Volute shutter question.

[Robbie Bedell]

Can a shutter left cocked for a long time be a good thing? The speeds of my Volute shutter, which has my very old 1903 Tessar IIb in it, have always been at about 'half-speed'. (i.e. one half sec. = one sec., etc.) Lately the shutter became very erratic, and in some cases not to work at all, so I just assumed it was its time to expire. I accidently left it on 'T' with the shutter open for a week or more. I always though that was a bad thing. But when I now work the shutter the times are back to 'normal' all across the board. Is it possible that in this particular shutter that having tension on it for a long time is good? I would like to hear from the lens experts on this...and anyone else..Thank You!...Robbie

[lenser]

You might want to email Carol Miller at Flutotscamerarepair.com. She's resurrected several old shutters for me and might well be familiar with this shutter. She is also extremely reasonable on her prices.

[Glenn Thoreson]

It's always bad to leave a shutter cocked and /or left open. It probably needs to be sreviced. A good cleaning and adjusting will put it back to work. Don't expect the speeds on these old shutters to run as marked, however. Old tired main springs and such can't be replaced on most of them. The service person should give you a list of as tested speeds. On my Volute, which runs nicely, 3 seconds runs at 1/2 second. No problem.

[Robbie Bedell]

Thanks guys! Glenn, mine is three seconds at 1/2 also. Just curious, how old is your Volute? Mine has the I'm sure original Tessar in it and the lens is from 1903. It would be interesting if the shutter tensions aged consistantly.