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Vent: That moment I stripped a gear and wanted to throw the whole lens at the wall
Last Tuesday in my shop in Portland, I was reassembling a 50mm prime and hand-tightened a brass helicoid gear one turn too far. It sheared clean, just a tiny snap, and suddenly the focus ring spun free like a loose doorknob. I sat there staring at the two pieces for a solid minute, thinking about the $120 part I just ruined on a lens worth maybe $300. Has anyone else had a repair go sideways from overconfidence in your own hands, or am I the only one who needs to slow down after 20 years of this?
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williamt772mo ago
The torque feel on brass gears is such a liar, the metal gives no warning before it lets go. I ruined an Exakta shutter curtain once because I thought I could adjust the tension by feel, and the whole thing just ripped sideways. Now I keep a cheap torque screwdriver on the bench for anything with brass, and I still second guess myself every time before I turn. That sinking moment where you realize the snap was not a spring reseating but something breaking, yeah, it happens to all of us who work on this stuff too long.
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