How To Repair A Leaf Shutter

Are there resources to larn lens and shutter repair?

I take a small but aging collection of LF lenses that have mechanical shutters. Some of the shutters are getting slow and fifty-fifty some are getting stuck. How like shooting fish in a barrel it it to clean and lube them? Are there resources to learn how to service them? I don't want to take autonomously a shutter and ending ruining it. Any suggestions? Mayhap simply transport them in? I'g a DIYer, simply I don't desire to make it over my head. Thanks in accelerate!
I don't know where to signal you lot, I wish I did.
One caveat - there is an infinite number of means to ruin something. Many of these ways are covered past yootoob 'tutorials'. In that location are too some very skilful tutorials, but the novice can't distinguish until too belatedly. That pretty much goes for everything else on the internet also.
I'm no adept nor do I play i on TV, just hither are some tips I've picked up since starting to fix my own gear. Educatee budget + GAS = must learn to DIY and non send it out for repair/CLA.
Start with something broken, see if yous can make it work or at least get information technology every bit close to working every bit you can. Peradventure the status of the parts in the assembly won't permit full working condition only at least you'll take gone through the diagnostic piece of work and gained feel.

For lenses: commencement with the simple ones: cheap common primes. Some of the Soviet pieces are assembled in an intuitive manner so they can be a good start. Kickoff one I cleaned out and relubed was a Fed 3b and Industar 61.

Proficient tools (proper lens spanner, for one) helps greatly and patience. It doesn't all need to go dorsum together *tonight* and you lot can always open information technology support.

Taking care with gild of assembly: quick digital shots to help remember orientation etc can be a big help, or sketches if you don't have a digicam handy.
Learn on shutters you don't mind destroying. Information technology happens. Prepare your all-time shutters after becoming skilled. Seek factory repair manuals as primary source of knowledge. Realize that lubes spec'd in the one-time days may non exist simply modern substitutes may even be better - if applied correctly.
And whatever yous practice, don't go impatient!
Thomas Tomosoy has a couple of books out. Repairing Classic Cameras give a basic how-to on leafage shutters.
"Leica Photographic camera Repair" is another. That i'southward more helpful with LTM's than M's.
What make of shutters exercise yous have? Some shutter repair manuals requite step past step instructions while others do not, some are elementary while others are circuitous, some are stamped parts while others are machined parts.
Where are you located, Mars or ane of its moons, Jupiter, or Saturn?
How good are your skills with very pocket-sized screws, size 00 to 1 x 1/eight inch long?
Get a adept fix of Jewlers screwdrivers, sample: http://www.amazon.com/Stanley-66-03...8106576&sr=8-4&keywords=jewelers+screwdrivers
and a good pair of 1/16 inch wide blunt nose tweezers six to viii inches long. A magnifing swing arm lamp helps also.
Apply a digital P&South with macro mode or a SLR with close up lens and take pictures of the shutter as y'all remove each part verifying that the part(s) are shown clearly in their right position.
Shutter and aperture blades are .015 to .02 inch thick, usually blued steel, and bend very hands. They must be removed and cleaned. I utilize to coat them with a sparse coat of extra fine powdered graphite simply used dry moving picture teflon on a recent CLA and the shutters ran faster than with graphite which is a skillful thing with weaking former springs.
I generally accept Copal shuttersI have Copals #0-3, merely I have an erstwhile Prontor that I'd like to set up. Any online manuals bachelor?
Thanks for all the great responses!
Some pages I take Bookmarked:
http://www.buonaluce.com/Beefcake.pdf

http://pheugo.com/cameras/alphabetize.php?page=acme2&WEBMGR=1ea9633166d723af6b267abd5bc529af

http://world wide web.rolandandcaroline.co.uk/repair.html

At that place may be links from those pages to other sites of involvement. You might try searching on Flickr for specific shutter names simply in example someone has posted photos of a tear downward.

Len
Search engine "google"; search term "prontor shutter repair manual"; useful results:
http://benoit.suaudeau.perso.neuf.fr/manuels_rep/obturateurs/001_pdfsam_prontor.pdf
http://phasmatisapparatus.blogspot.com/2013/04/prontor-svs-repairservice-manual.html
Where yous are located will affect your search results.
I've only had the pinnacle embrace off i Copal #2, it looked simple enough that I would non need a manual simply starting out they would be hard.
+ane
http://www.rolandandcaroline.co.uk/repair.html

