Overview

The assembly of this lens is relatively the same to other Takumar normal range lenses. I'm not completely sure but I guess this guide could also work for the Super-Takumar 35/3.5 and possibly the 35/2. The standard size Takumars are all assembled in the same way, which is good! It is relatively simple to access all of the 5 elements in this lens for cleaning, as well as the focussing ring and the aperture blades. Unlike longer Takumar lenses, it is only possible to get inside through the front lens plate, and from here you can access all the above mentioned areas.

For the disassembly of this lens, you will need:

• rubber gloves, for providing friction for twisting and keeping dirty finger prints of the lenses whilst cleaning
• the rear lens cap from this lens
  
• standard, cheap precision screwdriver set (the kind you find in hardware stores for $10)
• lighter fluid
• super light weight grease/light weight automotive grease/silicon paste. You can find the super light weight grease in bike stores, but you can probably find any of them in a good hardware store. It has to be able to not thicken up to much in cold temps, and not liquefy in hot temps.
• possibly some acetone (or nail polish remover) for dissolving glue that could be holding screws in place  

No matter whether you need to lube the focussing, remove fungus or clean the aperture, you'll need to access them all the same way. Firstly, remove the three screws that are holding the DOF ring in place. You won't be able to remove the ring, just twist it about, removing in comes later (a)

                                                                               (a)

you'll need to remove the front face plate. Here you'll need your rear lens cap off this takumar and the rubber gloves. You'll notice the lens cap fits into the filter ring at the front of the lens, you'll want to place the rubber glove in between the lens and the lens cap to provide friction to turn the plate off. This can require quite a of of forceful turning, but it's not glued in so it just needs a decent amount of twisting (b) (c).

                                                    (b)                                                      (c)

Now you've gotten the front plate off, you'll see three more screws underneath (d). Remove these screws and take this layer off. You might see some red substance around the screws, if there is or another type of glue, apply the acetone to melt it away.

                                                                         (d)

Now you'll see another ring and another set of screws (e). These are the screws that affect the focussing, so you'll need to be careful to keep the little rings around them. They attach the focussing ring to the lens. Remove them.

                                        (e)

Now you'll be able to remove the focussing ring, followed by the DOF ring. Be careful in removing the aperture ring as there is a little ball bearing that the aperture ring clicks into to determine the aperture. So encase the whole lens and slowly move the ring upwards. If nothing drops out be careful and locate the ball bearing (it will be just under where the aperture ring was) and remove it. Just take care, it will be a pain to try and find it if you lose it in your carpet! You should now see something like this (f).

                                                 (f)

Now you want to remove the bottom aperture control unit (where the actual lens mount is) off the lens. Underneath where the aperture ring was you'll see three screws (g - in yellow), remove them and gently detach the unit. The screw in (g) in the red is to stop the lens focussing past infinity and it's not necessary to remove it.

                                                 (g)

Now you'll see the aperture lever and a couple of tracks screwed into place. Unscrew and remove these two tracks (h).

                                                  (h)
 

Now you'll be able to unscrew everything and access the tracks that may need cleaning and re lubing for smooth focussing (i - the red is the large track, this moves fairly freely. The yellow is the track which is the stiffer of the two, requiring the most attention to gain smooth focussing)

                                        (i)

And that's all you need to do to clean the focussing. To get inside the lens element, you'll need to rotate the front lens out of the main lens unit (on the left hand side in i ). It will turn out and look like this (j)

                                     (j)

To get inside the unit on the left in (j), you can turn the circled unit off. It's holding the lens in and is similar to the one on the front side of the lens for the larger element. Be careful as the back element pops out quite easily. On the right in (j) you'll be able to get to the aperture blades and that element. You can completely disassembly the aperture blades by twisting off the cap in (k - red arrow) and removing the screws etc. underneath. I haven't done this though as you can usually clean the blades with a little bit of lighter fluid directly on them. This should be a last resort.

                                           (k)

Re-assemblage:

Everything goes back the way that it went on, it fairly straight forward. The only things to note is that the unit in (i) with the yellow connecting should be pretty much screwed into itself and when you screw it onto the main lens unit to get to (h), make sure when it's fully screwed in, the screw holes for (e) are about in the middle (where they are in e). You may have to unscrew it a couple of times and re do it to get it on the right track. 

Make sure the unit is rotated as in (h), with the aperture lever on the other side

When you put the aperture control unit back on (g) make sure the aperture lever is hooked into the claw thing in the aperture unit, make sure you're in manual mode when you do this or it won't make contact. You should be able to slide the screws and watch the aperture open and close. Re attach the aperture ring and DOF ring (you'll see the screw that moves across the aperture unit that moves the lever, there are indentations on the aperture ring that hook onto this screws). Here is where you put it back on your camera and focus it to infinity. Now put the focussing ring back on carefully and re attach as in photo (e), double check it's focussed to infinity and you can easily focus to other distances. If not, adjust. The rest goes back on as normal.

If you have any questions or clarification, email me, I can also provide the PDF version and some notes about the actual aperture control unit if you need to repair that.