| Author |
Message |
    
Berk Sirman
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, November 21, 2004 - 11:04 am: | 
|
Hi everyone.
Two days ago I put drops of lighter fluid on my Lynx5000's shutter and self-timer that was not working properly. Both work perfectly now but as it turns out I put few drops too many and it has migrated to the aperture and shutter blades. I have been airing out the wet area by keeping the shutter open on B by cable release. The shutter blades are almost completely dry and clean but the aperture blades still have some residude of lighter fluid plus old grease residude that has migrated with the lighter fluid. Most is gone though.
Everything works great mechanically but I wonder whther there is a way to speed up the drying and make sure I have as little residude on the blades as possible. I do not want to assemble the front element prematurely as the evaporation may cause haze and shiny aperture blades increase internal reflection. I do not want to diassemble the blades and clean them since I dont want to peel off leathrette etc on this mint looking camera. Plus I don't know my way in beyond the shutter. Is there an easy way out of this? |
Donnie Strickland
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, November 21, 2004 - 11:31 am: |
|
I think time is your friend here. I have found it beneficial to set the aperture to the smallest opening (16? 22?) and simply leave the lens open for a day or two. This gives the largest surface area to the aperture blades which will speed evaporation. Whatever you do, don't get in a hurry! Hope this helps. |
Winfried
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, November 21, 2004 - 02:26 pm: |
|
The problem is that dissolved grease does NOT evaporate. Just pouring in some lighter fluid does not remove the grease on the gears but just distributes it inside the shutter - and sometimes on the shutter blades.
Although it is better to disassemble the shutter completely (there is an article covering this issue in the repair article section) in most cases it is sufficient to remove the front lens cell and gently wipe the blades with lighter fluid. Then fire the shutter several times and wipe dry, and repeat this. To check whether the blades are ACTUALLY clean let the shutter rest for a week and then try to fire it at 1/1000. If there is visible movement of the blades (seen from the front) it probably still is somewhat gummed. Repeat the above mentioned procedure etc etc. |
Jackson
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, November 21, 2004 - 05:45 pm: |
|
I certainly agree with Winfried on this. If the naptha/grease mixture has migrated to the shutter and aperture blades, removal of the lens barrel from the body is necessary. There's simply no way to remove the stuff from the rear surfaces of the blades otherwise.
I'll add that removing the leatherette for this purpose isn't all that difficult, as long as you have the right tools. I ruined the leatherette on the first two cameras I did this on (using screwdrivers), then made a couple of scrapers from thick bamboo chopsticks. That did the trick. (My thanks to Morgan at Cameraleather.com for that tip.) |
Berk Sirman
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, November 22, 2004 - 01:48 pm: |
|
Well removing lens barrell is not an option at this point. I do not have enough skills for that. I could send it for CLA but I cant afford it. And even if I could I cant deal with customs/postage etc at this point. The repairmen here would charge an insane amount of money for CLA so I would have to send it abroad. I can sell it but then I dont know when I will come accross such a clean Lynx again. I can use it as is. The shutter blades are pretty clean, almost perfect, but I need to try it with slide film to be sure about 1/500 and 1/1000. But I am quite certain it will work ok. My only concern is the aperture blades. The grease may increase internal reflection. I had wanted to use this camera so bad... |
Donnie Strickland
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, November 22, 2004 - 06:08 pm: |
|
I should clarify my response a little. Winfried is quite correct about the grease itself not evaporating. I was referring to the lighter fluid itself.
Don't give up! Try as Winfried suggests and clean the blades a little at a time, ever so gently. I once cleaned on a Konica Auto S2 for a week. |
Howard
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, November 23, 2004 - 05:35 am: |
|
Hi Berk,
The ideal would be to strip the whole thing down, but you can probably get it to work fine by cleaning from the front only. As Donnie said above, close the aperture to f22 clean it, open it up fully and close it again and clean it again. Keep doing this until all visible traces are gone. Check a few days later and do it again if required. You should eventually get most of the grease from the back as well by doing this. Don't forget to clean the front surface of the rear element with windex or similar before final reassembly. This technique is probably not for the purist but should work fine. I don't think that there will be any increase in internal reflections. Enjoy your Lynx 5000, I reckon mine is a great camera. |
Berk Sirman
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, November 23, 2004 - 05:59 am: |
|
Thank you all for your help. I will try to clean it from the front and it already looks so much cleaner than when I first started cleaning it. |
