Rant: I thought solvent baths were overkill for shutter springs

I always figured dunking shutter springs in solvent was just extra work for no real gain. My hobby is restoring old rangefinders, and I would just wipe them down with a cloth. But last week, I was working on a vintage rangefinder from the 50s, and the shutter was dragging no matter how much I cleaned it by hand. After three tries, I gave in and tried a quick dip in lighter fluid. The difference was huge, with all that built-up gunk coming right off and the springs snapping back like new. Now I see that for decades-old grease, a bath really gets into the tight coils. It saved me hours of fiddling and got the camera working perfectly. I guess sometimes the old-school methods are worth the hassle after all.

3 comments

3 Comments

blaked791d ago

I used to skip the solvent bath too, but it really does work on the old, hardened grease. Changed my mind after seeing the results.

avery_torres491d ago

Yeah it really does CHANGE your mind once you see it work. That old grease just MELTS away. Hard to argue with results.

parker2522h ago

What finally convinced me? My grill grates were so crusted with grease they looked black. I used to scrub them raw every season and it took forever. Then I tried soaking them in a basic degreaser overnight. Woke up to grease just pooling at the bottom and the grates wiped clean. That one mess changed my whole approach to cleaning. Now I always let the cleaner sit first.