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Any tips for cleaning film guide rails?

Flighter

Member
Allowing Ads
Joined
Mar 7, 2023
Messages
279
Location
Scotland
Format
35mm
I guess this camera has sat for a while with film loaded.

Any tips or tricks for cleaning the film residue off the inner guide rails (yellow arrows) ?

 
Flighter said:
I guess this camera has sat for a while with film loaded.

Any tips or tricks for cleaning the film residue off the inner guide rails (yellow arrows) ?

View attachment 353885
Click to expand...

You could try using a needle and then isopropyl alcohol or acetone (be careful with plastics see the film winding spool on the right). Even water could do. Or an eraser. The edge of a knife could also work. The film guide there should be made of metal and not scratch. Try carefully, of course.
 
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Thanks ic-racer and Andreas, That's this afternoon's entertainment taken care of!
 
I had that in a camera; scraping with a wooden edge got it down to the metal surface, but that had corroded very slightly. IIRC I polished the rails with some metal polish wad. Intended for brass, but it seems to do something to aluminium; clean it off well after. Their appearance doesn't matter as long as they're smooth and don't resist the film moving.
 
Flighter said:
Thanks ic-racer and Andreas, That's this afternoon's entertainment taken care of!
Click to expand...

If you get too much of the solvent up your nose, the afternoon is perfect

Good luck!

Let us know if/how it worked.

Post note:

My wife and I are fans of your charming avatar
 
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Thanks Dustin.

Yes, there is a bit of corrosion on mine as well, so I haven't been able to completely remove the marking but it's looking much more presentable. The rubber worked best, I had an old ink rubber, and with the shutter already removed (I need to clean it as goo from disintegrating foam seals is on a couple of the blades) I didn’t have to worry about bits of rubber flying around. I had masked either side of the rails with tape to protect the paint and finished off with a very gentle polish with Simichrome polish.

No ill effects from the solvent!

And thanks for your kind words Andreas, Philbert is our youngest cat (we have 3), he is now 4 and definitely has an attitude!
 
Thanks Dustin and ic-racer. The photo looks better than it actually is as there are still a couple of areas where the film residue has eaten into the metal slightly but it was difficult to photograph in the dull Scottish winter light!

Thanks Andreas, that Dremel looks good, I'll add it to my ever-growing list of stuff to buy!
 
Andreas Thaler said:
Maybe Philbert can help with his claws until then, when there's something to clean again
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He's not very good at following instructions though!

This picture hopefully gives a better idea as to the residual effects of the corrosion.

 
I wouldn't worry about it, as long as there isn't a huge amount of friction. These rails are only in contact with the film outside the image area after all.
 
Nice job! A cotton bud with a tiny bit of Flitz metal polish and some elbow grease helps mirror-finish the guides, but be sure to thoroughly clean off any residue with alcohol.
 
Thanks grain elevator, it feels pretty smooth to the touch.

Thanks Kino.
 
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