Fixed my 50th Pentax K1000 last week, didn't even realize I was keeping count

I was going through my repair log for a customer query and noticed I've done exactly 50 K1000 bodies since I started this in my garage back in 2018. That felt like a lot for one model, especially an all-mechanical camera. Most of them just needed new light seals and mirror foam, but a handful had broken shutter curtains or stuck aperture mechanisms. Has anyone else lost track of a specific camera they've fixed the most?

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richard1105d ago

oh man 50 of the same camera is wild! I've been working on vintage 35mm stuff on and off for years and my personal record is probably the Minolta SRT series. I don't keep a log but I bet I'm close to 30 or 40 of them by now. What really helped me speed things up for those was swapping out the mirror damper foam as a standard part of every CLA before even testing the shutter. It saves so much headache later when the foam hasn't turned to goo yet and you're already in there. For the shutter curtain issues I actually started buying bulk rolls of titanium curtain material from a guy in Japan and cutting my own replacements which cut my repair time in half. What do you use for the light seal kits on the K1000s? I've been cutting my own from adhesive foam sheets but I'm always looking for a better way.