I keep collecting these things. I have 10 of them. One of them I bought in Arizona in the 1990s. The others I just keep picking up on Ebay for dirt cheap. I've never done a Clean Lubricate & Adjust (CLA) before. I thought, let me open the roughest of them- the one covered with duct tape residue and it doesn't close properly.
It's definitely daunting but there is some good guidance on the web. When you take the bottom cover off, a little piece immediately comes out of the camera if it's not perfectly inverted- that is the film rewind button. It's easy to see where it belongs once you put it in its hole the bottom cover again.
Same thing happens when you remove the top cover: There is a tiny cylindrical plunger that transmits the downward motion to the shutter release for when a cable release is installed.
The diopter on the back was so tightly installed, I decided to make a lens wrench to get it off the eyepiece. I really wanted to steal it for another better functioning body, but now I've become obsessed with getting it off without destroying it.
This is serial number 3823902
- outside diameter of diopter is .947
- inner diameter of eyepiece (inside top cover) .786
- 0.547 (box long dimension) 0.375 (short dimension)
Someone appears to have put this on with epoxy. Even with all the gripping power of the the wrench, it took tremendous effort to get this loose.
Next idea is toe make some battery holders so I can install an LR44 or Duracell 357 battery in there. The Older Nikkormats take a PX625 mercury cell that runs at 1.3 - 1.4 volts. Nobody uses these any more. There are Wein zinc-air cells you can buy but I think the better path is to install a tiny aluminum case to make up for the smaller diameter, and put a little diode in the line to lower the voltage to about 1.4v.
Battery compartment inside diameter: 0.610
Duracell 357 battery dimensions:
- 0.454 diameter
- 0.207 high