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[Aphototaker]

Hello,
 
I recently acquired an FTb (the 'n' model, the one with a white line in the stop down lever beside the lens mount) whose back door won't open.
 
If I pull up the film rewind crank, nothing happens. The back door is supposed

[Tom_cheshire]

Just put your fingernails under the edge of the door and pull.  Sounds like the foam light seal glued it shut.  Either that or it is misaligned and pushing down on the edge of the door will open it.

[Rick_oleson]

Don't use excessive force pulling up on the knob - if it doesn't release with a normal pull, more force won't make it release and might bend the latch (after which it won't open at all).  Pull on the back while holding the knob up, per Tom's

[Aphototaker]

Well, pulling the door with fingernails is not working. I have tried some force for sure, both in pulling the rewind knob up and in pulling the door.
 
Is there any other method I can use to open the door, perhaps by opening the bottom or the t

[Aphototaker]

It appears as if I am not able to pull the latch all the way up to unlock the door.
 
If I pull at the door's edge, I can hear that metallic click when I pull the door, even if I have pulled the rewind knob all the way up.
 
How likely is

[Gez]

The archive has some info on this common FTb problem.

[Aphototaker]

Gez, got it. Search the archive with different keywords till I found this post which mentioned pressing a gray black button underneath the bottom plate of the camera (URL of post: [url=https://kyp.hauslendale.com/classics/forum/messages/6901/2015.html?1

[Aphototaker]

I have noticed that pulling the film rewind knob does not pull that spring mechanism that locks the back door.
 
Here is the film rewind knob from inside the film compartment. Does anyone see anything wrong with this?
 
Thanks.
 

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[Rick_oleson]

You'll have to take the top cover off to find out what's gone wrong.  Chances are that pulling too hard on the rewind knob has bent the linkage so that it no longer pulls up on the latch.

[Aphototaker]

Rick, I thought as much.
 
I have never taken the top of an FTb off before. I see that I need to unscrew the top plates of the shutter speed knob and the frame wind crank. And I need to unscrew the film rewind knob the usual way (block the film spo

[Aphototaker]

Rick, I think I have recognized the problem, but I am not sure yet. I am going to post a new thread regarding this.
 
Thanks.