Leicaflex SL / SL2: Repairing the take-up spool when the film no longer advances

Does your Leicaflex SL or SL2 cock, with the shutter release working — but the film not advancing? Before taking the camera to a repair shop, take a look at the take-up spool. On Leicaflex models, it is the most common age-related weak point, and the repair takes about a minute.

How to recognize the problem

Open the back and look at the right-hand spool, onto which the film is wound. Typical signs:

• The spool’s black plastic sleeve is missing entirely or partially, leaving only the bare metal core.
• Black plastic crumbs are lying in the bottom of the camera or in the film chamber.
• The film leader can no longer be clamped into the spool and slips out again when cocking the shutter.

Why the spool sleeve breaks

The plastic Leitz used for the spool sleeve in the 1960s and 1970s becomes brittle after fifty or more years. Eventually, threading the film leader is enough to make the sleeve break away piece by piece. The tricky part: Unlike a Leica M or CL, the Leicaflex take-up spool is permanently installed. You cannot remove it and replace it with a used one, and Leica has not supplied an original replacement part for decades. Until now, the only options were a repair-shop fix or a parts camera.

The solution: an attachment instead of disassembling the camera

Our repair spool is an attachment that is pressed over the bare metal core of the existing spool. It takes over the function of the broken sleeve: The clamping slots hold the film leader, and the spool winds the film again. The camera stays closed, nothing is glued, and nothing is disassembled.

Installation in three steps

1. Open the back: Open the camera as you would when changing the film, and remove any remnants of the old spool sleeve.
2. Press on the attachment: Slide the repair spool from above over the metal core of the take-up spool and press it down with your fingers until it sits flush at the bottom.
3. Thread the film: Insert the film leader into one of the clamping slots, advance two blank frames, close the back — done.

Here is the full video, in real time and just under a minute and a half:

Which cameras it fits

The attachment fits the take-up spool of the Leicaflex SL and Leicaflex SL2. It is not suitable for the first Leicaflex (“Standard”), the R models from R3 onward, or the Leica CL and M series — these cameras have a different film-transport mechanism or removable spools.

We manufacture the repair spool ourselves in Würzburg and test every part on an original camera before shipping. It is supplied in a 2-pack — one for installation and one as a spare:

Repair spool for Leicaflex SL, SL2 in the shop