allen.ruby•1mo agoTop Commenter

Finally got that sticky shutter on a 1970s Canon FTb to behave

I've been working on this Canon FTb for a customer for about two weeks. The shutter was hanging up at 1/125 and I could not figure out why. I cleaned the gear train, lubed the right spots, checked the curtain tension. Nothing worked. Then I noticed a tiny bit of old grease on the brake lever pivot, something I usually skip over. Hit it with a drop of naphtha and worked it loose. Shutter snapped clean after that. I guess I learned that even the small pivot points can cause big delays. Has anyone else found a weird hidden spot like that on an old SLR?

2 comments

2 Comments

lunah861mo ago

Jumped into a similar mess with a Pentax Spotmatic last month. The self-timer was dragging and I figured it was the usual gummy gears. I tore it down twice, cleaned everything, no luck. Then I noticed the little pin that holds the self-timer release lever was binding, not even a proper pivot, just a tiny friction point. One drop of lighter fluid and a dab of oil on the pin and it snapped back to life. It's wild how those spots no one ever thinks about can cause a shutter to lag for weeks. I bet that brake lever pivot gets overlooked on a lot of these old Canons too.

the_brooke1mo ago

Ngl, lighter fluid saves my bacon on vintage gear all the time.