Fix my Linhof shutter!

[Darin Boville]

A older Schneider 150mm was part of a camera set that I purchased. The shutter is a Compur with the Linhof Bezel.

The shutter is really slow and sometimes the cocking arm gets stuck after the shutter is fired. For example, if set on "B" and you click and let go right away the shutter will open immediately but may take a while to decide to close. It might get stuck halfway.

So, since I got the shutter for essentially free, why not use it as a guinea pig to learn about cleaning shutters on my own? I tossed it in a bowl of naphtha for an hour or two and to my surprise the shutter worked flawlessly--the speeds sounded perfect. But then it dried all the way and it was back to the old problems. I repeated the process with the same result--perfect functioning after the bath, worthless after it fully dried.

Note, I couldn't gain visual access to the inside of the shutter--for the life of me I couldn't get that little semi-round lock with the two holes to spin to get the covering ring off.

I've spend more time than I care to admit working on this and bought screwdrivers, etc, too so I'm way beyond an economical repair. But I still want to see what I can do on my own as a learning experience.

All of which is a long windup to simply ask....any ideas?

--Darin

[domaz]

You need grease. The Naptha is a good lubricant for shutters- until it dries. If you can get it open you need to grease the posts of every gear you can find. You might have to take out the timing gearset to do this properly. Be careful not to use too much grease or a grease that is thick- it has to be very thin.

As far as taking the top cover off- Synchro-Compurs have a ring that should be easy to turn and unscrew with a couple small flat blade screwdrivers. But there could be a tiny screw keeping it from moving- I have no idea why yours would be so hard to undo unless someone superglued it or something.

[BrianShaw]

You can't repair a car engine with the hood down, and you can't clean a shutter without opening it up. Both, by the way, really need to be torn down to do the job right.

[Darin Boville]

O.K., a couple of tedious hours later I have it back together. The shutter speeds sound much better, though still a bit slow. I'm working the shutter hoping it will get better with use. A little smudge of oil on the aperture blade from my finger...

I did something wrong and B and T no longer work. The fire and close at a high speed--no need to let go or fire the shutter twice. dare I go back in?

--Darin

[John Koehrer]

Grease on the gear shafts is the wrong way to go. Grease is used for sliding surfaces like cams & latches.
A fine oil like watch oil is used on the rotating bits, it's literally like water.
The Naptha should be no problem since it leaves a very light film of lube when it evaporates. If the shutter is still hesitant, it's not clean enough so clean it again.
I've used Acetone to clean & watch oil to lube gears with good results but don't under any circumstances flush clean it with Acetone.

Losing B&T is common, it's usually a spring that's not properly engaged or missing.