Repairing shutter on Thornton Pickard Camera

[lisa clunie]

I was recently given a lovely Thornton Pickard camera by an elderly gentleman, I know that the roll shutter on this camera used to work really smoothly and consistently with 2 distinct shutter stages, but the shutter no longer fully opens at the 1st ‘viewing’ stage and is inconsistent as to how far open it is. Apart from this it seems to be in really good nick.
I wonder if the cog needs to be adjusted so that the shutter is locked open at the right point- maybe it came loose/got bumped when I moved the camera to Australia. I figure that its either that or the shutter has slipped a little and/or gummed up a bit so that it is no longer in sync with where it should be .I would really appreciate some advice- before I start to tinker with it. I am planning to use the camera rather than have it as a beautiful decoration. Any other maintenance tips/ restoration advice or any manuals would be most appreciated. I took some pictures showing the shutter and cog at its various stages- but just realised they exceed the max file attachment for this site- so will resize and post later in the day. If you have info and want to send me something you could do so to : lisa.clunie@anu.edu.au.
Any help much appreciated; Cheerio, lisa

[miss_emma_jade]

you can fix it! Go girl. Id love to help, and show it works, but i'm in queensland and u might be in canberra, From your email address. it could be many things, maybe the stitching has come open or the fabric is frayed, and its sticking? Cant wait for the pictures! Good luck with it. Glad its to be used. Emma

[Paul Ewins]

Hi Lisa, they're not that hard to work on. Here's a little tutorial I put together on replacing the curtain - http://www.paulewins.com/old_site/re...tp_shutter.htm - with luck something in there will show you what the problem is.

Paul

[Sevo]

Thornton Pickard focal plane shutters are a bit more complex than their before-the-shutter accessory roller blinds. The principle is the same, though, and in general, repairing large format blind shutters is mostly a matter of patience. They are generously big, so that basic sewing skills are enough (for Leica shutters, you'd better be a neurosurgeon) and the only thing that is usually terminally broken on them are the rubber cloth blinds and silk tapes, for which you can still get replacements or hack up substitutes.

Sevo

[lisa clunie]

Cool- thanks for all your replies-and yes Emma I am in canberra. Here are some pics of the different stage of the shutter and the cog too which I had figured determines exactly where the shutter decides to stop and so was guessing that the screw would allow me to adjust it a bit. You'll see in these pics I have attached that the 1st stage ( which is the picture with 3 bits) is inconsistent, it used to open perfectly for focussing and now just sticks at various stages of 1/2 open. The other pic is the of shutter fully cocked. Cheers lisa

[lisa clunie]

Thanks for the link to your tutorial Paul. I am a bit baffled cause the shutter seems to be in good condition- I cannot see any fraying- but Ill have a good look at it later in week.

[IanG]

Go for it Lisa, these shutters are easy to repair, even if you have to make a new curtain.

Sometimes the cords get jammed, also they often need replacing, In the UK I use cord sold for french /roman blinds. Paul's pages are all you need, I found them after I'd restored my first shutter.

If you remove the front cover, and the baffle (held by 2 screw, 1 by the speed indicator the other just over an inch further) then you can see clearly exactly what's happening as you cock and trip the shutter.

I've drawn up a new speed dial if anyone needs it as the one on mine had disintegrated.

Ian

[numnutz]

I have a couple of these shutters. I have repaired one It had some pinholes in the blind and needed freeing up and now works fine I get 1/27 sec constantly out of it.

I have a couple of others that need new cloth I wonder what you use for this - I have seen some advertised by Micro tools it is really expensive from the German site but always seems out of stock on the USA site. Is there anywhere else I can get this?

thanks in advance.

nn

[IanG]

If the original cloth isn't bad I reseal it, in two cases I had to strip off flaking light proofing using meths, then iron the curtain flat again. I use acrylic black paint for light proofing which I work into the cloth wiping off excess. That's worked on a Speed graphic curtain as well.

I use a similar technique to make new shutter cloths & bellows but choice of cloth is important, some are better than others and I'm still evaluating which is most ideal for each purpose.

Ian

[Matt_Bigwood]

Hi Ian, where can I buy the shutter curtain material in the UK? I need to replace the shutter on my VN camera as it has pinholes in one of the curtains.

Matt