the lighter fluid thing works though. perhaps not in all cases, but i've repaired...let's see...at least four shutters using this method. three work flawlessly. one still sticks sometimes. you do want to avoid getting the stuff on any non-metal parts, but i don't detect a residue left. and probably using something more 'directed' such as a cotton swab is better than just dowsing it. however i have dowsed too! the stuff evaporates and leaves only the gunk that was already there...but it usually has moved it somewhere away from the actual moving parts.
mind you, when i have a shutter i'm serious about, i send it to Flutot's. my lighter-fluid repairs are for cameras that i won't cry over if they break.
First of all Once old grease has aged and become hard or stiff it is best to clean it out completely and start over again with up todate grease, for the shutter, If its a throw away shutter then Knock your socks off:, or send it to me:[VBG]
Lauren MacIntosh
Whats in back of you is the past and whats in front of you is the future now in the middle you have choices to make for yourself:
Some lighter fluid is butane.
-snip-
That was *exactly* my point. A couple years ago driving across Kansas they had highs of just over 100 F in the mid day and I was right in the middle of it. I am certain that the temperature in my trunk (which was not air conditioned) was well over 100F, and it did not adversley affect my camera, shutters or film for that matter.
As I said, regular body temperature is 98.6F, so wrap the old shutter in a zip lock bag, put it under your armpit for an hour, and you've just heated it up to near your 100F. Other than wasting a zip lock bag and an hour of TV, what's the loss?
eta gosha maaba, aaniish gaa zhiwebiziyin ?
Flush it with lighter fluid, THEN put it in the oven. That should do it.
Seriously, this lighter fluid home remedy stuff is enough to scare me away from ever buying anybody's used shutters. Just bite the bullet and send it to someone who knows what they're doing. It isn't THAT expensive.
Two things you buy used with a prayer; used shutters and used enlarging lenses.
Shutters, as to metal only shutters: With all glass out, I use ultrasound as do jewelers and watch repair people; it is amazing what is flushed out; hairs, dirt, more dirt and more hairs, etc., then carefully libricate them: that is the C & L of CLA; in my experience, the A may be a fiction; it is a matter of cams and springs, none of which is adjustable as is the speed of a mechanical watch. No comment if there is paper, pressed board, plastic or other "soft" material in the shutter.
Used enlarging lenses: do you remove your enlarging lens from your dark, damp or moist dark room after each use, keep it on an airy shelf out of the dark room and occasionally place it in sunlight to kill fungus? I thought not. Remove it now, smell it. examine it and place it in sunlight remembering that it is one powerful magnifying glass that can ignite combustible material and that too much sunlight will produce too much heat, melt cement between lens blanks and wreak havoc. I did not promise you a rose garden. Get your lenses out of those dark drawers.
(used to sell these things, buy them for the store if fungus free and not etched by hydrofluoric acid secreted by fungus)
Bernie
In general I agree with this sentiment. But occasionally one gets a big surprise. A couple of years ago I bought a "parts" camera with a broken Sychro-Compur shutter. The guy selling it claimed to be a crack DIY shutter repairman and mentioned that he tried to salvage it but it was beyond hope. I needed other parts from the camera so the shutter wasn't really of interest... until I played with it and found that one spring was installed improperly... and that was the only significant problem. After a real CLA - dissassembly and lighter fluid wash (no oven or armpit drying, though, and the "L&A" done per factory specs - it turned out to be a perfect user camera. So I got a $250 value camera for $25 plus the hour I spent properly cleaning the shutter. Not a bad deal!
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