Cloth Shutter Repair

[pbgrant01]

There are lots of DIY solutions for clothshutter pinholes and light leaks. I'd like to offer an addendum to use of the liquid electrical tape approach. Not pretty but can work. (1) Shine an LED light into camera body (2) Use a Decocolor Liquid Silver Pen to lightly mark holes. Don't apply much pressure Ushida 200-C#SLV (3) Very lighly apply liquid electrical tape (e.g Starbrite brand). Applicator of fine brush. Let dry 24 hrs. Reapply if needed. If the alternative is to throw camera in trashbin or spend $$$ w/ prof repair above value of older orphan camera worth a try.

 

[Coldkennels]

There's a couple of problems with this, most notably that it's a temporary fix. Someone did this to my IIIf before I bought it back in 2012, and it finally failed on a trip to France back in 2022; I had two entire rolls with a small white spot in the bottom right of the frame. Absolutely gutted.

The other issue is that you're increasing the weight of one shutter curtain which can, in some cases, throw off the exposures. I suspect the reason said IIIf was constantly having issues with uneven exposures was due to this added weight.

It's worth having replacement shutter curtains made if you know someone who can do it, especially if it's a camera you really love and want to keep for a long, long time.

 

[pbgrant01]

Thanks for the follow-up. Point certainly taken, A cautionary tale to be sure, Spend the money for replacement curtin if you have and return on spending is there given worth of camera.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Yea, nothing new...

Liquid tape works if it is vertical cracks and cloth is still present.

But if it is a hole from WO lens, just cut a patch from new shutter cloth. Sparrow on ebay used to sell single-sided and double sided rubber layers. Use single sided and pliobond glue.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

There's a couple of problems with this, most notably that it's a temporary fix. Someone did this to my IIIf before I bought it back in 2012, and it finally failed on a trip to France back in 2022; I had two entire rolls with a small white spot in the bottom right of the frame. Absolutely gutted.

The other issue is that you're increasing the weight of one shutter curtain which can, in some cases, throw off the exposures. I suspect the reason said IIIf was constantly having issues with uneven exposures was due to this added weight.

It's worth having replacement shutter curtains made if you know someone who can do it, especially if it's a camera you really love and want to keep for a long, long time.

I'm mechanical engineer by diploma. But on top of it 🙂 I also repaired shutter cloths and replaced as well.

The reason why your IIIf was getting uneven exposures has nothing to do with no weight added by the liquid tape which replaced missing rubber.

Most likely you have purchased something which was needed deep CLA. This is most common reason for uneven exposures and sometimes sloppy replacement of curtains as well 🙂
Purchasing camera with temporary fix and using it for ten years without permanent fix, CLA? is no love indeed.

 

[Coldkennels]

Purchasing camera with temporary fix and using it for ten years without permanent fix, CLA? is no love indeed.

It was serviced at least twice in that time (maybe three times - I forget). The first "service" involved the shutter being very heavily over-tensioned to power through the old grease instead of a proper overhaul; I wasn't impressed, and I'll never use Aperture in London again.

Also, no one in that period even mentioned the shutter had been patched. I only found out when I took the shutter crate off myself after seeing the repeated spot on frame after frame and saw the crumbling old liquid electrical tape that hadn't been mentioned by the "technicians" who'd worked on the camera before; doubly not impressed.

 

[WoodallP]

I like the cloth patch idea suggested above; I had had similar thoughts myself as it will probably last longer that any sort of gloop, though I have had sucess with black acrylic paint.

The downside of the patch idea is that you have to have shutter cloth, and if you are buying that then why not change the shutter 🙂 From my experience an opening shutter isn’t too hard, closing ones are trickier as position is more important.

Funny thing is that for all the talk of curtains there is little talk of ribbons and they can be a problem too.

 

[johnf04]

I tried repairing a shutter once with liquid electrical tape - but the curtain was too stiff to work properly. I ended up replacing the curtain. On older SLR cameras with non instant return mirrors, it's the second curtain which fails, probably from exposure to light and heat.

 

[WoodallP]

I tried repairing a shutter once with liquid electrical tape - but the curtain was too stiff to work properly. I ended up replacing the curtain. On older SLR cameras with non instant return mirrors, it's the second curtain which fails, probably from exposure to light and heat.

This is a good point; there are other factors aside from the curtains themselves which affect the level of damage.

For instance, having infinity lock may make you “park” your lens more often, thus better focussing the sun. However a collapsed lens is less risk. Wide angle lenses are more of a risk than long ones as the sun is focussed on a smaller area.

I think I have just managed to convince myself not to buy a Summicron 35 8 element 🙂 and I didn’t even need my bank manager’s help!

 

[WoodallP]

Coming back to this thread again as I just opened a totally jammed sharkskin IIIc I had bought “spares or repair” for a good price. Winding totally jammed, I opened it up and found this!


It is rubbery and possibly explains why the shutter springs were wound up to 11!

It was a five minute job to get it operational but it will need a bit more TLC another day.

Oh yes and the pressure plate was upside down 😊

 

[Coldkennels]

Coming back to this thread again as I just opened a totally jammed sharkskin IIIc I had bought “spares or repair” for a good price. Winding totally jammed, I opened it up and found this!

