[Leica] Re: Bulk film loading - Tom A. & M6

[TTAbrahams@aol.com]

leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us

Re: Bulk film loading - Tom A. & M6
 The M6 baseplate that does not open the Leica cassette appeared in the early
90’s. My first Panda M6 had a regular baseplate, the next one, bought in 92
did have a smooth disc only. The baseplate needs to have the locking disc with
the raised edges and the “cut-out” as well as the curved stop for the lock.
The curved stop pulls the spring from the cassette out of the way, the “cut-
out” in the disc grabs the chrome pin on the cassette and opens and closes it
as required. I have made some Rapidwinders with this feature, but it is a
hassle. I have to solder a brass post on to the inside top plate and also make
a new locking disc with the slot in it. That means that I have to machine
discs from scratch, i.e start with a 1,25 inch thick steel rod, machine away
most of it and then put it in a milling machine and mill out the slot. Very
tricky and time-consuming and you have no idea if it is going to work until
you put the whole thing together. The quick and dirty way is to take an
existing baseplate, cut off the flange and make it into an inside cover for
the Rapidwinder, use the old locking disc, remachine a lock in steel, cut the
4mm square shoulders for the lock, drill and tap the centre hole and put that
together. Compare this to making the current lock, locking stems are turned
out on a Computer Numerically Controlled machine, matching disc turned out on
a CNC lathe and all I have to do is cut the opening for the lock, drill,
countersink and tap the locking stem and match it to the disc. One operation
takes 30 minutes, the other can take up to 3-4 hours.
 The extra cost of doing all the Rapidwinders with the Leica cassette opening
lock would add between $ 60-75 to the final cost, and there was not enough
users to warrant that cost. 
 I have three Rapidwinders with that feature that I use, all on M6’s and I
will make a couple of M2 Rapidwinders with the same feature, but a production
run! No thanks. I have about 110 leica cassettes that I occasionally load up
with moviestock and shoot ( 400 ft of film equals 68 cassettes).
  If there are LUGgers that are desperate to use the cassettes you can switch
the locks to the old style, or swap the baseplate on your M6 to an older style
baseplate.
  As for making the Rapidwinders compatible with the Leica cassette, no plans
for that at the moment. 

 Tom A