Best Pinhole repair GOOP 4 Focal Plane shutters is ?

[kelly_flanigan1]

What is your favorite goop for minor repairs of black cloth focal

plane shutters; with a few pinholes?<BR><BR><BR>

[kelly_flanigan1]

This question is for folks who work on their own cameras; instead of the usual: "send it off to XYZ for repair" answers

[kelly_flanigan1]

Some say black shoe goo; others say Liquitex; others say black Kodak opaque; or black tape even

[pc1]

black nail polish (in small amounts ,brushed lightly and evenly) is what i've done to my Pentax KM shutter curtain. not sure it'll work for your particular purpose tho Kelly ,but it did for mine.

 

still using my Pentax KM , without the pinholes now.

[richard_oleson]

Recently I've been using black "Liquid Electrical Tape", on the fabric side of the shutter curtain, with (so far) good results.

 

"Pinholes" most often are the result of a crack in the rubber coating on the curtain, with light then bleeding through the fabric weave along the crack creating the 'pinhole' appearance. Once a curtain has become this brittle, more cracks are likely to occur so any patch job has to be thought of as a temporary fix; still, the only permanent fix is to replace the curtain, so you lose nothing by trying to patch the curtain and delay the inevitable as long as possible.....

 

:)=

[jon_goodman1]

I've had the best luck with a high quality fabric paint like SoSoft or TulipSoft. Get lampblack or ebony color and apply with a fabric brush (if you have one), otherwise a stiff short-bristled artist's brush. This stuff is very opaque, dries very flexible (rubbery) and can be applied in very thin layers. Do NOT get dimensional fabric paint. This is nothing more than white glue with coloring added...meant to scribble things on T-Shirts and such. It is completely unsatisfactory for use on shutter cloth, and probably will make things worse.

 

Jon

[kelly_flanigan1]

Thanks Paul and Rick for answering my question. Rick's quote is perfect <i>""Pinholes" most often are the result of a crack in the rubber coating on the curtain, with light then bleeding through the fabric weave along the crack creating the 'pinhole' appearance."</i><BR><BR>That is what you see in the parallel lines next to the exposed roller on the left; in the photo below. Here the shutter is cocked; so the leak occurs when the shutter is cocked; the outer curtain is the one that has the leak.<BR><BR> I cannot imagine what a new curtain would cost for this beast; probably abit more than a Zorki. :) The tension on the two take ups was abit loose; and the pivots were all gunked up. The speed dial was stuck due too years of dried grease; so the shutter gap (speed above 1/25) was no changeable. Now I have the shutter again working at least well from 1/25 to 1/1000. Below 1/25 is still mucked up; plus the self timer is still crudded up too. The shutter is easy to cock with a big blade screw driver; as shown in the photo below. The second photo shows a temporary repair to a worn hole; the one that holds the spring top the roller tension windup crosses (screw heads).<BR><BR><b>Rick is the black "Liquid Electrical Tape", had to locate?</b> did you have to mail order it; or just use a local store like ??? regards Kelly<BR><BR><IMG SRC=http://www.ezshots.com/members/tripods/images/tripods-471.jpg><BR><BR><b>Here Dental Floss was used in the hole; as a temporary measure; so the spring would stay in place; in the screw hole that is too enlarged. A larger screw might be used; but it must be low enough not to hit the film magazine.</b>...hopefully the floss will work for awhile. <IMG SRC=http://www.ezshots.com/members/tripods/images/tripods-470.jpg>

[kelly_flanigan1]

Jon; thank for your answer; it poped up while I was creating my message.<BR><b> Where are the materials you mentioned purchased?</b><BR><BR> I would like to try all of these ideas on a broken Zorki; before the more expensive beast!

[richard_oleson]

I just bought the stuff at a local hardware store. It comes in a 4 ounce can with a (useless) brush in the lid for about $5. Comes in a variety of colors, make sure to get black.

 

If you want to make your own curtain to replace the bad one(s), you can buy material from Micro Tools (DON'T buy the red curtain stock from them, it is not light-tight), or you can cut up an old film changing bag. Camera stores also have rubberized fabric for darkroom curtains, I've found this to work very well if it's good quality.

 

Is that an Ektra? I've never recurtained one of those, but here are some notes on the job in a Contax S, which may have some useful information in them:

 

http://rick_oleson.tripod.com/index-87.html

 

rick :)=<div></div>

[jon_goodman1]

Hi, again. It is available at any art supply store. I have some shutter cloth and ribbon which has been very effective in Leica clones. The cloth is .0065" thick (much thinner than most out there), and the ribbons are .004" thick (again, much thinner than most out there), and they've worked well in cameras such as FED NKVD. Being thinner, you can run them with less tension and still hit the high speeds. Please let me know if you need.

 

Jon

[mike_elek]

Home Depot also sells Liquid Electrical Tape in different colors.

 

I couldn't find it in black, so bought mine online from this place for $4.63 a can (shipping was $6, so you might as well order a lot):

 

http://www.outdoorsuperstore.com /

[kelly_flanigan1]

Mike; Rick; John; Paul; Yesterday I went to Home Depot; they were out of black; but had yellow; green; and red "Liquid Electrical Tape". I punted and went to another store and got a Scotch 3M product; but it turned out not to be opaque; but molasses/honey colored. The bottle is at home now; its name escapes me. It was for sealing wires too. <BR><BR>Today I went to an automotive parts store; and got a 4.25 dollar 4oz can of "Brush-On Electrical Tape"; that came in black. <BR><BR>After a few micro dabs; the Ektra's pinholes were covered up; at least for awhile. I got this camera as a junker a couple of years ago; along with its non-op shutter; stuck shutter speed dial; etc. The dial is pulled up to change the shutter gap; which varies the speeds from 1/25 to 1/1000 sec. It is abit hairy to work on a camera that I have not worked on before; but that adds to the fun. The baseline of the rangefinder is bloody huge; 4 1/8 inches. The magnification is alot; 1.6x. The rangefinder inside is dirty; I will shoot some images before venturing into that area. Thanks for the info and the help; Kelly

[kelly_flanigan1]

The pinholed region looks like it was due to the shutter cloth sticking to itself; after a long spell of non-operation. When I FIRST unwound the larger curtain; it was stuck at a few places.

[richard_oleson]

Hi Kelly:

 

Last night I received a cosmetically nice Exakta VXIIa, with at least a dozen bad cracks in each curtain and the worst set of pinholes I've ever seen. I'll undoubtedly replace them, but first it seemed like a good test case for the liquid electrical tape goop, so I coated both curtains with it. Took 2 coats to close up the holes, and the curtains are NOT pretty now (but they were pretty ugly anyway). The shutter does run smoothly with that heavy of a coating, and the stuff dries tack-free so they don't try to stick together (haven't yet anyway). This is, I guess, the third shutter that I have given a heavy dose of this stuff, we'll see how it goes for a while. If I see something shocking I'll post a note in this section as a warning.

 

Have fun with your Ektra! I once got an Alpa almost totally disassembled in a Tupperware box, with no idea of how the thing was originally built. That took a while to figure out (there was a whole little baggie full of 1mm balls....), but it was sure a neat feeling when it was all together and working! I'd never even held one before (and I haven't since that one went on its way.....)

 

Take care....

 

rick :)=