lubricant for old camera

Hi, I have a recently aquired Argus c4 that needs some cleaning and

presumably lubrication. What kind of lubricant would you use ?

Hi Sigurd, cameras need very little lubrication if any at all. I'm pretty new to fixing cameras and it depends on whats sticking. Let us know what's not working and I'm sure someone will post a solution.

 

Lenses use a special grease on the focusing but I sometimes use white lithium grease. Shutters are another thing, I've never had to oil one. I just clean them with lighter fluid.

Be careful with grease, some kinds don't mix well and cause the product to separate into oil and soap/salt. I just can't remember which types are incompatible.

Take a look at the lubricants section of www.micro-tools.com to get an idea of the types of oils and greases that are supposed to be used for cameras. There are other sources of these high-grade lubricants, including www.timesavers.com (a clock parts supplier) or http://www.nancyfrattimusicboxes.com (a music box restoration supplier).

 

If you are into the engineering aspects of these high-grade oils, take a look at www.nyelubricants.com and http://www.kluber.com.

 

Most shutters and wind mechanisms need lubrication if they are to operate well for a long time, despite the internet support for 'running shutters dry'.

 

Seek out a repair manual for your specific camera and it'll make your DIY camera repair a lot easier. There are several repair manual suppliers on the net and eBay. Those manuals will specify the lubrication plan, albeit often in terms of outdated lubes that you will have to choose a suitable substitute.

 

Most important is knowing how much of any lubricant to use. Use too much and you'll botch the job worse than not using enough.

 

Cleaning, though is the real secret to a good repair. Clean the camera/shutter really well before you start gooping it up with oil and grease!

WD-40 can be an excellent lubricant for fine mechanisms like watches and cameras...but you have to separate it. Spray about a inch into a small jar (like a pimiento jar). Let this sit undisturbed for several days, and you will see two distinct layers separate. The heavy layer on the bottom is full of paraffin and other junk. The top layer is a fine and light oil, and should be applied very sparingly.

 

Jon

Powerdered graphite in SMALL amounts will work in some areas. I have used it on shutters with good results. Too much and it ends up on the lenses.

 

A light silicone will work on metal gears. As stated earlier Micro -tools is good source for oils and lubricants. They sell ( of used to) a three pack of three different light weight lubricants in varying weights.

 

Most cases apply the lubricant with a tootpick.

 

On the Argus I would use a light weight lubricant on the gears and a few specks of graphite on the shutter. I restored two Konica S2 using this method a few years ago and they are still in use.

 

Wipe off any excess lubricant as it can cause more harm than good ( dust magnet).

I can't think of a worse spray can lubricant than WD-40. It can coagulate, and its a dirt and crud magnet. Remember, its a WATER displacing compound, attempt #40. What is does do is burn wickedly, and under the right conditions, it can even explode. Even when I had a garage many, many years ago, I did not use this stuff for lubrication.

I thought it was the propellent in WD40 that was explosive. Not the lubricant itself?

I've been biting my tongue because I don't want to offend Jon Goodman, but I have never met a watch/clock/shutter repair person yet that uses WD-40... even separated from the carrier as Jon describes doing.

 

In fact, what John says is more what I commonly hear, read, and have experienced. WD-40 destroys most ultrasonic cleaning solutions and many clock repair people I know (me included) would almost rather turn down a job than deal with the mess left behind by some well-intentioned consumer use of WD-40. In fact, if WD-40 has been used on anything I work on, I charge extra because I know the ultrasonic cleaning solution will be "one-shot" and will have to be thrown out long before it should have.

 

What's more is that WD-40's lubricant spreads and travels... which is exactly what you don't want in clock/watch/shutters. Okay, let me admit, I've never tested Jon's way of separating and applying like one would apply a fine watch/clock oil... but I'd think more people in the trade would be onto this trick if it was really equivelent to the name-brand pivot oils.

 

Hasn't anyone noticed yet that none of the sellers of professional clock/watch/camera supplies even carries WD-40 in their catalogs?

Has anyone tried light refrigeration oil? I just wondered about this, because after recharging an auto air conditioner a while back I had a little very thin PAG oil left in the can, and it looked as if it ought to do pretty well on something like this, but I haven't dared try it. At the moment, I'm trying to revive a Nikon F that seems to have gotten damp inside, and definitely will need some lubing. Any hints welcome.

