The vivitar ultra wide and slim is a great camera, small, lightweight and generally pretty robust for what it is. It does however have one nasty design flaw. The wind-on mechanism relies on a "keyed" shaft rotating in a cylinder to drive the take up spool, and allow the spool to rotate freely when rewinding. When you wind the film on, all the force is taken by this tiny key, a little lump of plastic less than a milimetre wide. It's no wonder that winding on aggressively causes the little thing to snap off. When this happens, the wind-on wheel can no longer drive the take up spool. There's a sinking feeling as you feel slight resistance on the winder, then just as you're thinking "I wonder if this is the end of the roll?" there's a tiny *click* and suddenly the winder carries on winding no matter how much you turn it. 
Many users are avoiding 36 exposure films to reduce the stress on this part, others have used 36 for ages with no problems. It's probably down to how carefully you wind on, and a big helping of luck!
The other day one of my vivs suffered this dreadful fate, so rather than trash it and seeing as I have some experience of viv surgery I thought I'd see what, if anything, could be done. I'm happy to report the patient is out of surgery and has made a good recovery!
NOTE: This procedure won't restore your viv exactly how it was before disaster struck. It involves glueing the rewind mechanism and providing a different method to allow the film to be wound back when the roll is finished. But it should get you snapping again!
Here's what to do if you want to get your viv back into service! You'll need:
- a very small philips screwdriver
- a craft knife and/or small file
- some superglue!
Here's what to do.
Open the back of the camera. Remove the film rewind knob by pulling it while squeezing the bits that go into the film canister. Or if you want to be more gentle with your viv, remove the small screw in the centre of the winder and take it apart that way.
Undo and remove the three screws from the positions shown below. Note the smaller screw goes in the side of the camera.
Remove the silver part of the case. To do this you need to push in the little rewind button and hold down the shutter button. Start at the rewind knob end of the camera as show. Opening is a bit tricky, be patient and don't force it, it will come apart eventually!
Now, this may be as far as you need to go. When I fixed mine, I went further, but looking at it with hindsight it might be better to do the repair here. Note the picture below, the arrow is pointing to the area where the damage occurs, There's a tiny plastic key that locks the inner shaft and outer cylinder together when winding on. I continued to dismantle the mechanism in order to repair this, but I think it may be better (and easier) to glue it together at this point. Note that I haven't actually tried this though!
First you can remove the little wire spring by the rewind button, it will serve no further purpose. Next, and very importantly, ensure the rewind button isn't pressed in, i.e make sure the wind mechanism is in the normal position and that the camera IS NOT in "rewind" mode. Then, CAREFULLY drop a SMALL ammount of superflue (make sure it's fresh and runny!) onto the point marked with the arrow. Make sure it only runs in here, not around the outer cylinder or things! Leave for a few minutes. Test all is OK by operating the winder and pushing on the take up spool gently. The winder should still turn the take up spool. If it does, hurrah!
Now, here's the actual method I used. Remove the 3 screws shown below:
Now remove the camera mechanism from the body. Remove the two screws retaining the plate which covers the winding mechanism. TAKE CARE! It might spring apart. Mine did, I spent ages working out how to get the bits back together. Remove the take up spool and wind on wheel. Dismantle, and remove and discard the spring. Reassemble sticking the whole lot solidly together with superglue
Then reassemble the camera mechanism. and screw it back into the camera back.
This method has advantages; there's no chance of glue totally sticking up the mechanism and you can make sure you get plenty of glue in so the whole thing will be really strong, but on the negative side there's more work involved and also I found that when reassembled, the winder wasn't exactly central to its slot in the case and it rubbed, which meant cutting away some of the plastic on the case so it moved freely. But, as mentioned, I haven't actually tried the easier method of dripping glue in without removing the winder. It's up to you which method you try!
With the rewind wheel glued solid its no longer possible to press the rewind button to allow the take up spool to run freely, the ratchet on the winder wheel prevents the film spool turning that way. In order to rewind the film, it is necessary to lift the ratchet. Here's how the rachet mechanism can be reched from outside the camera. Cut a small notch in the silver plastic case as circled below. When the camera is back together, this allows you to poke something (a pin, cocktail stick or something into the camera and lift the ratchet locking arm shown by the arrow.
Finally, it's difficult to get the case back on because the rewind button can't be pressed in any more. To solve this, I just hacked the top off the button as it's no longer required anyway. Putting the case back together is still a bit fiddly, but once it is on, replace the screws and put the rewind lever back into place.
Now you should be able to load, wind and shoot your viv as before. When the film is finished, push a cocktail stick into the small hole, and lever slightly until the lock is released and the rewind wheel can be turned in the "wrong" direction. It's a good idea to practice this before you load up! Hold the stick in this position while rewinding the film.
