Naptha vs. isopropyl alcohol vs. others

[Shafovaloff1]

Spittle for lens fungus. Wash afterwards with water, to prevent regrowth. Rosenol does not seem to help the Canon L3 or L1 slow speeds...but have found letting the camera sit overnight..the slow speeds will work again a few times...is this dirt or a weak spring in the works?
As an aside, I used to inspect chemical laden barges in The Port of Baltimore , Maryland, to ensure regulation compliance, including installation of flame arrestors, never a warning from any Coast Guard "superiors" about what was on the barges being unhealthy. Of course common sense told you not to inhale sulfuric acid or benzine fumes (if you could avoid it), and to avoid tettraethyl lead in leaky barrels as well as partially refined uranium....what to do..call CG HQ. I was a reserve officer but my brother Jim had gone to the Academy and was a year ahead of me in service. Lucky he had made so many friends while at the Academy. Hell bent on getting orders to Navla Flight Training, I turned down a command, as a Lt(jg) of a "boat"[ with a CWO of course], what was I thinking?; and an XO position with one of his class mates at remote station needing security for an LNG off-loading facility on the Chesapeake. [My CO sent me out to see if the tennis court was in need of repair!] This was during the coldest winter in 50 years...so off to Pensacola....after 4 first flights in a radial engined T-28 and barfing all over, the fifth was a charm...at least I thought so. Love.

 

[tunalegs]

Windex for fungus. For some reason people have an absurd aversion to using the stuff on lens glass, but I've found it'll take fungus off pretty much instantaneously.

 

[ftw1952]

Believe it or not I use on metal body shutters Gumout spray after using lighter fluid. The spray has enough force to loosen up what is stuck and cleans better than all other solvents combined
Acetone is in Gumout so no wiring or plastic parts in shutters if used
I only do this first to see if my results are good enough to use
If not then the shutter must be takens aparts
I get a 90 percent result of good working shutters that were not taken apart after this type of cleaning
Of course no oil will be present so results may vary on the timing of these shutters but not much

 

[Scapevision]

I just use Rubbing Alcohol

 

[johnf04]

Fuelite (white spirit) as a general solvent, and glass cleaner (the local one is called "Mr Muscle") for lens glass.

 

[richardHaw]

What I use: 🙄

ethyl alcohol:
for general alcohol bathe and wiping. solvent for most glues and threadlocks on Nikkors. usually works on moulds.

naphta (Zippo oil):
for petrol cleaning and solvent. general lens wipe before final wiping with chamois. usually works on moulds.

benzine:
for tough grease, learned this from my apprenticeship at my family's watch repair shop. very potent.

kerosene:
for caked grease on helicoids.

ammonia,hydrogen peroxide (1:1):
fungus remover.

lacquer thinner:
for removing tough, dried adhesives that alcohol and the rest won't touch.

enamel thinner:
for lettering retouching with enamel paints, removal of glue marks. cheap high 😱😱😱

acetone:
bayonet mount screws, epoxy-like stuff that Japanese camera makers loved to use in the '70s.

MEK:
used in place of acetone at times, much stronger. very good for those tough bayonet screws.

DANGEROUS!!! WILL CRAZE OR DISCOLOR PLASTIC, PAINT AND RUBBER!!!

• MEK
• lacquer thinner
• kerosene
• benzine

Armor all is used by some people but I avoid it.:bang: our family sells them because of the car accessory business that we have but for personal use, I would never even put this on my dashboard leatherette, so it won't be used on vulcanite or rubber.

 

[PKR]

That's why the solutions used for cleaning watches and clocks (not too different from mechanical shutters) are blends of dirt/grease fighters: ammonia, oleic acid and detergent.

If using a cleaner with a significant water content (which describes most alcohol solutions and 'environmentally-friendly' wath/clock solutions)... careful drying is very important.

Ultrasonic cleaning is another method not considered in the survey, but should be in the repairman's repertoire.

Try CDA. It Will absorb water.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denatured_alcohol

 

[jrose125]

I've used Isopropyl alcohol and 70% ethanol to clean up some of my cameras. I preferred the ethanol because it dries quickly, but the Isopropyl seemed to do a better job with less elbow grease.

 

[dmr]

Over the past few years I've kinda settled on, in the following order, for camera clean-up and repair:

1. Isopropyl alcohol. Seems to be the mildest.
2. Denatured alcohol. Seems a bit more potent for removing gum and such. (Everclear?) 🙂
3. Acetone. For what the alcohols don't remove.
4. Ronsonol, but rarely. It does work, however.

I also kept a bottle of Xylene, (Toluene) pretty powerful stuff, think it is the solvent in airplane glue.

It's been a long time since I took Organic, but I do know that Xylene and Toluene are totally different. Toluene is (was?) indeed the solvent in the "good" airplane glue. I find it very ironic that they made such a big deal about airplane glue, restricting it ("Note from your mother") and such, while you could walk right in to any paint shop and buy a can of toluene, the active ingredient, with no questions asked.

Having said that, I don't think I would use toluene on anything camera related. I know it attacks many plastics, paints, coatings, etc.

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Camp fuel in red bottles to dissolve old lubrication in helicoids and to clean old metal shutters.
Gunk'off to clean old glue which was holding old curtains.
97% alcohol from Apoteka counter to fine clean surfaces.
R.O.R. to dissolve usual stuff on lenses and filters.
Leica M2 repair manual mentioned mix of two liquids to dissolve usual stuff at Leitz made in fifties and earlier lenses.

 

[richardHaw]

additional info for cleaning glass elements:

I usually wipe it with naphtha and then with alcohol (or the other way around).

the reason for this is some grime (like fungi and haze) will respond to only one of the solvents. my alcohol is not 100% pure so the water content in there also helps with dissolving anything that reacts with water. 😱😱😱

this is the same with grime found on the body. gunk like tape adhesive will be dissolved by naphtha but not with alcohol.

 

[oftheherd]

Personally I worry more about pyrogallol crystals.

Cheers,

Roger

Roger, were the old formulations of B&W print paper high in cadmium? I heard that all were reformulated a while back, was it mainly an environmental concern, or health?

Afraid I had trouble keeping fingers entirely out of the soup. Stained them a few times with pyro doing some odd work with Ethol developers I got for free.

Regards, John

I don't really know. I read a book on LF photograph with a section on developers. The author covered pyro and without specifically saying it, sort of discouraged its use. He mentioned that some of those who used to use it daily, without any protection, later developed symptoms of Parkinson's disease.

But he also said no direct link had ever been shown. He also mentioned a substitute that didn't use pyro, and didn't stain as much. I think Freestyle sells it.

 

[rick oleson]

Over the past few years I've kinda settled on, in the following order, for camera clean-up and repair:

1. Isopropyl alcohol. Seems to be the mildest.
2. Denatured alcohol. Seems a bit more potent for removing gum and such. (Everclear?) 🙂
3. Acetone. For what the alcohols don't remove.
4. Ronsonol, but rarely. It does work, however.

AAACK. Acetone will destroy any amorphous plastic it comes into contact with, and is not so great on your hands for that matter... and it's not that effective on grease. Ronsonol is safe on plastics and effective on grease, and would be my first choice (because more effective) above any of the others on your list. I have a bottle of acetone here for a few things but generally don't let it near a camera and certainly not one with any plastic in it.

Xylene, I do use in spite of its incompatibility with plastics, because it is strong enough to deal with hardened grease that Ronsonol can't dissolve. But it has to be used with great care as it will remove paint, plastic, and just about anything that's not metal or glass along with the grease.