I’d say shutter repair is about at the same difficulty level as large format photography. But not a lot of teachers.
I’d say shutter repair is about at the same difficulty level as large format photography. But not a lot of teachers.
There is nothing wrong with a good naptha/Ronsinol/Coleman Fuel/white gas (pretty much all the same thing) flush. Just make sure to do a complete flush - this is not the place to be stingy, or, as has been noted above, you are just moving the old grease from one place in the shutter to another - the goal is to move the old grease from someplace inside the shutter to someplace outside the shutter.
Look at it this way: You now have a gummed up shutter. If you try and flush it clean but it just ends up gummed up somewhere else all you are out is 8 oz of lighter fluid - and the shutter is pretty much where it started - gummed up. The shutter is just as 'repairable' as it was when you started. So flush again until the shutter shows you some respect.
If you are worried about "old iris and shutter blades ... made of paper or celluloid" give them a love tap with a small screwdriver - if you hear a metallic 'tink' then I wouldn't worry.
Victory goes to the bold, not the meek. At least in those things worth winning.
Darkroom Automation / Cleveland Engineering Design, LLC
f-Stop Timers & Enlarging meters http://www.darkroomautomation.com/da-main.htm
This isn't the worst advice, no. But you need to take care with the shutter blades. The Alphax shutters typically have hard rubber shutter blades (kinda like bakelite) and I've cleaned those with naphtha and it hasn't been a problem. But you'd be wise to test a tiny bit of a blade surface with a Q-tip dipped in naphtha to make sure it's not going to dissolve. I've got a Betax No. 4 here and I'm going to go have a look to see what the blades are made of. (I didn't service it when I acquired it, as it had been done before I bought it)Originally Posted by nolindan
Ok...so after the old lubrication is "completely flushed out of the shutter", how do the places that require lubrication get re-lubricated?
Do you just run them dry, so the parts wear out?
Hey, why pay some certified guy to pack your parachute?
Save money, watch a YouTube video & DIY.
I don't know if this is praise by faint damnation or damnation by faint praise.
How could I disimprove on my advice ... Hmmm, treat a shutter like a fine watch? ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26RTlPgg-tA
Darkroom Automation / Cleveland Engineering Design, LLC
f-Stop Timers & Enlarging meters http://www.darkroomautomation.com/da-main.htm
There are lots of guides to shutter repair that show where to apply a homeopathic drop of oil or smear of grease (stay away from the mustard). A YouTube video is more than adequate. It's not open heart surgery.
But, if the shutter isn't getting commercial use - several hundred firings a day, day in and day out - then letting it run dry is a very safe option.
Darkroom Automation / Cleveland Engineering Design, LLC
f-Stop Timers & Enlarging meters http://www.darkroomautomation.com/da-main.htm
You mean, like watch Chris Sherlock's tutorials on shutter servicing? In my experience, his is some of the best camera repair content on the web, and Chris knows what he's doing - he is Kodak trained.
I've serviced more than 100 Compur shutters of all ages and some/many more others -though never a Betax.
The "naphtha flush miracle" won't destroy a shutter (except when there are shutter blades made from material other than steel. Also prolonged (overnight) submerge of the shutter in naptha may remove paint)
BUT
this solution will never remove adecuately old grease and oil no matter how many cycles of flushing you may do. Whoever claims the opposite i am sure he never realy disassembled any shutter to the last component for a proper service.
My 2 cents
Nobody is claiming the "flush it and see if that fixes it" method is any sort of miracle. It is a quick and dirty method that often gets things working again.
But I have a box of flushed shutters and they are still working 20 years later: that is adequate enough for my needs.
Yes, it takes away from skilled shutter repair facilities - but these aren't shutters that would go to a skilled repair facility in the first place and tend to be shutters owned by folks without the the money to afford a skilled repair. These shutters meet their ultimate death when they are taken apart and a bit goes 'sproing' across the room and another drops into the carpet never to be seen again. A flush-fix doesn't destroy the shutter - that's the important part.
The rule should to be: After flushing stops working the shutter has to go in for a thorough overhaul at a facility like yours; taking a screwdriver to the internals of a shutter should be verbotten (the admonition won't stop anybody, of course, and won't keep the springs from flying).
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In that box of mine, many of the shutters and cameras were fixed by simple exercise. This removes no gunk but often gets things working again - which solution would you take: a walk every morning; or open heart surgery?
Darkroom Automation / Cleveland Engineering Design, LLC
f-Stop Timers & Enlarging meters http://www.darkroomautomation.com/da-main.htm
I don't own a "facility", I am just a tinkerer and "collector" that works on his cameras.
I learnt this as a hobby through some errors i have to admit but most of the times these errors occured after wrong advices like the one in this topic.
We agree that with some exceptions at least there is no harm flushing a shutter, but what i want to say is that is better to share proper knowledge when we can and let the others decide.
With a bit of time investment shutter repair is not an open heart surgery for someone who might want to try, and doest not ask for a ton of tools.
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