Loading…
5
Tried cleaning a Pentax K1000 shutter with a new solvent, got a sticky mess instead
Had a K1000 come in with slow shutter speeds. Figured I'd try that new 'Opti-Clean' solvent I saw online. Used a tiny drop on a cotton swab. Big mistake. The shutter blades gummed up completely. Took me three hours to fully strip and clean the mechanism with my regular naphtha. Learned that new doesn't always mean better for old grease. Anyone have a go-to solvent for 70s metal blade shutters they actually trust?
3 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In3 Comments
riley_singh5mo ago
That Opti-Clean stuff sounds like a nightmare. Read a forum thread a while back where someone had the same gummy disaster with a different new "miracle" cleaner on a Minolta. For these old metal shutters, it seems like sticking with the classics is the only safe bet. Heard a lot of good things about plain old Ronsonol lighter fluid, the kind in the yellow bottle, for this exact job. It's basically just clean naphtha. After a scare like that, going back to the simple stuff feels like the only smart move.
6
danieljenkins5mo ago
Three hours of cleaning sounds about right for that kind of mess. I had a Nikon FM do the same thing with some fancy "safe" cleaner. Now I just use the Ronsonol from the corner store, the exact one riley_singh mentioned. It's cheap, it works, and it doesn't leave any residue behind. Why risk a whole shutter mechanism on something that calls itself a miracle?
2