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WernerJB
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, August 07, 2005 - 04:48 am: | 
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On tinkering with a rebadged Taron I compared this one with a formerly repaired similar specimen and to my surprise found that one's shutter being frozen up again. On the shutter blades there is some oily residue although I had given it what I then considered a thorough cleaning. Is this because grease from inside (the helicoil, etc.) has again travelled trodden paths and thus got access to them? Should therefore the last step of the cleaning process be a wiping off without lighter fluid to hinder fluids from creeping along the metal? I am absulutely sure the blades were squeaky clean with no residue on them after cleaning and I had waited several days to give fumes enough time to evaporate before reassembly. I would very much appreciate other tinkerers' experience and input on the matter. |
rick oleson
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, August 07, 2005 - 10:14 am: |
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Did you "flood clean" the shutter? In my experience, this only rarely cleans all of the oil and grease out of a shutter, because there are many places where it's trapped between parts and is not easily dissolved or flushed away. In particular, the actuating ring that drives the blades often traps a large amount of oil and grease very close to the blades. The only way I have found to get it completely clean is to remove the blades and actuating ring, clean each part and the housing individually and reassemble the shutter.
This is a lot more work, and I don't do it unless I feel it is necessary - but if the shutter does not run very cleanly after wiping the blades clean with solvent-wetted cotton swabs, then I disassemble it instead of trying to flood it clean.
There are some shutters - notably the Canonet - for which this is really impractical. Fortunately I have not yet encountered a Canonet that needed it.
rick : ) = |
WernerJB
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, August 07, 2005 - 10:42 am: |
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Thanks, Rick, for your input. In my "experimental phase" I tried flood cleaning and realized that this is, as you rightly say, not a successful method of removing grimy dirt from inside the shutter unless you separate the complete mechanism and submerge it for a while, put it in a plastic container and give it several complete rinses with fresh lighter fluid each time so often until no more particles are washed out.
But there are shutters that can neither be treated that way nor can they easily be taken apart (e.g. the Citizen shutter of Taron Electro 100). Careful cleaning by hand seems the only way to get them back to working.
Although I have done that a few times (with many beads of sweat on my forehead !) I am afraid of taking shutters apart, because no new spare parts are available, so damaging something means a complete loss. |
rick
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, August 07, 2005 - 11:59 am: |
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one thing you might try is to use Heptane as a solvent instead of lighter fluid. The 2 chemicals (lighter fluid (Naphtha) is predominantly Octane) are very similar, the main difference is that Heptane evaporates faster, so it might not leave as much liquid behind helping the remaining oils migrate. Heptane is available in spray cans; the one I have is "Turner Electronic Parts Cleaner" from Radio Shack. I don't think it's available as an unpressurized liquid.
I haven't experimented with Heptane enough to confirm that it is as safe with plastics as lighter fluid, but it is likely to be safer than other solvents, so look for "Contains Heptane" on the label. This is probably not a concern in the shutter in any case. |
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