hans voralberg
Veteran
I've recently acquired a Ensign Carbine No. 6 with Mulchro shutter, which is a bit slow below 1/10. Information on this is virtually nonexistent so I'd really appreciate any guide on how to clean and service this.
Servicing Mulchro shutter
- Thread starter hans voralberg
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FallisPhoto
Veteran
The big problem with that is, as you said, that information on a Mulchro is all but nonexistent. I do a lot of CLAs, mostly folders, and I've never even seen one. I think your best bet will be to flush-clean it. That's pretty much risk free. If you try to disassemble it though, you are probably going to run into problems and there will be nowhere to turn to for help. What follows are general instructions for flush-cleaning and lubing a shutter on a folding camera.
Flush cleaning: Remove the lenses, submerge the whole thing in lighter fluid or white/camp gas (naptha), and let it drip for awhile. do this several times, tripping the shutter several times, on different speeds, before and after each dip. Then set it aside somewhere and let the naptha evaporate. Clean both sides of the shutter blades with more naptha, on cotton swabs, and let it evaporate again. It isn't the best way to do it, but you'll get your shutter speeds back and if you do it this way you can be pretty sure you won't mess it up and it will still work.
Now for relubing it: Remove the face plate and clean the underside of it. Remove the shutter speed cam dial and clean both sides of that. Look at the inside of it, but do not disassemble further, since no service manuals, exploded diagrams, or other instructions on how to disassemble it and reassemble it exist. If you run into difficulties during disassembly or reassembly, you're screwed. There won't be anywhere to turn to for help. Oil lightly where absolutely necessary with a brush dampened with a 50/50 mix of naptha and watch oil or a light gun oil (like Remoil). Go very light on the oil -- better none at all than even a little bit too much. Put no oil at all on the shutter blades; they are designed to run dry and oil will make them stick together and stop working. Put a VERY thin coat of grease on both sides of the shutter speed cam dial and put it, and the face plate, back on. Reinstall the lenses and you're done.
sevo
Fokutorendaburando
And before you do it, make sure that the shutter is all metal (or at least naphtha safe plastics) - some old shutters do have shutter and/or aperture blades made from lacquer-reinforced paper!
oftheherd
Veteran
FallisPhoto - do you dip folders as well? I have always been afraid it might loosen the glues that hold the bellows.
sevo
Fokutorendaburando
It is "dip the shutter", not "dip the folder". But as I said, even the former is not without dangers...
hans voralberg
Veteran
I'll have a go with dipping and report back!
jnoir
Well-known
I have one Ensign with Mulchro (top speed 1/100, IIRC) on the Project's queue for documentation, i'll look forward to working on it the next weekend and share some info
FallisPhoto
Veteran
You take the shutter off first, if you're going to do it this way. With VERY few exceptions, I don't dip shutters; I take them apart and clean them. I'm not going to suggest that he do this though, since he apparently has no experience and it isn't something a beginner can do without getting in way over his head. He probably wouldn't get it back together again.
FallisPhoto
Veteran
Well, yeah; you don't want to dip the shutters on some of the Bolseys or similar shutters. They will melt! It isn't likely to be a problem though, since the shutters on Bolseys are usually in such a condition that a simple CLA is not going to do it for them anyway. Granted, I don't get cameras that are in the best of shape (people don't send those in for repair), but most of the Bolseys I have seen (with those kinds of blades) have shutter blades that look like they have been chewed on. If I ever did get one in good shape, I'm not sure what I could use to clean them either -- or that there would be any point. Nothing that dissolves oil would be safe and the oil I would be trying to clean off of them would have damaged them. The only thing I can think of would be to replace the blades.
Anyway, I probably shouldn't have, but I was assuming that the Mulchro shutter, like the other shutters used on Ensign folders, has metal shutter blades.