[rollei_list] Re: OT: Question re shutter CLA and Ronsonol

  • From: Ardeshir Mehta <ardeshir@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Thu, 13 Jan 2005 00:05:45 -0500

On Thursday, January 13, 2005, at 08:53  AM, Richard Urmonas wrote:

> Quoting Ardeshir Mehta <ardeshir@xxxxxxxxxxxx>:
>
>> I can squirt vast amounts of Ronsonol into the shutter though this 
>> slot. I can also drain dissolved stuff out, and at one time quite a 
>> bit of sludge came out though it after the Ronsonol had loosened it 
>> up. Bits of black solids also came out - specks of stuff like maybe 
>> tiny paint chips? I thought I was succeeding in cleaning the shutter 
>> off completely, in fact - so much stuff came out.
>
> This is bad, this is very bad. Why is it that intelligent sane people 
> do these things to a beautiful precision machine like a rolleiflex.

Uh ... perversity, maybe?

(I confess that when I get my hands on a purely mechanical gadget I 
LOVE to take it apart, just to see how it's made ... though with age 
this urge is wearing off a bit.)

> Solvents should not be used indiscriminately. Yes you need to use 
> solvents, but just sloshing it around is not good. If you are lucky 
> you will only have loosened some paint in a non-critical area, and the 
> other bits still inside the shutter have not migrated to somewhere 
> critical.

Reading some of Richard Knoppow's old archived posts, I gather than 
Ronsonol does not dissolve paint, or indeed anything in the camera 
other than old grease, and evaporates without leaving any residue. (Is 
that not true, Richard K.?)

> The actual amount of 'dirt' in a 'dirty' shutter is very small. Really 
> just old lubricant + any stuff which has evaporated from paint etc. 
> inside the shutter. There is usually very little dirt which has got 
> into the shutter from the outside (with exceptions of course).

The problem, as I said, is that this shutter has a slot which is QUITE 
big enough even for some insects to crawl through. Certainly dirt must 
have got into it during its fifty-five years or so of use (and maybe 
some misuse). I bought it on eBay only last summer!

>> But the question remains in the back of my mind: what happens after 
>> the CLA? Won't dust and dirt get into the shutter again, through this 
>> slot?
>
> Noramlly one does not leave a camera sitting exposed in a dust storm. 
> Under normal use the camera spends most of its time inside a case, so 
> these is little oportunity for dirt to get inside.

Yea, but who knows how its previous owner(s) used (or misused) it.

Besides, I believe, like Philip Greenspun, that the camera is just a 
tool: it's the PICTURES you take with it that are the final product. 
Read what he says at <http://photo.net/learn/cleaning-cameras>:

[QUOTE]

Remember that your camera is just a tool. Don't pamper it. You can 
always buy a new one. If you leave your camera in a closet, it will 
never get dirty or broken, but you won't have too many great 
photographs to show for yourself. Many of the best photographs can only 
be taken under conditions that will render your equipment wet and/or 
filthy. That's life.

The photo at right [click on 
<http://photo.net/photo/pcd2182/corkscrew-4.4.jpg> to see a large 
version] was the result of spending six hours at the bottom of a canyon 
in the Navajo Nation. For the entire six hours, sand blew down from the 
top of the canyon and into my $20,000 Rollei 6008 system. Was there a 
sickening grinding sound when I focussed my $3000 50mm lens for the 
next few months? Yes. Did I have to send the camera back to Marflex 
(Rollei's US service) to be cleaned? Yes. Did the camera get stolen in 
Filthadelphia a couple of years later? Yes. So it really didn't make 
sense to obsess over the camera, did it? I can still enjoy this picture 
even if I can't use my 6008 anymore. If I'd pampered the camera, it 
would just be in that much better shape for the crook who is using it 
now.

[END QUOTE]

I take my cameras out in absolutely AWFUL weather: them's the best 
shots, more often than not! Rest of the time this Rollei sits - or 
lies, more likely - in my socks drawer.

> Also the various slots etc, on shutters are not that large, so the 
> entry of dirt is not a problem. Of the many shutters I have 
> overhauled, dust / dirt from the outside has not been a problem.

Yes, but you should see the slot on this one. Even Jerry's ... oh, 
never mind.

Cheers!

















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