Under the Hood of a Canon AE-1

A short video going over some of the more interesting/in depth repairs of a Canon AE-1. The system is a little dated and that shows in some of the dated mechanisms but despite that they are rarely too far gone from being ready to use again. Hopefully this video can help you go over some issues you may be having I'll add timecodes for ease of viewing.
00:00 Intro
00:20 Light Meter Stuck On/Power Drain
01:08 Split Flex Circuit
02:14 Tungsten Wire
04:17 Stuck Advance Lever
04:34 Constant Advance
05:34 End

[@mchubble2226]

I really appreciate your repair videos and the videos where you go "under the hood" so to speak! There isn't too much information/videos out there regarding camera repairs and internal overviews on these old slr's. I've been getting into repairing broken cameras I find on ebay as a hobby and find your videos very useful.

[@RompingBronco]

I really appreciate that! Really happy to share whatever knowledge I have and I wish you the best of luck on your repair adventures

[@zaydriansilvers]

Whats the fix to the battery drain/light meter

[@ihave2cents13]

Thank you for this video, really helps. One problem of mine is that an auto winder won’t work, there must be some electrical problem. The winder is for sure working, and the camera has a new battery. Any idea what to check? (contacts are clean btw) Thanks !

[@user-dk6wl9ek2e]

My flex circuit got sliced partly, do you have any suggested videos or resources for that fix? Also, I really appreciate how much help your videos have been!

[@Panocio]

I replaced the top of the camera due to corrosion. When I was taking the shutter dials off, I didn’t turned all the way to 3200 iso, nether the shutter to B.
I got a new battery, and the shutter fires fine.
The light meter on the other hand blinks and goes all the way to underexposed.
Do you think it’s because I didn’t turn the dials on the right position when I was taking it apart ?
The video is very informative.

[@RompingBronco]

That's exactly what's happening unfortunately, the pulley system from the shutter speed and ASA dial pulls the contact board that adjusts resistance to the light meter and so if the resistance is off then the light meter will be a little wonky

[@sydneyo]

Hello! Your videos have been super helpful, and I was wondering if you could help me with something. I have a Canon AE-1 Program, and the advance lever is stuck. I've opened the bottom to see if there is any debris, but I can't see clearly and don't know how to move things around to get an unobstructed look at the gears. Do you have any suggestions or tips to try to figure out what's going on?

[@RompingBronco]

Thanks for reaching out! I would first recommend throwing in a new battery, turning it on and hitting the battery check button which should make it beep at a relatively quick rate meaning the system has power.
Then I would look at the bottom to see the positioning of the release magnet system @5:37 you may need to manually release it which I do a few seconds later. Feel free to shoot me an email too if you need more help it's a bit easier for me to get an idea of the potential issue with some photos