Hi there,
I have an Acme-Ilex #3 shutter in which is mounted a 7.5" Kodak Commercial Ektar. I'm trying to decide if there's anything I can do at home to help my shutter along a little bit.
There's a couple issues, #1 the focus preview button is stuck. I don't really care or need this, but I mention it as it may have something to do with the problems I do care about. I remember it worked once, but not much else about it. The tip of the plunger is about 1/16" of an inch from its mount. It moves in neither direction.
#2, when I cock the shutter, sometimes the blades open just slightly in the middle. The shutter blades will jockey around a tiny bit whenever I press down on the lever to cock the lens. Sometimes upon firing, the blades will also not fully close all the way. Again, recocking the lens usually fixes this.
#3, the big one, is that its sticky. Go figure, right? This and the above are what I'd like to try and fix up a bit. When I fire the shutter, the blades sometimes don't snap open, isntead opening a fraction of their size and freezing. Placing my finger under the cocking lever and gently pushing out on it will make the shutter open and close. Usually when I first pick him up, it takes one or two times at this and then it seems to function almost reliably until I let it sit again, then it needs to be exercised back to life.
So, can I do a little desktop shutter repair, or am I really out of luck and only encouraged to send it in for a proper CLA? I'm not looking for perfection, but I'm going on vacation soon and would like to bring this lens with me. I've been told these shutters are easy to open up, and I can see the two screws holding the face down on it.
What leaves me nervous is splashing the entire contents of my shutter with lighter fluid (Ronson, no doubt) only to find out my shutter blades weren't made from a substance that could handle that. Does anyone know if the liberal dousing in Ronson will ruin this shutter, or is it possible that its all it will take to bring him back? I'm assuming there's just a little grime inside that's stopping up the works, and if I could flush it out I'd be back in action.
I've been told that the Acme Ilex shutters were made to run dry, no lube, so I at least feal that flushing it out wouldn't be detrimental in that regards. Or, are you still encouraged to put some form of dry lube back into place?
How about an old, old Compur 00? I've got a Goerz Dagor 111mm in one 'o them that seems to forget to open the shutter from time to time.. Although, I figure that one is probably too delicate for home care and is best suited to a proper CLA...
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