IMHO, WD-40 is a great cleaner. I use it to remove labels from old test equipment and my wife's plastic ware. I sometimes clean the outside of cameras with it. Sometimes it's a handy cutting and sharpening fluid in the shop. Because it's so light, it works great on slotting saws. Some people have used the clear separated part as an index matching fluid between telescope lens elements. I would never apply the stuff, or any part of it, to any precision mechanism. It doesn't appear to have any useful film strength, thus it isn't a good lubricant. It attracts abrasive dust and doesn't seem to last. That brings up the question of, if it goes away, where does it go? Maybe I don't want to know. Better lubricants are easily available, so why use anything else?

And then: There was this assistant I once had in my shop who decided to clean the dial indicator face plate of my megadollar Sun exhaust gas analyser with a solvent..on a plastic face plate..After this episode, the face plate acquired a nice-semi opaque look...So cleaning itself can be risky. If the camera has any bakelite or plastic parts, especially older "formulas" harking back to the fifties, sixties and forties, I would NOT use any solvents at all for cleaning, but instead resort to something like 409 and Windex. Even having solvent on your hands and then touching a camera made of synthetic material can cause permanent damage as I found out when cleaning a Kodak Signet rangefinder camera. Under extreme conditions (cigarette smoke stench)I have used Simple Green on a stiff small brush.

Back to the Argus C4:

 

If the shutter blades are stiff or hesitant at all, do not operate the shutter. You may have to remove the blade assembly from the front to clean it properly. There is a tiny, hardened steel link between the blade assembly and the timing mechanism that will break if the shutter is operated repeatedly with stiff blades, and it is virtually impossible to repair the link if it breaks (it's not too hard to replace it, if you have another C4 to sacrifice).

 

rick :)=

WD-40 has many prodructs. When you say WD-40 are you refering to white lithium grease? Thanks for your responses.

"WD-40 has many prodructs. When you say WD-40 are you refering to white lithium grease? Thanks for your responses."

 

I think people here are referring to the aerosol spray lubricant-penetrant, which is the original WD-40 product, and in the US is the WD40 flagship product. It comes in a blue and yellow can. It's thin, has a good deal of solvent along with its lubricant qualities, and displaces water on contact. A useful product, but messy, highly flammable, and when the solvent flashes off it's a little sticky.

Thanks Mattheu!

Thank you mr.Oleson, but the pin that links the release mechanism to the shutter blades, was broken when I got the Argus. I then used instructions from your website to dismantle the camera, and I think it will be relatively easy to make a new pin. After all I have some mechanical training and used to work on repairs on hydraulic systems.

Gee, it wasn't gospel, just a suggestion. But I want to correct a few things said: The light oil separated from WD-40 is not abnormally flammable, not explosive nor given to congealing nor coagulation. It just isn't. Please notice I said the light oil separated from the composite product. When added to paraffin and other compounds and pressurized in an aerosol can, it might do many different things because that compound is different than its component parts. But the oil in it is just a fine and light yellowish oil...not Satan in a can. It lasts a long time, also. I am looking at a small jar I separated about 8 years ago. It has not changed in the least.

 

Having said this, I'm reminded of gunpowder. Sulfur, saltpeter and charcoal by themselves are very interesting products. All are useful for a variety of things on their own. Sulfur of course is widely used in medicine, pharmaceuticals, vulcanization, insecticides. Saltpeter is used as a diuretic, in fertilizers, in other medicinal applications and occasionlly as a preservative and to cure tobacco. Charcoal is used in purification (filters), odor elimination, as as absorbent, used to whiten sugar. Mix the three together in the right proportion and what do you get? You get gunpowder or actually black powder. It oxidizes rapidly and produces great explosions when ignited in a confined space.

 

Jon

At one camera repair shop in the 1960's, they had this dead slr with a zerk fitting as a joke.

Matthew...refrigeration oil would be ok. It is heat tolerant and long lasting. Generally a high grade oil, also. Just about any oil will be fine as long as it is used sparingly.

 

Jon

I try some refrigerant oil in my shop on some Kodak folders, it helps if you just apply a drop at one time from the tip of a small jewelry screw driver, another drop the next day and exercise the shutter. you get a good chance to get out from an expensive CLA which your camera doesn't need. Minh

Mihn.... it seems like maybe your scheme forgot the "c" and "a". The "c" is a very important item to skip!

I am restoring an Italian Rectaflex SLR. The camera is in top shape except that there is a lag when the shutter is operated. The curtains move well but at the end, it slows down. Someone told me it is lack of lubrication. If true, which one should I use? Thank you. EDUARDO

I would like to use, if possible, an easy to find lubricant.

There are lots out there.., but whatever camera/s you are planning to relube may require a specific consistency for various parts. A general guide from an old

camera repair book suggested the following: