X- Flash Sync Mechanism
This is all pretty self-explanitory. This first image shows the general layout of the shutter mechanism with the front cover removed.
The sync switch in my Ilex Universal is rather crude, just a piece of sheet brass insulated from the mechanism plate by some paper, and a brass tab soldered to the blade operating ring. The case of the shutter acts as ground. I don't know if this is "factory" or if this was retrofitted by a hardware hacker later on.
The next image shows the blade operating ring moved to the open position, closing the sync contact. Note that the moving contact attached to the blade operating ring has a rolled up leading edge so that the two pieces of brass can slide together and make contact without breaking. A disadvantage of this system is that the flash will fire when opening the shutter for focusing. For that reason, I have installed a switch on my sync cord to keep the circuit open when composing on the groundglass.
A single wire runs from the brass plate to the hot side of the bi-post sync terminal.
A close up of the bi-post terminal.
This simple method of X-sync could be easily adapted to other shutters which were not factory fitted with flash sync. A standard PC (Prontor-Compur) type socket could be installed instead of bi-post. Bi-post has the advantage of better holding power than PC, but may it may be difficult to find an appropriate connector without taking one from a junk shutter.