Excellent resource for all things Agfa 6x6 and many great links to use too. Consider them every bit a master resource!
Hear hear!
Rick Oleson has a lot of repair data here:
http://rick_oleson.tripod.com/alphabetize-27.html
Do you have to understand how the parts of a shutter piece of work in order to do a proper CLA? By that I mean what is the purpose of each gear, lever , spring Etc. I've repaired a stuck shutter or two but mostly by looking at things and pure impaired luck. I really don't sympathise the function of all the parts.
You guys are bang-up! I've downloaded some of the PDFs on Evernote. I feel encouraged. Later the beginning success, the pucker factor will go away . What I plan to do is to accept pictures as I go on. I'chiliad a tech monkey and I've replaced hard drives in Macbooks and not too long ago, replaced the battery on my Iphone. One more question. Exercise I need a shutter speed checker along with my other tools?
Yep, of course. How could it be otherwise? Could you diagnose issues in an electronic excursion without knowing among other things Ohm's law, semiconductor theory, and the purpose of the circuit you are working on?
You lot know, I was making that comparing while working on my latest project. I've rebuilt 60s and 70s slushboxes, they aren't difficult but I absolutely abhor the very idea of a car that shifts for you lot and therefore dislike working on the damn things. I think the ratio is say four perhaps five Contaxen to one slushbox.
I accept cleaned some Prontor Press shutters that seem to get the shutter blades gummed upwardly. Opened dorsum and removed and cleaned the blades was not very hard.
Jon
I plant the Copal shutters pretty easy to work on as a get-go shutter repair. I got many of repair manuals from Joyce at CraigCamera.com
I also wrote up a curt blog post on the Copal repair I will acknowledge to ruining my first couple of camera repairs and so I as well advocate for first starting with one or 2 you have that you are willing to sacrifice. I have all of the Tomosy books and don't find them terribly useful, interesting reading but not very useful for the beginner. Go a real spanner tool, I bought one on ebay for cheap and utilize Ronsonol lighter fluid for the cleaner, don't utilise booze...just don't. Besides expert small screwdrivers are a must and preferably plastic tweezers, some kind of seeing upwards close assist, I use cheap 3x glasses from Walmart and a headlamp. A good working area that won't be disturbed so y'all tin embrace up your piece of work and come up back to it later, wait to work on them over several days...don't rush information technology. Some other poster mentioned blanket the shutter blades with dry teflon, can't say I have had the aforementioned luck, I keep them dry.
You rock!I thought this thread was dead, but I got a bonus answer. Thanks! Your link volition exist very helpful. Non so worried about diving in. Just I will proceed with caution.
Lighter fluid will impairment plastic and safe components found in some shutters.
Isopropyl Booze, preferably the 90% version, will not exercise harm but is slow to deliquesce grease and must exist immune to dry thoroughly from the parts earlier reassembly.
Lacquer thinner is an excellent degreaser BUT volition strip the bluing off the shutter and aperture blades and any other protective coatings of in the shutter.
Denatured Booze will produce results similar to lacquer thinner and dissolve adhesives.
CRC Quick Dry Electronic Cleaner, http://www.amazon.com/CRC-05103-Qui...eight-2&keywords=crc+quick+dry+electronic+cleaner , available at hardware and auto parts stores is a very good cleaner/degreaser that volition not harm any parts in shutters.
Grease is oil in a lather base. Sometimes grease dries out to the indicate that all that is left behind is a hard soap scum which must be scraped off.

Its your equipment. Preserve or destroy information technology as you lot wish.
The problems I have had with booze is it dries and that ten% of moisture in it rusts bare metallic components (shutter/aperture blades). I have non used lighter fluid on anything other than metallic parts, I guess I was thinking that was a given it would ruin plastic & rubber then shutterfinger's communication should be headed. Let me know if you need whatever specifics on the Copal shutter, I have some repair diagrams I could probably scan for you if you get stuck.
Besides, if you look at the craigcamera website you lot may not find what you lot need, there is a lot of stuff there...I take constitute using google's "site:" operator works well to detect what I have needed...for example "site:world wide web.craigcamera.com copal shutter"
But an FYI if you did not know almost that.

Daren
I time I used the links on craigcamera and saw a service manual listed for Copal shutters the side by side time it was not there but a foursquare copal shutter manual was. I will give your tip a try.
Make sure once you lot are on the craigcamera page you lot practice a <ctrl><f> in the browser to search for your keyword on the page, I have found information technology cached style down somewhere in all the text. If you notice something yous need exist sure to email Joyce with the URl and the number next to the item, that is the best manner for her..she has helped me out quite a bit in finding former service & repair manuals.
Searching Flickr for leaf shutter repair brings upwards some really prissy Copal shutter pictures by member Hans Kerensky. At that place are shutter pictures by other Flickr members under that search too.
http://throughavintagelens.com/2010/10/leaf-shutters/ has videos of shutters operating which is rather entertaining. YouTube also has several shutter repair videos, simply I haven't taken time to look at whatsoever so can't comment on the data quality.

Len
All excellent resources and I have enjoyed the vintagelens website in the past, great site..thanks for posting!
I went to National Camera Repair School and...
had to take shutters down to the last screw. Many shutters can get a big help by just dipping the whole shutter in a cleaning solution and and then blasting them with compressed air to clean out the solution. This is not the way recommended by the school, just is worth doing for the first step. Ofcourse you lot will have to lube the shutter and aperature leaves. As one guy said he used a graphite powder, but in that location are probably amend things now. The big problem can exist getting those leaves back in. Information technology took me a couple hours the beginning time I did it and 15 minutes afterwards a while. You might be able to find the one-time National Camera books. They take long been out of business and the copyrights to the books were bought past 1 of the authors and instructors merely he has since died. I wish nosotros had the internet when I was doing repairs as it would accept made and so many things easier. Some other word of communication. Many of the escapements for slow shutter speeds tin fall apart past just removing the screws and you will have your afternoon cutting out for you putting them back together. Better to just remove them and clean them as a unit. It would be nice if someone fabricated a .pdf file with pictures and text telling how to disassemble these sometime cameras. Do a search for National Camera and Camera Craftsman (the magazine they published) to see if yous can find how to repair your shutter. Ric.