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Just realized old-school brass helicoids are way smoother than the modern plastic ones after swapping a lens mount on a 1950s Retina yesterday
The brass just glides like butter even after 70 years, while the newer nylon stuff I had to sand down twice and it still caught on reassembly - has anyone else gone back to older parts just to get that feel back?
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murray.jana5d ago
My Retina's now got 3 grams of brass shavings in my carpet @seth_shah.
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seth_shah5d ago
Modern plastic parts just need better tolerances, brass was nice but nylon is lighter and cheaper.
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allen.kai5d ago
Push back on that, @seth_shah, but respectfully. I've handled a lot of old tools and firearms with brass parts that still fit perfect after 50 years, no creep or cracking. Plastic parts, even the good nylon, just degrade with heat and UV exposure over time. Maybe in a controlled indoor setting nylon is fine, but put it in a car dashboard or a workshop window and it gets brittle. Brass is heavier, sure, but sometimes that weight means it holds up when something drops on it.
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