the disassembly section.



the nice thing about older cameras is that most of them are pretty easy to take apart without destroying the camera in the process. when taking apart your camera, save all the parts & screws & pieces until you're done. you never know if you might need something to get it back together.



taking the kodak brownie starflash apart:

unlock and slide out the bottom/film transport section. (did you find film? wind it up and mail it to me!)

remove the two visible screws that keep the top and bottom sections together.

unscrew the back of the flash housing (remove & recycle any batteries found in there!).



to separate the two halves of the bottom section:

if your camera still has the neckstrap attached or if the neckstrap buckles are still in place, you'll need to pry them open. i use two pairs of needlenose pliers, each one grabbing one side of the buckle then gently open the buckle enough to remove it.

after that, i use a small flat head screwdriver to gently bend the top of the aluminum clips so they clear the plastic neckstrap attchment points then the aluminum pieces slide down. you should now have two separate halves.



breaking things down further...



the bottom/film transport section:

remove the two screws from the bottom and separate the two pieces. i use wire snips to

pry the chrome metal part off the base. at this point i also slide out the small rectangluar(ish) metal part, remove the metal locking pin thingy and then snip off the somewhat circular shaped plastic bit. i use this to cover the hole left by not having the locking pin in place.



the flash section:

unscrew the flash ejector (save all the parts)

drill out the three visible rivets to separate the needed pieces.

you can discard the rivets or try and save them to glue back in later but i just replace them with screws.



the front/shutter section:

use wire snips to slide off the two brass strips. they're just friction held in place.

drill out the two rivets that are visible when looking at the inside and remove the metal plate. this will allow access to the shutter mechanism. then i flip the section back over and drill out the lower 3 rivets. this should release the shutter, the aperature, and other misc pieces of metal. i don't drill out the rivet that attaches to the shutter lever. i think keeping it movable is a nice touch.

i then use a dremel with the cut-off wheel to remove some of the extra metal on the shutter lever, this makes it lighter and makes things easier as we go along.



