Just got a 1972 Pentax Spotmatic shutter working after three days of cleaning

It came in from a garage sale in Portland, totally gummed up with old oil. I spent about six hours over the weekend just soaking the curtain tracks in lighter fluid and working it back and forth with a tiny brush. The moment it fired at a clean 1/500 again was so good. Anyone else have a go-to method for freeing up these old metal focal plane shutters?

3 comments

3 Comments

drew_park1mo ago

My buddy had a similar fight with an old Minolta. He used a tiny drop of sewing machine oil on the pivot points after cleaning, but it was way too heavy and made things worse. He ended up having to take the whole top plate off to clean it again, this time with pure naptha on a q-tip. Took him forever but he got it singing. What do you use after cleaning to keep it smooth?

parkerp801mo ago

I read somewhere that lighter fluid is the classic move for that. I mean, it's basically naptha, right? Seems like it worked for you.

finleyf881mo ago

Yeah, lighter fluid is naptha, but calling it "the classic move" is a bit off. The real classic fix for watchmakers and old camera guys was Ronsonol, which is a specific, pure naptha. Some lighter fluids now have additives you don't want near a shutter.