The rear swing movement on my Chamonix Whole Plate has always been a bit on the stiff side. Finally yesterday it became really stiff when opening up the folded camera. On either side of the bottom of the rear standard are hinges almost looking like extended dovetail fittings with bolts going through them. Removed the bolts and was going to separate the back from the base, but the fittings were really sticking together tightly from a lot of internal surface to surface friction. Was going to try to apply some dry graphite lubricant but hesitated cause I didn't want to separate the "hinges" to apply the powder. So instead applied some WD-40 liberally to the hinges and swung the back standard back and forth a few times. Worked like a charm, rear swing now operates just like it did when I first received the camera. My guess is that if a lubricant was initially applied to the hinge, it had evaporated with use and age. Will be doing this every now and then on both of my Chamonixes as a very simple preventative maintenance.
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