Tried to fix a sticky shutter on a Rolleiflex at a camera swap meet and almost broke it for good

I was at the Portland Camera Swap last Saturday and someone handed me a Rolleiflex with a sticky shutter. I tried to free it up with a tiny drop of lighter fluid like I always do, but the whole blade assembly seized up tight. Has anyone else run into older lubricant turning into glue after decades of sitting?

2 comments

2 Comments

webb.val20d ago

...which is exactly why I always tell people to leave those old shutters alone if they're still working at all. The old lubricants turn into a kind of varnish over decades, and lighter fluid just dissolves the outer layer and makes everything worse because it gets into the rest of the mechanism. I've seen too many perfectly good shutters turned into paperweights by someone trying to "fix" them with solvents. The best thing you can do with a sticky Rolleiflex is send it to a proper repair person who can take the whole shutter apart and clean every piece. They're not like modern cameras where you can just drop in some oil and be done.

the_kelly20d ago

Oh man, you're absolutely right and I've learned this one the hard way (don't ask about the Zeiss Ikon I "rescued" with a bottle of Ronsonol). It's so tempting to think a little solvent will fix things, but it's like trying to clean a 50 year old clock with WD-40, you just end up with a mess that's way worse than where you started. I've got a drawer full of shutter parts that used to be working cameras, all because I thought I was being clever back in my early film days. Now I just mail everything off and pray the repair guy doesn't laugh at my return address.