The Hasselbird Project (a bold restoration attempt)

Dave Colangelo · May 4, 2016

So after some extensive looking into polishing and what not I decided to give it a shot. (Dave442 I had looked into making the reverse mold as the telescope guys do with the slurry and that was a possibility). On any note there was a bit of a mishap during the polishing and in my haste (lets be honest in my stupidity) I irreparably broke the element. I feel so ashamed its not even really worth talking about what happened. I was able to track down a guy in Europe who also restored one of these (im pretty sure he works in optics at least in some capacity) and he basically told me that the lens was so precisely made any kind of material removal greater than just some light polishing (which this would need) would alter the focal plane to a more or less unusable point. He also informed me that Hasselbald has not made parts for this lens since they dropped the V-Series stuff around 30 years ago. There was rumored to be some rear elements floating around a parts house in Europe (Possibly Hasselblad UK) but they wanted more than the value of the lens for one. At this point Im not ready to give up just yet and im going to keep hunting for a rear element. If anyone comes across one of these lenses with a destroyed front element I would be very interested!

I still have not been able to get the main tube off to CLA the main mechanics but I have some longer things coming in to make spanners with to try and get it off. I still want to try and get every thing clean and working right rear element or not.

spiralout462 · May 4, 2016

That's heartbreaking! I admire your courage for admitting that. Good luck!

dxqcanada · May 4, 2016

UUUUU, that is a really nasty mishap !!!

tirediron · May 4, 2016

Dave Colangelo · May 4, 2016

I guess I might as well share a bit of what I was doing that led to this. I needed a way to accurately polish the lens in a timely manner so I decided to make a jig on my lathe so that I could spin the lens and polish it. The jig was made out of some old resin rod I had from another project, here is it being constructed,

And with the lens mounted in it,

dxqcanada · May 4, 2016

Hey, do you have a Unimat there ?

Dave Colangelo · May 4, 2016

dxqcanada said:
Hey, do you have a Unimat there ?

Indeed I do.

dxqcanada · May 4, 2016

Ah, I have been thinking about getting a hold of one of those ... my friend has one in his machine shop just for tiny jobs, and I thought it would be a really handy tool (next to a micro milling machine).

tirediron · May 4, 2016

dxqcanada said:
Ah, I have been thinking about getting a hold of one of those ... my friend has one in his machine shop just for tiny jobs, and I thought it would be a really handy tool (next to a micro milling machine).

Spend a little more and get something like a Myford ML7 or Super 7. The Unimats are kind of neat, but I find them to be so small as to make work more difficult than it needs to be, not to mention their lack of micrometer dials and power feed.

Watchful · May 4, 2016

Good work

Dave Colangelo · Dec 4, 2017

[Dramatic Music] A sudden turn of events and a rouge ebay bid and we are back in action....

So a few weeks ago I was on eBay trolling for cheap 'blad gear and found a "500mm C T* W/Case" ooooo why is the bidding starting at $25, "lens has fungus and we have been informed can not be repaired". Hmmmm this is cheap what do I have to lose maybe it has the rear element I need, worst case it has V series parts that are quickly running out on this planet. So I bid, not really thinking much about it and of course a few days later...

"You have won the auction pay now"

And on to the waiting game with USPS. Lens arrives about a week later and ill be honest I was expecting another mess of a priceless artifact. To my surprise the lens was in near perfect shape. There was some fungus so I did what I love to do and popped the front element off, fungus cleaned RIGHT OFF . Oh boy was I excited. Now there is still some fungus on the rear element but I suspect I will be able to get it off however it does not really seem to be serious enough to effect anything form what I can see, it is noticeable to the naked eye though.

The elements with some cleaner on them,