Nikon S rangefinders's helical. To grease or not to grease?

[richardHaw]

Hello, I found some conflicting information regarding the helical from some of my Japanese friends so I will ask here just in case.

Some people say that greasing the helical is a good idea while some say that Nikon itself doesn't lubricate the helical and let it run dry. What is your take on this? I will open up mine tonight.

The rangefinder calibration will come in later, I have the manual for it but it doesn't say anything about calibration, just cleaning.
There was a brief mention of the horizontal and vertical calibration screws and where they are and that's it.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Is this in reference the internal helicoid for the 50 mm class lenses on the S-line Nikons? On all mine samples, back to the early Nikon S, the helicoid is functional yet apparently almost dry. I have S, S2, SP, and S3 by the way.

[richardHaw]

Is this in reference the internal helicoid for the 50 mm class lenses on the S-line Nikons? On all mine samples, back to the early Nikon S, the helicoid is functional yet apparently almost dry. I have S, S2, SP, and S3 by the way.

Yes, Sir that's correct.

Mine is fine but squeaks a bit. I imagine that it can be smoother...

I do not want to be grease-happy and end up with a useless S2
Sure, it will feel good when you focus by hand but feels terrible when you focus by the sawtooth-gear

I am going to calibrate my RF since it is a bit off when you look at it in infinity.

[richardHaw]

OK, I decided to grease it a bit. now it has become slightly damped so you will need more effort with the focusing wheel but it feels so good when focusing by hand.
with this, I can say that this should be a conscious choice before you start working on it. I will write about this this coming weekend. 

calibrated the focus,too.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

To an often overlooked aspect (for those not in possession of any S model): only the ultra-light 50 mm normals (without their own helicoid) should be operated with the focusing wheel on the camera itself. It doesn't take much dampening of the focusing function before you are rewarded with very sore or even bleeding fingers

[richardHaw]

Good thing i have a cheat sheet
Yes, my middle finger is nows scratched. the sawtooth gear is crazy sharp.

[richardHaw]

http://richardhaw.com/2017/03/04/repair-nikon-s2-front-overhaul/
OK, here is the article.

[null]

To an often overlooked aspect (for those not in possession of any S model): only the ultra-light 50 mm normals (without their own helicoid) should be operated with the focusing wheel on the camera itself. It doesn't take much dampening of the focusing function before you are rewarded with very sore or even bleeding fingers

As per the original Nikon camera manuals: the wide-angle lenses could be focused using the focus wheel. The 2.5cm wide-angle lens could only be focused using the wheel, it had no focus ring. As per the manual, The Telephoto lenses require too much force to use and the gears may become damaged.

The original Nikon SP repair manual advised soaking the helicals in gasoline for cleaning, of course after taking them off the body. I know of people that use modern lubricants for their Nikon, bit I have never done this. I still have a dozen Nikon RF bodies, used to have 16.

[richardHaw]

As per the original Nikon camera manuals: the wide-angle lenses could be focused using the focus wheel. The 2.5cm wide-angle lens could only be focused using the wheel, it had no focus ring. As per the manual, The Telephoto lenses require too much force to use and the gears may become damaged.

The original Nikon SP repair manual advised soaking the helicals in gasoline for cleaning, of course after taking them off the body. I know of people that use modern lubricants for their Nikon, bit I have never done this. I still have a dozen Nikon RF bodies, used to have 16.

petrol is reasonable for getting rid of gunk. i used kerosene before but I have a baby so the fumes are not welcome at all.
I may buy a 13.5cm with fungus and see if I can clean that up

[null]

When I did this procedure, I asked my Mechanical Engineer at work about it: he stated that the additives in Gasoline could penetrate the metal and act as a lubricant. Of course, back in the time the manual was written- Lead was an additive...Being a Computer Engineer, I took his word for it.

I have the original English-language Nikon SP repair manual in PDF form. Uploaded to DropBox. Let me know if this is useful. Much of the manual applied to my S3 and S2. I have some other books that cover the S, but not as much detail as this.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mtif8kzp731sesd/NIKON_SP_SERVICE.pdf?dl=0

[richardHaw]

Thanks, Brian! I will mention you when I further needed the manual. My Japanese one doesn't really go into detail and is more into the broken curtain business

Lead is indeed a lubricant! and it is also great for some other things like making paint stick to something. that is why leaded petrol seems to give you a more responsive engine as far as I can discern.