Oily blades: a word of encouragement

[oneeyedpainter]

I just wanted to chime in with a word of encouragement to those who might be frightened by attempting their first lens repair, e.g., removing oil from the diaphragm blades.

Several months ago I had acquired a second-hand Yashica DSB 28mm f/2.8 on ebay, for 20 quids. Admittedly a bargain at that price. The lens worked fine, but after a while the diaphragm blades started becoming tardy, until the lens locked up on maximum aperture and would not move from there. My diagnosis was either oil on the blades, or a defective return spring. I was tempted to just throw it away, as having it professionally cleaned/serviced would not make much sense (remember, 20 quids shipped....). But then I realised it would have been a perfect testbed for my first ever "lens repair". So I gave it a go, after having read a lot fo stuff on this forum, and the whole process was admittedly much easier than I had anticipated. It was indeed oil on the blades, as the return spring worked just fine. Cleaned it up and now the lens is back in order, and will hopefully work for a long time before failing again. In the meanwhile, I have also opened, cleaned and reassembled a Super Paragon 135mm f/2.8, although it did not have any oil on the blades, just to make to myself the point that I can open and reassemble a lens (at least a cheap one...), if I want to

I know, those were easy ones, as the aperture blades become immediately accessible after unscrewing the front element, and the aperture spring is evident after removing the back ring. Also, I did not have to disassemble and riassemble the diaphragm (that would be nerve-wrecking, for sure!). I know in other cases the entire operation is not that straightforward. But still, I would urge anyone who finds him/herself in my position to avoid giving up. This is a relatively easy repair, and can give a new line of life to a lens with very little effort. If the clumsy me made it, anybody can do it, really.

Thanks all for the interesting and informative stuff you have posted in this forum over the years. It is a great source of knowledge and encouragement.

OneEyedPainter

 

[koraks]

So where did the oil go?

 

[oneeyedpainter]

So where did the oil go?

In the cotton swabs, I guess/hope?

 

[koraks]

The reason I asked is because there's a couple of ways to clean the blades. They all have their pros & cons. Some people simply douse the blades in a solvent, which drives away the oil into other parts of the lens assembly. Cotton swabs is also a possibility, but it's easy to get cotton fibers stuck in there and it's really difficult to remove all the oil since it tends to keep making a film across the blades and get sucked into the spaces between the blades due to capillary action. The most thorough solution is to disassemble the aperture, clean everything thoroughly and put it back together again, and preferably clean + re-lubricate the focus helicoid with a suitable grease. In my experience, the first two approaches are temporary fixes and will have to be repeated sooner or later.

 

[loccdor]

I have also found cotton swabs not great for camera cleaning and prefer foam swabs.

 

[oneeyedpainter]

The reason I asked is because there's a couple of ways to clean the blades. They all have their pros & cons. Some people simply douse the blades in a solvent, which drives away the oil into other parts of the lens assembly. Cotton swabs is also a possibility, but it's easy to get cotton fibers stuck in there and it's really difficult to remove all the oil since it tends to keep making a film across the blades and get sucked into the spaces between the blades due to capillary action. The most thorough solution is to disassemble the aperture, clean everything thoroughly and put it back together again, and preferably clean + re-lubricate the focus helicoid with a suitable grease. In my experience, the first two approaches are temporary fixes and will have to be repeated sooner or later.

I get your point @koraks I used the solvent very sparingly, focusing on the areas where the oil was more visible, and avoiding to let it swim around freely, i.e., mopping it off with a dry swab immediately. I will let you know if the fix lasts, and how long. If it does not, well, I might venture in my first real repair attempt soon

@loccdor thanks for the suggestion about foam swabs. I will get some.

Thanks all.

OneEyedPainter

 

[nosmok]

I have used a tiny bit (take a dry cotton swab and dab it on an alcohol wipe) of 90% isopropyl alcohol on grungy shutter blades to get visible gurry off. Sometimes, after that when everything's dry, I'll take a pencil and verrrry lightly draw on the blades themselves to get a bit of graphite where it needs to go and hopefully not provide any more loose dust in the optical path (I only do this on cheap old lenses).

 

[RalphLambrecht]

I just wanted to chime in with a word of encouragement to those who might be frightened by attempting their first lens repair, e.g., removing oil from the diaphragm blades.

Several months ago I had acquired a second-hand Yashica DSB 28mm f/2.8 on ebay, for 20 quids. Admittedly a bargain at that price. The lens worked fine, but after a while the diaphragm blades started becoming tardy, until the lens locked up on maximum aperture and would not move from there. My diagnosis was either oil on the blades, or a defective return spring. I was tempted to just throw it away, as having it professionally cleaned/serviced would not make much sense (remember, 20 quids shipped....). But then I realised it would have been a perfect testbed for my first ever "lens repair". So I gave it a go, after having read a lot fo stuff on this forum, and the whole process was admittedly much easier than I had anticipated. It was indeed oil on the blades, as the return spring worked just fine. Cleaned it up and now the lens is back in order, and will hopefully work for a long time before failing again. In the meanwhile, I have also opened, cleaned and reassembled a Super Paragon 135mm f/2.8, although it did not have any oil on the blades, just to make to myself the point that I can open and reassemble a lens (at least a cheap one...), if I want to

I know, those were easy ones, as the aperture blades become immediately accessible after unscrewing the front element, and the aperture spring is evident after removing the back ring. Also, I did not have to disassemble and riassemble the diaphragm (that would be nerve-wrecking, for sure!). I know in other cases the entire operation is not that straightforward. But still, I would urge anyone who finds him/herself in my position to avoid giving up. This is a relatively easy repair, and can give a new line of life to a lens with very little effort. If the clumsy me made it, anybody can do it, really.

