| Author | Message | ||
     Winfried Rating: N/A |
Yes - as always. Ask 5 doctors and you get 6 different answers... I have no experience with clock and watch repair, but - having a degree in precision engineering - I have read a bit about it. As mentioned by others, clocks/watches are required to run continously, and to do that very precisely. Tolerances of 10 p.c. as allowed for shutter speeds would be a desaster for a clock. AFAIK clocks and watches need lubrication at least in some parts, otherwise the different makes of watchmakers oil offered by sellers for hobbyist (and professional) watchmakers would be useless. Watchmakers oil is also mentioned in the professional literature I have access to. I have also heard that some makeshift watchmakers drown the whole watch in solvent, but this seems everything but a professional method, and probably only good for removing the most evident dirt. Relubricating a watch or clock will always require at least partial disassembly. With camera shutters it is different. Of course the best method is to disassemble them as far as possible and wash every subassembly separately. Especially with the notoriously (and fairly simple) Prontor shutters I found this is less annoying than cleaning the (not disassembled) blades again and again and seeing them gum up again after a few weeks. With shutters like most Compur shutters I don't like to remove the speed escapement since it must be held in proper position for speed adjustment (see the thread about the Retina IIIc shutter). Shutters in general need very little lubrication. The Prontor repair manual just mentions that the aperture blades are slightly greased in the factory - but they work very well without that. They recommend to wash the speed escapement in solvent and to wipe the shutter blades with a dry cloth in case they don't work properly. The gears of a shutter do not need any lubrication - but I prefer adding a tiny amount of gun oil, I think this makes them run properly for a longer period. The Compur shutter manual mentions four different lubricants for different purposes, mostly for greasing the cams, and in some cases (shutters with interchangeable lenses) the links between shutter and lens. |