
I have absolutely no understanding of camera repairs, but a waterproof housing is a waterproof housing. Whether it is from an underwater communication set or from a camera. Selecting the correct o-rings will be another challenge. that's why I want to experiment and test on the faulty camera first. I've also been working on the K14's. I'll bring an update on that later. It's been a strange and busy summer for me and unfortunately I haven't been able to do much on my projects.

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timbo
Lung Diver
Posts: 53
Joined: Fri Apr 02, 2010 1:56 pm
First Name: tim
Location: belgium

Re: Nikonos V internal O-ring replacement

Sun Sep 05, 2021 4:58 pm

You also have a Nikonos V Bill?

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antique diver
Master Diver
Posts: 2210
Joined: Sun Dec 10, 2006 12:50 pm
First Name: Bill
Location: North-Central Texas

Re: Nikonos V internal O-ring replacement

Sun Sep 05, 2021 5:09 pm

timbo wrote:
Sun Sep 05, 2021 4:58 pm
You also have a Nikonos V Bill?
Two of them, but I'm not tearing into one until you describe what is involved! ( Don't make us wait 3 years like the K14 project :roll: ) :lol:
The older I get the better I was.

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timbo
Lung Diver
Posts: 53
Joined: Fri Apr 02, 2010 1:56 pm
First Name: tim
Location: belgium

Re: Nikonos V internal O-ring replacement

Sun Sep 05, 2021 5:40 pm

I wil do my best Bill!!!!
Is it been 3 years on the K14? wow,time goes fast.
I must say that my K14 turned out to be a way bigger project than expected and I want to do it right.
The Nikonos wil be my winter project. I wil try to share as much info as possible.

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timbo
Lung Diver
Posts: 53
Joined: Fri Apr 02, 2010 1:56 pm
First Name: tim
Location: belgium

Re: Nikonos V internal O-ring replacement

Wed Sep 15, 2021 9:38 am

The defective Nikonos camera was in the letterbox yesterday. Today was a quiet day at work so I took the camera with me and disassembled it here. All in all, the disassembly was fairly straightforward. I was glad I could try it on the faulty camera first. I was able to locate all the seal o-rings. two are not yet disassembled as I first have to buy a suitable screwdriver for this. I also disassembled the search lens, but I will not do this with the working camera. It's a lot of little parts put together and I don't think I'll be able to put this back together 100 percent the way it was done at the factory. By the way, these are specially shaped flat O-rings that I won't be able to buy anywhere. The faulty camera will never take pictures again as it is clearly flooded. The plan now is to find new o-rings and install them in the housing and then do a pressure test. Then I am sure that I have chosen good o-rings. Then I do everything again with the working camera and then I still have to figure out the lens and flash. I'll try to post a kind of mini photo report later.

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timbo
Lung Diver
Posts: 53
Joined: Fri Apr 02, 2010 1:56 pm
First Name: tim
Location: belgium

Re: Nikonos V internal O-ring replacement

Wed Sep 15, 2021 3:49 pm

Image

So this is the test camera. The spanner lever is blocked so the camera does not work.
The first thing I removed is the cover of the electronics and mechanical parts.

Image

you can see the internals.
the rewind lever and asa control assembly is hold in place with a clip. after removing this the assembly comes out.
the spanner lever assembly is hold in place with a single screw. The battery has to come out. The camera itself is held in place with
three smal screws. after removing these the interns comes out of the casing. You have to disconnect the connection to the view lens and
desolder the flash connector wires.

Image

the camera itself. as you can see it has water dammage and corrosion.


Image

the empty case.

Image

the rewind/asa knob assembly. you can see the clip

Image

Image

everything layed out.


Now I have to look for O-rings. I have been reading about this and learned there is a Japanese O-ring normalisaton system.
wil have to do some mesuring and looking up.

rx7diver
Lung Diver
Posts: 61
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 11:22 am
First Name: Ronald
Location: Columbia MO

Re: Nikonos V internal O-ring replacement

Sat Oct 02, 2021 11:09 pm

@timbo,

Thank you for this detailed write-up.

rx7diver

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