Syncro-Compur Lubing

farlymac

farlymac

PF McFarland
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After flood cleaning the shutter on my poor little Ansco Super Memar (you should have seen all the chrome chips), I now have shutter hanging when closing on the slow speeds. Has to be a friction problem I figure. I took the escapement and delay out for cleaning, and have good times after adjusting the escapement. I thought maybe I had the locking ring too tight, but after I backed that off, the shutter speed selector ring slipped. I could see some sort of grey lubricant on the drive before I cleaned everything, and wonder what you all use to replace that.

PF
 
Yeah, I got the shutter too dry. All the lube that was on the shutter blade rack is gone, and that is where I'm having the problem, especially on the detent spring. I don't hold out much hope finding a proper lubricant locally, so do any of you use the stuff that Micro-Tools carries?

PF
 
Something like watch oil for pivot points and a very light grease for sliding surfaces like the edges of cams.
Lithium grease works for me. Keep in mind, it only needs a small dab on the bearing surface. If it hangs off or is thrown around when a gear spins, it may be too much. 🙂
 
Well, I know Micro-Tools sells the Super Lube for general lubrication, and NyOil for gear shafts. I went down to the local hardware, and they had the Super Lube. I put a small amount on the end of a toothpick, then took about a fourth of that and put it on the shutter blade detent, and it cured things up right away. I also put an equally small amount where the shutter blade rack slides back and forth under the cocking gear, and against the shutter base. It's smooth as silk now. Wish I had bought a tube of that stuff a long time ago. And like Bryl Cream, "A little dab'll do ya".

I may try to get some Mobius 8000, and 9010 for the gear shafts on escapements.

PF
 
Those symptoms actually sound to me like the cleaning wasn't done completely. Those shutters run great when properly lubed but will run dry when properly cleaned.
 
I remember when I bought my Crown the shutter was hanging up at lower speeds so I pulled it apart and flushed it with lighter fluid then re-lubed it only to find it was still hanging up. I repeated the process of cleaning/flushing it and put it back together dry and it's been fine.
 
I've got a copy of the lube charts for a Syncro-Compur, so I know they do take lubricant to operate correctly. I just can't read German.

How I determined where the hang-up was, I removed the cocking rack, and the delay trip, and started looking for all the contact points on the blade rack while it was operating. When I moved the detent spring off the post it rides against, the hanging disappeared. I only put the synthetic Super Lube in the places I could see had been lubed before, and it is guaranteed not to seperate, run, or gum up in temperatures from -45 to +450 degrees F. I operate my cameras well within that range. If this had been a Prontor, I never would have thought about lubing it. And I probably would have flushed it some more, but I didn't have a gallon of Naptha sitting around, and I'm on a tight budget this month. As it was, after I flooded the shutter, I used an eye dropper to continually force the fluid in between all the nooks and crannies multiple times, blew it dry, and flushed it again. And the blades worked fine, as long as all the rest of the parts weren't back in the shutter. Its when it was completely reassembled that the dragging showed up. But it's working fine now, and the speeds are looking good, too. I didn't have to make a special tool to adjust this one.

PF
 
Don't know, Greg. I've never worked on one. Or even held one, for that matter. I learn on these cameras as I go through the pile that has accumulated, and the only Oly I had to work on was a 35RC. But the shutter was okay on that one.

PF
 
that Tomosy bloke suggests using very fine graphite powder if you're having trouble with sticky shutter blades in one of his books (camera maintenance and repair? I think it was that one).

graphite powder is good for unsticking shutters... but it's really hard to get rid of all of the excess and if you don't, some ends up on your lenses.
but it works. I guess.
 
You give the perfect reason for not using graphite powder.

I have no idea what Tomosoy was thinking but, yes, he wrote that.
 
Guys, I didn't lube the blades, I lubed a detent. The blades operated very nicely with the detent disabled. And In my opinion, using graphite is just asking for trouble later on. It will migrate to the lens elements.

PF
 
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