Droug winding mechanism

Have you ever seen the winding mechanism of a Droug?

I have two Drougs here (and btw. solved the problem to take off the top cover - there is a hidden screw under the plate in the accessorie shoe). One has problems with the long speeds so I took off the cover of both to compare them.

It seems that the first curtain is too fast so I removed the bottom cover to see if I can adjust the spring power for the first curtain.

Wow, it looks amazing, there is a long chain that moves while pulling the fast wind lever. Here are some pictures just for fun:

http://fotos.cconin.de/ussrphoto/droug03.jpg

http://fotos.cconin.de/ussrphoto/droug01.jpg

http://fotos.cconin.de/ussrphoto/droug02.jpg

Ulrich

http://fotos.cconin.de

Dear Ulrich,
a few days ago I have posted a question regarding Drug winding mechanism. I have received two Drugs from my camera repair man and now they can wind film, but they are somewhat crude and coarse. It is not a butter fine movement.
Did you lubricate your Drugs- do they wind smooth or are they also crude?

Best regards,
Marko

Well, when everything is stripped and cleaned down to the last screw and finally relubricated, a lot of friction is gone. PTFE grease really helps, but there is a lot of tension and strain on the winding action.

The one I had turned out to be smoother than before. But both torsion and horizontal force on the cocking shaft remain.

Thanks Ulrich, never saw this chain before. The chain wheels are quite small and will take much power if the chain isn't oiled. After so many years this will be a major reason if winding isn't smooth.
Not a good engineered construction. Now I'm curious if Leica used a similar system.

No, it is the other way round!
In those days when these were new, it was usual that _everything_ mechanical needed service. Service being that what you do to keep something working, and preventing repair. As many nowadays confuse these, when they don't service, and they have to repair! So cleaning, a few drops of oil, and adjustment is normal.

Best regards,
Juhani

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="MS Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by cedricfan</i>
<br />In those days
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

I wonder how strong the spring is at the end of the chain. This construction could never be as smooth as a Zorki-6 and if it wasn't recently serviced it even might not be as fast as a Zorki-6.
After use it could be that your hands are oiled too. Unbelievable that they produced 24000 pieces of it in 1960 and 1961. Did they have a warranty back in those days? How many did they get back?

Now I can imagine why they called it Friend [:D]

Sometimes the Soviet products were not intended to be sold in quantities, or being working. But a space country wanted to show that they can it, and in all possible ways.

Best regards,
Juhani

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="MS Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Sometimes the Soviet products were not intended to be sold in quantities, or being working. But a space country wanted to show that they can it, and in all possible ways.

Best regards,
Juhani<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Not only the Soviets made such prestige products. Such products can be found in any nation. The Foca Universal is a French example of such camera.

Hi Milo
Do you mean Foca Universal or Foca URC? Second one has been produced for only 2000ex....
Fred

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="MS Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Hi Milo
Do you mean Foca Universal or Foca URC? Second one has been produced for only 2000ex....
Fred<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Well, maybe not really fair of me to compare the Droug with the Foca Universal. The Drough matches known camera technology in a compact design. The Foca is different, both the cosmetics and the shutter are unique designs. However, they share some kind of prestige. Like they where made by the factories to be proud of.

Of course I reject the quoted statement that both camera's where about to be sold as non working.

Can't remember exactly if it was the Universal or the URC, we had one for repair a few years ago. The owner was a Dutch reporter who worked in France at that time. He used it in that time with full satisfaction, but it needed repair and maintenance often. The shutter turned out to be complicated (perhaps to avoid Leica patents)

The lenses for this camera where really beautiful though.

Wow, that's very cool! Never though it would have a chain like that inside! Ulrich - I applaud your willingness and fearlessness disassembling these cameras! [:)]
Cheers!
Vlad.

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="MS Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by cedricfan</i>
<br />Sometimes the Soviet products were not intended to be sold in quantities, or being working. But a space country wanted to show that they can it, and in all possible ways.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

As Luiz showed in the other thread, the Canon is much better engineered, the Canon needs only one chain wheel. And the solution was so easy, the Canon is only a reverse system which then doesn't need two chain wheels. Superior. I can imagine that after the Canon came out that KMZ stopped their production. What a shame.

On the other hand KMZ did a good job to develop the Zorki-1. The 1d and 1e versions with the small shutter spring work much better. But that was 6 years earlier.

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="MS Trebuchet, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Lenny</i>I can imagine that after the Canon came out that KMZ stopped their production. What a shame.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

How does a Japanese camera model affect on a Soviet production? None. FSU was an almost closed market regarding import. Also cyrillic versions were not exported to west in quantities. So being cyrillic model means same time a domestic model, without outside competition.

Best regards,
Juhani