Cleaning and maintaining Wista 45SP

[Jtsciacca]

Hey there! Im new to this forum but i have been shooting with my Wista for the last few years and i need some help on best practice for cleaning.

On a recent trip to Sicily working on a project my camera was knocked into the sand. As I was in a small town far away from camera stores etc I took it a apart the best I could with my leatherman and cleaning it of with a toothbrush, a can of compressed air and some water. I got all the sand out and put it back together and shoot photos the rest of my trip. But now the focus gears are a bit stiff and not smooth even when the tension is loose.

I would like to give it another once over and lubricate it. What lubricant would you suggest? and on other problem I had is some how the glass cracked, the fresnel is fine and with a bit of clear tape it has kept together without an issues and focuses perfect. However I have been finding it hard to get a new piece of glass the exact right size. any info on where to source something like this online or in person. I'm based in Paris, France.

thanks in advance!
Jack

[Tin Can]

First check parallelism of the 2 gear racks and the spur gears are both aligned

you may be off a tooth or 3