HELP! Camera maintenance manuals?

[Videogriff]

I have a friends Canon 814 zoom. Not the super fancy 814, just the one with the flip down handle.

It got smoked. I wasn't there, but the word smoke came up frequently when I asked about it's break down/jam. I suspect the gears jammed and then she tried to keep using it and she burned out the motor.

I have experience repairing Pro video gear so I doubt this can be that hard to fix.

I would be greatly indebted to anyone who has some exploded views for how to pull one of these apart. It seems to have lots of hidden screws. I hate to start prying things up at random in the hopes of finding a way into this thing.

Thanks much in advance, Griff

[super8man]

There are really only two options...take a dremel to it...and but another off of ebay. Actually, that is a single choice since once you take almost any camera apart, the chances of it working upon reassembly is zero or thereabouts. Best simply to buy another...there are tons of them...dime a dozen you might say...

[Videogriff]

If they can put it together I can take it apart. I've had to calibrate video heads within 1.5 microns tolerance before. Human hairs are 30 microns. A Super 8 camera can't be so difficult. I just need a diagram.

Does anyone have a manual for this?

[super8man]

Fair enough and I wish you well but also consider that usually, you have to disassemble the optics to get at the main guts of many cameras...as for a service manual, I don't recall seeing these types of things out there in internet-land for super 8 cameras. I have seen many for other types of consumer goods but not for super 8. Lots of instruction manuals of course...you could buy one on ebay that is broken and take it apart (peeling off leather is very typical. So is attacking it through the film cartridge side as well. They rarely come apart without ruining something though...just my experience with the dozen or so I have butchered over the years.

[Blue Audio Visual]

...as for a service manual, I don't recall seeing these types of things out there in internet-land for super 8 cameras. I have seen many for other types of consumer goods but not for super 8.

Old Timer Cameras have quite a number of repair/service manuals for sale, but they are not that cheap!

For Canon 814 variants follow this link...

http://www.oldtimercameras.com/stock/Mo ... lPage=true

Scroll down towards the bottom of the page.

[Videogriff]

Thanks for the replies.

I suppose I should've said I don't want to spend any money on this. I'm laid off from my job right now, thank you economy, no money for toys and things.

I did find some links to places where manuals where about 60-70 $ which seems too much to me.

So if anyone else has experience with this camera, I just need a diagram outlining disassembly. I suppose I can fiddle the rest myself.


BTW- super8man. Do you hang out on the slot forums too?

[Videogriff]

Ok, I figured I should update my progress.

I will have to take some stills of it so other people know how to get this thing apart.

The chassis has some side panels that need to come off. The way to do this is actually simple once you get brave about it.

- There is a small panel next to the camera strap on the bottom with writing on it. Pry this guy up with a jewellers screw driver and it will reveal some screws.

- The tripod mount has a rubber pad you need to pry up. It reveals more screws.

- The knobs on the side of the camera need to be removed. these are hel;d in place by special screws with notches that require a special tool like a fork with two prongs. I used a pair od very sharp needle nose pliers to loosen these enough so that I could use my fingers to remove them.

- The camera lens actually fits over the side pieces. You will need to remove the macro knob. Pull it out and hand loosen the lower section of the know and the whole assembly comes off. After that you can use a screw driver to pry up the rubber grip around the base of the lens. Underneath the rubber grip are a pair of screws that will release the metal ring at the base of the lens. Once you've done this you have to pry the side panel out and then pull it down .

What seems to be broken on this camera is the variable shutter control knob. It's completely jammed. Without knowing what I was doing I tried removing the center lock. I succeeded in sheering off the pin that aligns the lock on it. Hmmm... hope that isn't an issue later on.

So there we go. More later.

Anyone have a trashed one of these sitting around I could cannibalize for parts?

Another concern is the adjustment pots on the Pc board. I see one so far. Without knowing proper voltages I may not be able to adjust this correctly. I assume a bench tech would hook the camera up to a occiloscope and be able to set things just right, or maybe it's just a voltage setting. But hey it's super 8... Perhaps I'll turn this into a truly special camera if I do my adjustments by trial and error.

Ciao

[jpolzfuss]

http://www.craigcamera.com/ has got a lot of (reprinted) instruction and repair manuals. (Unfortunately they haven't got a repair manual for your Canon)

http://www.micro-tools.com/store/Search ... goryCode=2 has got some general books about repairing cine/still cameras