Difficulty of putting the copal shutter blades back on the plate of yashicaflex s

corydon · 2025-08-08T04:09:01-0400

Hi buddies, my Yashicaflex S has copal shutter blades got jammed. The one of 5 has some broken at the edge and 2 of 5 have ring ears distorted. I found it is very hard to put them all in the places. I wonder if there is a better way to do it?

Thanks.

Don_ih · 2025-08-08T05:19:38-0400

Whenever I've done it, I've found it helpful to not even breathe.

I think some people use Rodico (a cleaning putty used by watchmakers) to hold them in place (leaves no residue). I've only ever just gingerly put them where they needed to go and kept doing it until they all stayed long enough to get it together.

That chewed up blade looks pretty bad. You'll want to sand that damaged part as smooth as possible and I think it's still likely it'll mess up again.

corydon · 2025-08-08T05:30:46-0400

Don_ih said:
Whenever I've done it, I've found it helpful to not even breathe.

I think some people use Rodico (a cleaning putty used by watchmakers) to hold them in place (leaves no residue). I've only ever just gingerly put them where they needed to go and kept doing it until they all stayed long enough to get it together.

That chewed up blade looks pretty bad. You'll want to sand that damaged part as smooth as possible and I think it's still likely it'll mess up again.

Thanks Don. What size sand paper is suitable? And any other way to replace the chewed one.

Don_ih · 2025-08-08T05:39:28-0400

More like a very fine grinding surface. You need no burrs and the blade need to be perfectly flat and smooth. Other than getting a blade from another shutter (one that matches), I don't know where else you could get one.

monopix · 2025-08-08T06:41:56-0400

Fill the hole in the middle with something to support the blades as you assemble them. But sounds like you need new blades. It will never work if they are distorted.

Dan Daniel · 2025-08-08T10:09:03-0400

A US dime fits in the center hole nicely to hold blades up. A nickel behind that, and then you can stack more coins, find a small bottle cap, or whatever to hold the dime in place.

Or assemble with blades open. Need to slide blade ring to open position of course.

Difficulty of putting the copal shutter blades back on the plate of yashicaflex s

corydon

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