New to me Omega 45D, stiff shift

[AndyJ]

Just bought myself my first LF camera on the 'bay ... an Omega 45D as the thread title suggests. I haven't been able to make any photographs with it yet (don't have filmholders or film yet, and the GG is broken), but I've been playing around with the movements and I noticed that the shifts are inordinately stiff, particularly the front shift. I did some cleaning with naphtha on the shift rails, and the back freed up considerably (also got some dried ... gunk out that I imagine was the old grease), but the front remains quite stiff.

Anyone have any recommendations on getting it cleaned out? Is there a way to separate the interfacing parts of the rail to clean more thoroughly? Or at this point, do I just smear some lithium grease on and work it back and forth a couple times and hope for the best?

I do have a couple other questions. Is it possible to remove the springback? I fiddled around with it, but wasn't able to figure it out, and I can't find anything online about it. When I go to get a piece of glass to make a replacement GG, I'd like to take it with to make sure everything fits ok, and I'd rather not lug the whole camera (then again, the whole camera is a more interesting conversation piece than the back alone). I actually forget what my other question is. Probably wasn't anything too pressing.

[John Koehrer]

I'd use a couple more drops of naptha and work the mechanism a bit. Stay away from grease, it tends to collect grit. I use canning wax rubbed on the sliding surface. Ski wax should work as well.
The spring back should come off, someone put it together.=).
Sometimes the springs will have open ends and it's a matter of holding one side down and slipping the other off the pins on the back.

[Gem Singer]

Andy,

Try spraying some WD-40 into the space between the shift mechanism and the standard. Work the shift mechanism, then wipe off the excess. Careful not to get WD-40 on the bellows.

This is harder to explain in words than it is to actually do. With the camera back in the horizontal (landscape) position, you'll see upper and lower slightly curved knurled tabs protruding from the ground glass frame. Holding the ground glass section with both hands, press in on the tabs with your thumbs and slide the back toward the right. The ground glass frame will separate from the back and can be removed. Careful not to drop it.

When you are ready to re-install it, line up the hooks with their slots, press in and slide the frame toward the left until it clicks into place. Test to make certain that it is securely fastened.

Good luck.

[AndyJ]

Nothing wrong with that explanation at all ... made it easy-peasy. I figured it had something to do with those, but I didn't play around with it enough to actually figure it out. I'll give the WD-40 a shot ... already used a fair bit of naphtha and it doesn't seem to be clearing it up. Maybe I just need to try the ski wax. Or perhaps some dry, wax based bicycle lubricant, since I have some of that lying around and it's meant to not collect grit.

Thanks both of you for the input!