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Rlc
Tinkerer Username: Rlc
Post Number: 114 Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Monday, September 27, 2010 - 12:50 pm: |
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I just bought this Welta "Weltix". It's in excellent cosmetic condition but has shutter issues. The shutter fires at all speeds but seems to be the same relatively slow speed speed at all settings up max.1/300. Bulb setting operates normally. The shutter is a Welta Compur. Any help with info. on opening and cleaning would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for any help. Richard. |
Rlc
Tinkerer Username: Rlc
Post Number: 117 Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Friday, October 01, 2010 - 07:19 am: |
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Just found this page regarding Compur shutter cleaning. Waiting for courage to try this to correct issues with my Weltix. http://www.pbase.com/raynerj/image/113930953 Comments would be welcomed. Richard. |
Scott
Tinkerer Username: Scott
Post Number: 114 Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Friday, October 01, 2010 - 08:00 am: |
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Another helpful site is Dan Mitchell's: http://pheugo.com/cameras/index.php?page=compur A few drops of naptha in the right places will get it working again. The speed dial has a cut-out pattern, and as you turn the dial this way and that, a pin on a swiveling, spring-tensioned lever should be following the contours of that pattern. Take off the speed dial and poke around until you identitfy that lever, and put a couple of drops of naptha on its pivot point, and then move it back and forth. Just make sure that pin gets back into the track on reassembly. |
Rlc
Tinkerer Username: Rlc
Post Number: 118 Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Friday, October 01, 2010 - 10:06 am: |
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Thanks Scott for the link. Now I have to screw up my courage to do the surgery on his shutter. Richard. |
Rlc
Tinkerer Username: Rlc
Post Number: 119 Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Friday, October 01, 2010 - 11:05 am: |
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Scott; I have wondered why the J Rayner site (in my earlier post)cautions "Never use lighter fluid" (naptha) but instead use isoprophyl alcohol for cleaning this shutter. I have found that naptha is far superior for dissolving old grease and flushing. Thanks again for the excellent Dan Mitchell's web site. I have added it to my favorites for future reference Richard (RLC) |
Scott
Tinkerer Username: Scott
Post Number: 115 Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Friday, October 01, 2010 - 11:41 am: |
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Well, we all have our preferences, right? Myself, I would never put alcohol into a shutter, because unless it is 100% alcohol, it contains some water, and water can lead to rust or aother corrosion. Drugstore alcohol is like 80%, right? So it is 20% water. Naptha contains no water, and evaporates almost completely. I have used naptha to fix dozens of cameras and shutters, but I have never "flushed" a shutter because it seems to me that would cause more problems than it would solve. Maybe that would help in some extreme cases-- and if you had the shutter in a quart of naptha and in one of those ultrasonic cleaners that watchmackers use. I find industrial-strength alcohol (or denatured alcohol, sold in auto parts stores and used mainly for cleaning brake parts) is useful for cleaning focus threads, soaking parts that are stuck together, or for cleaning the OUTSIDE of a camera, but I would never put it straight into a shutter, unless I was planning on completely dismantling it for an overhaul. In most cases, unless there's some serious problem, I find that it doesn't take more than 6-10 drops (in the right place!) to get an old shutter working again. |
Mareklew
Tinkerer Username: Mareklew
Post Number: 184 Registered: 03-2010
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Friday, October 01, 2010 - 04:00 pm: |
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Well, it might not be advisable to use nahta on sensitive plastics. From experience, most shutters I've seen 'fixed' with a few drops of naphta did really need thorough cleaning. Although they ran 'reliably' after jump-starting with solvent, they also ran slow and inconsistent. I would not, however, go as far, as to recommend a complete shutter stripdown to somebody with zero experience or inclination in the field of fine mechanics. It might still be a better idea to just drop the few drops of naphta as means of preemptive damage control... Marek |
Rlc
Tinkerer Username: Rlc
Post Number: 120 Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A Votes: 0 (Vote!) | Posted on Friday, October 01, 2010 - 05:47 pm: |
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Well said Marek. While I spent most of my adult years cleaning, repairing and adjusting watches (some of which were complicated movements and some as simple as very early fusee movements) I never knew what mechanical complications were until seeing some of the fiendishly mechanical complications of cameras. I marvel at the complexity of modern shutters and shed a tear that all this is replaced by electronics. Guess I'm just a dinasour! I still have my ultrasonic cleaner and watch cleaning and rinsing solutions. Sometimes I would have to make watch parts which were unavailable. Still have my watchmakers lathe and full set of collets and many tools some of which I had to make to accomplish the task at hand. However now that I'm in my 80's my eyesight is not what it used to be, even with a binocular loupe or 10X eye loupe, and my fingers are not as dextrous as they once were. I certainly would not attempt a complete strip down of any shutter except the most basic design such as a Kodak VIGILANT 620 which I just finishedand and is working fine. As to the Naptha question I have never found a plastic which would be harmed by lighter fluid (Naptha) but I must conceed that there may be some. Scott: I agree that denatured alcohol would be an acceptable solvent but never isoprophyl. I use lighter fluid sparingly applied with hypodermic syringe. Thanks for all the input. |