Finally got my Gakkenflex assembled and ready to go. It was really fun putting the little parts together but not being able to read Japanese (in the instructions) did make me pause a couple of times to look hard before proceeding. Some of the parts/steps were a little confusing (for me). So I decided to note those down and maybe share with everyone here … in case anyone is interested. 😀
All ready to start … after Fitzand goes to bed 😀
The final product … ready to go!
The first thing to note is that the package comes with 3 different types of screws. You can sort them out before proceeding. When you look at the instructions … do note the screws to be used in the diagrams. I’m not sure if using the wrong ones will cause any headache later but then … it’s better to be safe than sorry.
The flat head type
The … ermm … ‘flying saucer’ shape ones
The rounded head type
One thing that got me a little confused was the mirror assembly. You will find a piece of mirror and a piece of white paper of the same size and shape. The white paper is actually a double sided tape. What you need to do is just to first peel off one side of the double sided tape to reveal the stick part. Then stick it on the plastic part (the one below A & B in the diagram). Align it nicely. Now carefully remove the other side of the double sided tape to reveal the other sticky side. Remove the protection sheet from one side of the glass and carefully place the mirror onto the double sided tape. This will hold it in place.
Once that is done, you can peel off the protection sheet from the other side of the mirror that’s facing upwards. You can use some sticky tape to ‘pull up’ the protection sheet (as in the diagram) or be lazy like me … just use your fingernail to remove the sheet. It comes of very easily. 😀 So what got me confused in this step? Hahaha. It didn’t really confuse me but I had a hard time peeling of the backing from the double sided tape because it was so darn thin and I have big fat fingers.
Next is the shutter mechanism. I know some got stuck at this stage but if you look carefully … it is pretty simple. From the diagram, it seems that it is trying to tell us to leave a 1mm gap when installing that screw (below diagram, marked with red arrow). I was wondering why we have to do this …
That was until I came to the next step (below). You need to ensure the part (marked A) is aligned with the part marked B. By tightening/loosening the screw (marked C), you can then make sure the two parts (A & B) are aligned. This is very important as later when you trigger the shutter … part A will push part B to open up the shutter.
There are two springs that look pretty identical but of different sizes in there. If you are confused, just look carefully at them and match them to the diagram. Apart from the sizes, the C-shaped part of the spring for both of them are different.
The other things in setting up the camera is pretty easy. The last thing that you might wanna take note is when installing the ‘flap’ that’s on top of the camera. Sorry I don’t know the exact name of this thingie but it is highlighted in the diagram below. Note the red arrow? You will find a protruding plastic tab on one side of the flap. Make sure that part is located to the rear of the camera … otherwise you will have problem closing the top flaps. If you made a mistake, don’t worry. Just carefully remove the part and redo again.
That’s about all. Not sure if these are of any help at all but … ermm … just sharing a few things that I thought might help. 😀
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