View Full Version : Central pneumatic shutter
Got one of these as part of a grab bag of photo stuff off eBay and I finally found
some time and the nerve to open it up to inspect and clean, I was quite
surprised at how simple they are, but I think there's something missing
inside. The shutter works and the knob that controls the shutter
is marked Z, M, O, the "O" mark is a no brainer as it keeps the blades
open, not too sure about "Z" which I guess is the equivalent of "T", the
"M" setting does the same as "Z" which I guess is wrong.
Anyway, opening it up I see there's a cam connected to the knob, and it has a
hole, it's not threaded and I don't see where else there could be a connection
to make it go instantaneous ( if this shutter does that ).
Anyone ( IanG, Steven Tribe ? ;) ) have one of these and can tell me the
correct behavior of this shutter ?
896068960889613
BrianShaw
17-Feb-2013, 12:01
What elegance in design that shutter is!
Yes, they are elegant in design, but feels very fragile, the rear case material is likely cast zinc
it's very light, the front might be the same.
I've sort of figured it out, it does have a instant action, but there is something worn out
or the piston action isn't correct inside, if I rotate the one of the halves slightly I get instant,
but it's instant for Z too.
I found a thread here on the forum where a fellow member took a similar one apart and cleaned it
and for the life of me I can't seem to find that thread again, I thought I bookmarked it but I guess not,
some of the attached pics were of the diassembled shutter sitting in a green tray, jog anyone's memory ?
evan clarke
24-Feb-2013, 08:38
I bought a dozen of these, the guy had them on sale for $25, brand new like. Most of the stuff can come off and it cannbe retrofitted to use a cable release. I am using the solenoid minus all the mounting stuff and a cool electronic controller I found. I have one mounted on a Lee holder.
280776433241 on eBay
Jim, I took something similar apart in the Autumn and posted here on the Forum, however I didn't photograph the ineterior, should have done so.
I stripped it down and soaked everything in WD-40 then cleaned it off thoroughly, finally rinsing the bits with meths then Isopropyl alcohol. On initial re-assembly I found it better but the M & Z settings didn't alaways change despote moving the dial, so I cleaned the moving parts again and re-painted the casing. Now it's very smooth and consistent on the Instananeous setting M. O opens the shutter manually and Z on mine works like B rather than T. I very lightly lubricated a few areas on the control part with the spring etc and this made a big difference.
An issue with these shutters seems to oxidation of the casing, enough to hinder smooth operation, I cleaned the casing minus the shutter blades with a mild abrasive cleaner, used for household use, srubbing with a tooth brush. Mine also had dried up old lubricants.
Ian
Jim Noel
24-Feb-2013, 10:52
"Z" = time
"M" = Momentary
"O" = Open
IanG, I found your thread but it's the one with pics that I'm looking for, I think the 'elbow' of the piston linkage
is worn out or the other part that has the leaf spring, if I rotate the case halves slightly instant sort of works,
I wanted to compare innards of mine to the posted pics. Mine is pretty clean inside I'll give the WD 40 a try.
There's certainly a lot of posts with the word shutter ;)
Evan, I remember those shutters, Surplus Shed sold out of them ;)
evan clarke
25-Feb-2013, 11:00
IanG, I found your thread but it's the one with pics that I'm looking for, I think the 'elbow' of the piston linkage
is worn out or the other part that has the leaf spring, if I rotate the case halves slightly instant sort of works,
I wanted to compare innards of mine to the posted pics. Mine is pretty clean inside I'll give the WD 40 a try.
There's certainly a lot of posts with the word shutter ;)
Evan, I remember those shutters, Surplus Shed sold out of them ;)
The people I bought mine from said they have about 800 of them. I bought mine around last November.
Jim, I'll post some images of the interior of mine later, just need to resize them.
I could use a couple of those shutters Evan's mentioned but they want silly money in terms of postage to the UK.
Ian
This is my shutter, internal view, works like a LUC but unknown maker:
90141
90142
90143
The images may help, but if not maybe help someone else in the future.
Ian
Steven Tribe
25-Feb-2013, 15:10
Well, well - just found this thread! Thought it was on Packards!
Thanks for raising the topic.
I went looking for mine and the box it was lying on, and found that the box contained another one (NIB!) that I had never discovered.
I have to look at the older one internally again as there is a small line of light between 2 leaves sometimes after use.
I am surprised that Calcolsky's (ex surplus shed) thingies can be used, as these seem to lack the mounting system for front mounting on lens rims. My 2 were replacements for a small Guerry barndoor shutter which had a solidified rubber expanding cylinder.
The older one is identical to yours internally (but has flash synch) and will post photos when I strip it. These are pretty big - 6" across
The Zettor must be post ww2 and has the additional S function (closed).
Placing the marker (the red dot) at positions between M and S appear to provide selection of F values - like the old Studio Shutter used to do when they were new!
IanG, Steven, thanks for posting the pics, Ian's Luc shutter seems a lot more complicated than mine
yours may be also, the one one that I stumbled across seems the closest to mine
and I'm still looking for that thread !
In the mean time, I cleaned mine with some WD40, lacquer thinner and elbow grease
and it operates just a bit better, but the instant still doesn't work unless I twist the
housing halves just a tiny bit.
Here's my shutter porn all cleaned except the back case ;)
Steven Tribe
26-Feb-2013, 15:49
There is more variation than I expected in these front leaf shutters.
Mine is mostly like the OP's - with 6 leaves. But is has all mechanical items on the main body.
The release system is designed for either pneumatic or cable.
The release is a horrible brass small monster thing made out of many parts with 3 springs - reminds me of focal plane release mechanisms!
The system is very sluggish if there is the least friction/oil, because the contact area is so large.
HAH ! Found the thread I was looking for!
http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?58707-need-some-help-with-this-old-shutter/page2&highlight=luc%2C+shutter
Alex's shutter is dead ringer for mine, except for the extra spring.
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