A customer brought in a Pentax K1000 with a shutter that sounded like gravel

It had been sitting in a damp basement for about fifteen years, according to him. I took it apart and found the old lube had turned into a sticky, dark gunk all over the slow speed escapement. After a full clean and re-lube with a tiny drop of Moebius 8000 on the pivots, the difference was night and day. The shutter now fires with a crisp, clean snap instead of that awful grinding noise. Has anyone else found a specific lubricant that really works for those old, gummed-up mechanical shutters?

3 comments

3 Comments

tyler3684mo ago

Ever worry about that oil migrating onto the shutter blades later? I've had a few where a super light grease on the gears held up better long term. That super thin watch oil can sometimes creep into places you don't want it after a few hundred cycles.

beth_hunt4mo ago

Ugh, that's a real pain when that happens.

lily51126d ago

Oh man that's a really good point! I've actually seen that happen with a couple of old Spotmatics where the oil just wandered over to the shutter blades after sitting for a while. There was this one Yashica Electro 35 I worked on where the aperture blades got all sticky from the lubricant migrating around. I've started using a tiny bit of damping grease on the gear teeth instead of oil, and it stays put way better. The trick is to use just the smallest amount, like a rice grain size, and spread it thin with a toothpick. Has worked great on the Canonets I've been fixing up lately.