View attachment 4880573
It is rubbery and possibly explains why the shutter springs were wound up to 11!

It was a five minute job to get it operational but it will need a bit more TLC another day.

Oh yes and the pressure plate was upside down 😊

Holy hell, that's a mess. No wonder it was jammed up!

 

[WoodallP]

Holy hell, that's a mess. No wonder it was jammed up!

It's getting on for a millimetre thick in places but is very flexible so it wasn't difficult to get it firing.

 

[Muggins]

Coming back to this thread again as I just opened a totally jammed sharkskin IIIc I had bought “spares or repair” for a good price. Winding totally jammed, I opened it up and found this!

View attachment 4880573
It is rubbery and possibly explains why the shutter springs were wound up to 11!

It was a five minute job to get it operational but it will need a bit more TLC another day.

Oh yes and the pressure plate was upside down 😊

Found in the La Brea tar pits, right?...

 

[Rob-F]

Found in the La Brea tar pits, right?...

Is that melted film, or melted shutter? (Or both)

 

[peterm1]

In the past I have effected temporary repairs with either of two approaches. For small pinholes I have, like others, used a tiny dot of liquid electrical tape being careful to use as little as possible and only covering the hole and its immediate surrounds. As long as it is used sparingly it worked well - I always delayed cocking and firing such repaired shutters for a few weeks though, in order to make sure that it is fully cured (working on the premis that if sticky this could result in gluing the shutter blind to itself when wound / overlapping). The other substance I used (once) with good results was Pebeo marbelling ink (surprisingly). In a 111a I had, the cloth of the shutter was intact but the rubberized solution which covered it was beginning to flake off in a couple of areas. The Pebeo product is thin - a bit thicker than ink, I suppose, but is much thinner than liquid electrical tape. I brushed it onto areas requiring attention a few times to allow it to build up a little. It did the trick by binding the flaking rubber of the shutter to the shutter cloth itself and as a solution it worked till I sold the camera some years later. This was definitely an experiment using a product not designed for this use but then again so is liquid electrical tape. For all I know the Pebeo fix may still be working. I agree that it is best to have the shutter replaced - but it is not always an option in the short term at least.

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[Pioneer]

Coming back to this thread again as I just opened a totally jammed sharkskin IIIc I had bought “spares or repair” for a good price. Winding totally jammed, I opened it up and found this!

View attachment 4880573
It is rubbery and possibly explains why the shutter springs were wound up to 11!

It was a five minute job to get it operational but it will need a bit more TLC another day.

Oh yes and the pressure plate was upside down 😊

It looks a lot like an old Pentax KM I owned once. The shutter had a hole in it, not sure from what, maybe my grandson's curious finger. So i gently (I thought) glued a patch over the hole and let it sit for a month or two. When I came back that is what it looked like. But it did work for quite awhile though the shutter speeds were a bit slow, For all I know they were probably slow before my grandson got his hands on it. But that is EXACTLY why I do not do camera repair unless it is a last resort. This one did work for awhile, most of them don't.

I think Pentax cameras are very forgiving for old fools like me. 😀

 

[WoodallP]

Found in the La Brea tar pits, right?...

Tar like certainly, but more rubbery. I first suspected (like everyone here) that it was to patch holes but I wiped with a bit of naptha and it all peeled away LEAVING NO APPARENT HOLES! I held it up to a very-strong light but nothing, and the curtains looked original (or very professional) and they were back to back like originals. After this surprise I spent more time than I should and got frustrated with the slow speeds; in the end they were just bunged up and I had the return spring on the wrong pin.

So I was originally taking a quick look at a totally jammed a spares-or-repair camera before putting it away for a rainy day, but I may actually do a short film test as I actually feel I can get this one up and running easily to really test the curtains. The RF is a bit dim but useable so I may need to replace the mirror but it won't stop me testing.

But I still wonder why so much gunk was there, I wonder if the user suspected a porous shutter and overdid things. I wish I knew what it was as it looked good for bellows repairs. There were certainly other signs of inexperience (pressure plate upside down and incorrectly fixed winder).

To be continued....

 

[mconnealy]

I have repaired pinholes in quite a few bellows and fabric shutters with Tulip Ebony Matte fabric paint which can be found at craft stores. Apply it sparingly with a small brush and let dry a few hours before use. Never had a problem with it.

 

[besk]

As mentioned by Ko.Fe., my M6 has a patch of shutter curtain material glued over a hole burned into the shutter. It has been fine for the several years of my ownership

 

[peterm1]

I have repaired pinholes in quite a few bellows and fabric shutters with Tulip Ebony Matte fabric paint which can be found at craft stores. Apply it sparingly with a small brush and let dry a few hours before use. Never had a problem with it.

That is similar to the Pebeo paint I mentioned in my post above. Pebeo is a fabric paint but mainly used for "marbling" effects where it is floated on water then fabric (or paper) is laid onto the surface to produce a marbled effect. But it works for this purpose too - at least where the shutter is degraded rather than holed - which is how I have used it. So I can second your suggestion! 🙂