Pneumatic Studio Shutter expert around?

[Kimberly Anderson]

I'm sure there's at least one of you out there that will have some advice... :)

I have been working with my Conley 10 inch portrait lens today and I got the pneumatic shutter running. It seemed to be kind of gummy and sticky, but after working it for a while it is working smoothly. I'm very excited about that.

I have the red rubber squeeze ball which works, my rubber tubing seems to swell up when I squeeze, so I'm going to try to find some tubing that doesn't expand and reduce my air pressure.

Questions:

Is there a larger squeeze ball that I can use? It seems that I really have to heave on this one to get the shutter to work. I wonder if that is me just getting used to the action or if it will loosen up as I use it?

Is there a less-finicky option instead of the pneumatic activator? I read about a replacement that was offered historically, but I haven't seen one or heard of one until tonights little search.

I didn't crack the shutter open, but I am tempted to try to see if I can lubricate it a little. I would appreciate any warnings or 'do not try this at home' suggestions. ;)

[Tin Can]

I also need a better bulb solution. My hands often fail to squeeze the dang bulb, properly, with my weak, beat up, arthritic hands of an ex-mechanic.

Maybe I need to hook up a mechanical air pressure supply. with a couple valves. Haven't tried that yet, perhaps someone has. I am using a new black bulb and hose from http://www.packardshutter.com/. My shutters seem fine, and I doubt oil is a solution, they move by finger just fine.

I think there are electric solenoid solutions, but I would like something usable on a variety of Packards, without fitting each with the whole electric solution.

Let's see what pops up.


Not kidding here.



I'm sure there's at least one of you out there that will have some advice... :)

I have been working with my Conley 10 inch portrait lens today and I got the pneumatic shutter running. It seemed to be kind of gummy and sticky, but after working it for a while it is working smoothly. I'm very excited about that.

I have the red rubber squeeze ball which works, my rubber tubing seems to swell up when I squeeze, so I'm going to try to find some tubing that doesn't expand and reduce my air pressure.

Questions:

Is there a larger squeeze ball that I can use? It seems that I really have to heave on this one to get the shutter to work. I wonder if that is me just getting used to the action or if it will loosen up as I use it?

Is there a less-finicky option instead of the pneumatic activator? I read about a replacement that was offered historically, but I haven't seen one or heard of one until tonights little search.

I didn't crack the shutter open, but I am tempted to try to see if I can lubricate it a little. I would appreciate any warnings or 'do not try this at home' suggestions. ;)

[Jim C.]

Michael, you didn't say what type of shutters, Packard, Wollensack studio ?

Been working on a bunch of pneumatic shutters lately, so I hope I can help,
Your tubing may be too thin walled if it's inflating, switch to a thicker walled tube or use vinyl
tubing, like the aquarium kind.
If the shutter seems as you say gummy then the first thing to do is clean the pneumatic
cylinder, it's a machined brass tube and piston, of the shutters that I have, cleaning the pneumatic cylinder
makes a world of difference. There are a few threads here on cleaning Packard
cylinders, the Wollensak studio shutters I've worked on are similar. Take them off and polish the piston and
cylinder bore till they gleam, I use a liquid metal polish dabbed on the end of a wooden shank Qtip, chucked
into a cordless drill and spin it in the bore with a tiny amount of pressure moving up and down and around
the inside of the cylinder, alternate with a clean Qtip to check your progress. The same thing with the piston.
I swish the parts in some naptha to rinse out any leftover polishing compound.
The piston should slide effortlessly. No oil in the cylinder, dry and clean seems best,
but if you must lube some graphite buffed on works well too.


Randy I don't think you want to use any pressurized air, you'll either bend the connecting
rod in the Packard or shoot that piston to moon ;)
A larger bulb may be the ticket for you, cleaning the cylinder and piston helps immensely if your Packard is of the used variety.

[ridax]

Michael, if the shutter depends on the bulb sucking the air back for closing (as the Packard is in its "B" mode) then switching to a larger bulb is probably not a good idea. The bulb needs to be stiff enough to suck the air back with an appropriate force and speed, and the material and walls thickness being about the same, the more the bulb's volume, the softer it is. I've found it was far better to attach two regular-sized bulbs to the same tubing in place of the single one and press both simultaneously when I needed more pressure for the Packard. And btw I've also come to conclusion the air speed was way more important then the amount of it.

Randy, I've also tried my own mouth instead of the rubber bulb and found it worked pretty nice for me. That may be not the most convenient solution for you but certainly the simplest and the cheapest one so you may want to give it a try at least. Again, the amount of air blown and sucked back is not very important but the speed is, so I found using the mouth itself and maybe just the upper part of my lugs was better then moving my diaphragm and the lower parts of my lugs next to the stomach. In other words, the blowing works best when done the same way as if shooting an arrow out of an air tube, and the back sucking is better done in the similar way.

I also believe a properly cleaned shutter would not need a lot of pressure to function. Here is a bit of my own experience with a pneumatic Packard (sorry much - though not all - of the two threads just duplicate each other):

http://www.apug.org/forums/forum44/83222-long-tube-packard.html
http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?t=68159

[lenser]

As to replacement bulbs and tubing....Packard is still very much in business and sells those in kit form.

[Tin Can]

These are good suggestions and sparked my dim bulb of a brain into action.

Thanks everyone!

[Jim Andrada]

Jon Shiu was also selling bulp and tube kits a while back.

[Jon Shiu]

Like others have said, it shouldn't take a huge amount of pressure to activate any of the old shutters if they are clean and in good shape. So, if it is gummy, it should be cleaned.

Also, if anyone just wants to try out a different bulb & tube, let me know and we can work something out.

Jon

[Tin Can]

Thanks Jon and Jim,

I have about 5 Packards, and the one I really want to work is buried inside my Ansco Studio 8X10. I'm going to try cleaning the piston.

Long reach into it...


Like others have said, it shouldn't take a huge amount of pressure to activate any of the old shutters if they are clean and in good shape. So, if it is gummy, it should be cleaned.

Also, if anyone just wants to try out a different bulb & tube, let me know and we can work something out.

Jon