| Author |
Message |
    
Benh
Tinkerer
Username: Benh
Post Number: 2
Registered: 12-2011
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, December 21, 2011 - 04:36 pm: | 
|
Hi,
Today I've been working on a Flektogon lens that I acquired along with a Praktica B200 (more on that in another thread) - when I first got my hands on it, the aperture was sticking and almost gritty from the feel of jiggling the lever. I've since taken it apart and reassembled it (a gargantuan task that's taken me all afternoon thanks to forgetting to note how many rotations I undid the focussing ring; I ended up having to reverse-engineer the whole thing by trial and error...) having cleaned the aperture with alcohol. Now it feels smoother and opens and closes cleanly and pretty quickly, but it's just not as snappy as my other lenses.
Is this going to be a problem, and is there anything I can do other than try to clean it even more? The spring itself seemed to be in perfectly good condition, and the blades weren't noticeably bent or misaligned.
(there is always the possibility that it's sticking slightly because the blades are still damp - I reassembled it and only realised there were minute traces of the unevaporated alcohol still in the nooks - I'll leave it somewhere warmish and dry, and see if that helps.)
Thanks,
Ben |
Br1078lum
Tinkerer
Username: Br1078lum
Post Number: 187
Registered: 11-2010
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, December 21, 2011 - 06:41 pm: |
|
I like to use alcohol for a lot of clean-ups, but for something with as many surfaces as an aperture, lighter fluid is probably the best bet. Alcohol will let the old lubricants migrate into areas they won't come out of, while lighter fluid will evaporate the lubricants. I think most alcohols have quite a bit of water content to them also, which could introduce some corrosion down the line.
PF |
Benh
Tinkerer
Username: Benh
Post Number: 3
Registered: 12-2011
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, December 22, 2011 - 05:54 am: |
|
Ok, thanks for the advice - I'll bear that in mind if I need to clean it again.
Ben |
Finnegan
Tinkerer
Username: Finnegan
Post Number: 108
Registered: 09-2009
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, December 25, 2011 - 10:44 am: |
|
The best thing to use for cleaning this is electronics contact cleaner which dries very fast without residue. Some brand names are 5-56 electronic contact cleaner or Tune-o-wash. Don't mistake the good stuff for the greasy type sold at Radio Shack. Radio Shack actually has both types. |
