Old timer taught me a trick for sticky shutters in about 30 seconds

Had this guy come into my shop last month, maybe 80 years old, with a beat up Pentax Spotmatic. He watched me fumble with a sticky shutter for a minute, then just said "try a little lighter fluid on a q-tip, not oil." It worked perfectly. Has anyone else run into old repair folks who just know weird tricks like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

angela_carter10d ago

a little lighter fluid on a q-tip, not oil" - see, I gotta push back on this one a bit. I've heard that trick for years and it works sometimes but it can also mess up the shutter blades if you're not careful. Lighter fluid is super flammable and it evaporates fast which is good for cleaning but it leaves zero lubrication behind so the shutter might get sticky again real quick. I've seen people wreck old shutters by soaking them with that stuff because it can seep into the wrong places and make things worse. Not saying the old timer was wrong for his camera but I'd rather use a proper contact cleaner or a tiny drop of watch oil on a pivot point. Stickiness is usually old grease getting gummy, not dirt, so lighter fluid is just a bandaid.

brooke4759d ago

I read somewhere that some old camera repair manuals actually recommend lighter fluid for specific shutters like the Compur or Prontor models from the 50s because the grease they used back then was a different formula than the stuff that gets gummy today. But I've also heard of people using it on a leaf shutter and then having the blades stick shut a month later because the fluid ate away some coating on the metal. It seems like it depends a lot on what kind of shutter you're working with.