Found an old Yashica at a garage sale, shutter was stuck like it hadn't moved in 20 years

I picked up this Yashica-Mat from a guy in Austin last Saturday for $15. The shutter blades were frozen solid, probably from old lube turning into glue. I see folks online jump straight to using lighter fluid or acetone on these old leaf shutters, but that's how you strip the coating off the blades. I spent 3 hours carefully warming it with a hairdryer and using tiny drops of naptha, and it freed up without any damage. Anyone else run into people ruining shutters by going too aggressive with solvents?

3 comments

3 Comments

emerym368d ago

Used a hairdryer on a stuck Pentax Spotmatic once and was amazed how much just gentle heat did the trick. Those old leaf shutters seem to hate any kind of harsh chemical right out of the gate. People get in a hurry and end up making things way worse than a slow warm up.

hill.margaret8d agoMost Upvoted

How long did you run the hairdryer on it before you noticed anything loosening up?

kelly3857d ago

Oh man, for real though! I mean, I totally agree with emerym36 here. People get so impatient with old cameras and end up wrecking them with harsh stuff. I'd say even just five minutes of gentle heat from a hairdryer on low, like holding it a few inches away, made a huge difference on a sticky shutter I had. It was slow but steady, and I could actually feel the mechanism start to move more freely. Way better than dumping alcohol or lighter fluid on it and hoping for the best. Just takes some patience, that's all.