TIL you can fix a sticky shutter with a pencil eraser

I was working on an old Pentax K1000 last weekend in my basement, and the shutter was sticking at 1/1000. Tried cleaning the blades with lighter fluid, no luck. Then I remembered an old repair guy I used to watch on YouTube would rub a pencil eraser on the shutter curtain tracks to remove gunk. Did that gently on the metal rails, blew it out with canned air, and now it fires every time at all speeds. It cost me nothing and took maybe 10 minutes. Has anyone else tried this trick on older mechanical shutters?

2 comments

2 Comments

hugoh5522d ago

And then your eraser trick becomes a foam goo applicator.

william_henderson22d ago

I had a Yashica Electro 35 that I tried this on a couple years back. The eraser trick worked for about 50 shots before the shutter started sticking again, but then the foam seals inside turned into goo and got all over everything. Had to send it off for a proper CLA that cost me $90. Pencil eraser might be okay for brass rails on an all-metal camera but a lot of those old Japanese cameras had foam that was already rotting. Just be careful you aren't smearing that black crud deeper into the works.