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Cooltouch
Tinkerer
Username: Cooltouch
Post Number: 42
Registered: 01-2009
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, November 30, 2009 - 07:30 pm: | 
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I know this is a "classic" camera repair forum, but I'm also figuring that some folks here have had to deal with this issue. And given that the camera in question is almost 20 years old, thus almost a "classic", I figured it would be worth a shot.
The camera is an original EOS Rebel that I bought in 1990. It was a reliable picture taker until a few years ago, at which time I started getting a high percentage of images in which half or more of them were dark. I'd run into this years earlier with an FTb, which was a capping problem, and figured it was the same issue. And since the camera essentially had no value, I just replaced it with an Elan IIe.
But I pulled the camera out of its bag the other day, opened it up, and immediately noticed some shiny stuff on the shutter. Touched it, and it was sticky. Fortunately, probably not more than a week or too prior I had read a thread about this becoming a common problem with older EOS cameras because there's some sort of synthetic rubber somewhere inside it that begins to "goo-ify" after a couple of decades or so and ends up getting onto the shutter blades.
I tested the camera as-is, and really couldn't detect any of this capping-like behavior just by watching images through the shutter when tripping it at various speeds, but this might not mean all that much. Still, I wanted to get rid of this sticky tar-like substance.
So, I got out the Q-tips and Isopropyl alcohol and went to work cleaning the shutter. Gently and easy-does-it and all that. I found that I have to clean both sides of the shutter to do a thorough job. So far, I've gone through 8 Q-tips, and have reduced the shiny tar that's appearing on the blades from a lot to a tiny amount. I'll keep at this until there is no trace of it left.
Still, I would be interested in how you do it. I'm always open to better ways of doing things. I realize this is a band-aid sort of repair, since I'm treating symptoms, and not curing the problem, but it also seems to me that the occasional swab of the shutter is not all that difficult to do, and might prolong this camera's life for years yet. |
Bossman
Tinkerer
Username: Bossman
Post Number: 109
Registered: 02-2009
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, November 30, 2009 - 11:44 pm: |
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I cut strips of thin cardboard (like the covers on a book of invoices or a tablet of paper)and you put a drop or two of sudsy amonia on the strips and use it to clean out the melted insulator material at bottom of shutter and between blades. It will take at least 10-15 strips and you use them until there is no more black melted gunk inside the area of shutter travel or between the blades. Call me if you need further info or help. Art@ www.flcamera repair.com |
Cooltouch
Tinkerer
Username: Cooltouch
Post Number: 43
Registered: 01-2009
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 01, 2009 - 12:51 am: |
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Thanks for the tip, Art. I'll give this a try.
Is the bottom of the shutter the source of this insulator goo? |
John_s
Tinkerer
Username: John_s
Post Number: 12
Registered: 07-2009
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 01, 2009 - 12:17 pm: |
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I have used strips of newspaper soaked in lighter fluid or alcohol, to gently clean between the blades, and as bossman says thin card to get as much of it as possible from the left hand side at the bottom where the tar seems to come from. It doesn't seem to affect the operation of the camera. |
Rick_oleson
Tinkerer
Username: Rick_oleson
Post Number: 1018
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, December 01, 2009 - 07:07 pm: |
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The tar probably used to be polyurethane foam, which was sandwiched in between the shutter module and the camera chassis as a light seal/gasket. The 'right' way to clean it out is to completely disassemble the camera, remove the shutter and clean off all of the crud, but that's a LOT of work. The Q-tip procedure sounds okay, but lighter fluid is much more effective than alcohol as a solvent. The thin strips of paper/cardboard are good for getting the inaccessible spots between the blades. |
Cooltouch
Tinkerer
Username: Cooltouch
Post Number: 44
Registered: 01-2009
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, December 05, 2009 - 04:03 pm: |
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Thanks for all the insights, guys. Ultimately what I did was, over a period of several days, continue to wipe down the shutter blades with Q-tips and alcohol. It had gotten to the point where there was only one tiny spot on one blade where the tar reappeared, so I figured just by using a dilution process, I'd eventually get all the stuff that was between the blades right there. It took a while, but it got to the point where over a couple days period of time, and probably a couple hundred repeated shutter actuations, it no longer reappeared. So I'm figuring I got rid of it all. For now. If it reappears, I'll try using the card strip method to clean up the stuff below the shutter. I really don't feel like dismantling the camera to "do it right."  |
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