Thanks all for the interesting and informative stuff you have posted in this forum over the years. It is a great source of knowledge and encouragement.

OneEyedPainter

lens repair is not for the faint of heart.

 

[OAPOli]

Oil usually comes from the helicoid grease which separates over time and finds its way to the aperture mech. Cleaning the leaves externally will help but only temporarily. I would suggest disassembling and cleaning the mechanism and preferably relube the helicoid as well.

 

[Dan Daniel]

OK, counterargument! I've done this and had it be successful (for a few years at least, not just a week or month). Clean shutter leaves of oil without disassembly. Remove front and back lens groups to get both side of the blades. Cotton swabs (or foam if that's your thing) with light naphtha. Wipe blades, full surface. Front and back. Do it again, fresh swab. And again and... Fire shutter if possible. Clean again. Keep cleaning. Keep firing. Better yet, find a way to hold blades partially opened and clean. Clean some more. Just keep wiping, fire every now and then to collect more internal junk, get some solvent in deeper. Clean, clean, clean...

Well, it can be done and can be successful. Not always. And patience and repetitionon are key.

OK, carry on telling the OP why he is wrong. And why I am wrong. But when it comes to cat skinning, more than one way sometimes.

 

[oneeyedpainter]

Oil usually comes from the helicoid grease which separates over time and finds its way to the aperture mech. Cleaning the leaves externally will help but only temporarily. I would suggest disassembling and cleaning the mechanism and preferably relube the helicoid as well.

thanks @OAPOli I will certainly attempt to cross that bridge when the blades get oily again. From what I have read above, they most probably will, anyway, so at least that simple cleaning has bought me a bit of time to get through the steps of "the job done properly!" before I need to do that for real

I still believe there is nothing arcane or magic behind disassembling/reassembling a lens, but I suspect reality might be willing to prove me wrong here

OneEyedPainter

 

[koraks]

But when it comes to cat skinning, more than one way sometimes.

Definitely. Some ways just tend to end up with scraps of skin and fur remaining on the cat. Depending on your requirements on a skinned cat, this may or may not be an issue.

Mind you, I'm all for "let's try the quick fix first, what's there to lose". In this case, it's perfectly sensible to see if the quick & dirty approach is good enough; if it turns out not to be, you can always go back and do a proper job.

 

[film4Me]

I've used this shortcut method on two 35mm rangefinders. One was worse than the other. The bad one came good after repeatedly wiping the blades from the front with cotton tips and lighter fluid, and exercising the shutter. Then kept cleaning by dropping lighter fluid on the blades and soaking up with rolled up tissues, keeping an eye out for stray bits of cotton and tissue as I was going. There was only the odd bit of cotton strands which were easily wiped out.

So this is what evolved with that camera. It came good and I did a photo shoot quite successfully, exposing two rolls, one B&W, one color. But after that, it sat on my display shelf for a couple of months until I felt like trying the shutter again - they were becoming slightly sticky again. I did a second short cut clean and it came good once more, and has remained that way ever since, some years later, and it's still good.

The moral to this story is that a second short cut clean may be necessary sometime in the near future.

I will avoid disassembling a 35mm rangefinder shutter/lens if I can because they are usually a tricky process requiring a good memory and plenty of time and patience.

The other camera was a breeze to fix. The blades were stuck in this mint camera, and all that it required was two drops of lighter fluid and it was up and running again. That surprised me given how stuck the blades were.

Only minimal disassembly was necessary. The front element group screwed out from the first camera, noting there was a shim attached, but after cleaning the blades, just a simple job of screwing that front lens group back in. Job finished.

The second camera required careful detachment of front lens assembly with light meter cell and moving the assembly to one side because of the light meter cell's wiring. It wasn't such a difficult job to do this, however, it needed to be done with extreme care, but still easier and much quicker that disassembling to whole lens.

 

[Andreas Thaler]

Oily aperture blades in lenses are a common occurrence, as the grease in the helicoids liquefies over the decades. The only way to permanently resolve the issue is through complete disassembly, cleaning, and relubrication. However, this process always carries the risk of damaging or misaligning the lens.

I therefore consider a temporary cleaning of the aperture blades to be a practical solution. That’s how I handle lenses that I don’t want to disassemble or cannot.

+++

All information provided without guarantee and use at your own risk.

 

[reddesert]

For what it's worth, I notice that sticky aperture blades seem to happen on some types of lenses more than others. I've encountered several Yashica DSB lenses that have stuck aperture blades (but have not tried clean/repairing them yet).

This is obviously related to the passage of time as I don't think they were known for this when new. I had two Yashica YUS lenses in my first SLR kit in the early 1980s, which I think were the older DSB lenses badged to be a bargain alternative (Yashica's primary line of lenses were "ML" by that point), and they worked fine then. Those two lenses may still be in my parents' camera bag somewhere, so I should try to remember to find them and test the apertures.

I don't know why some lines of lenses, or models within a line, are more likely to develop stuck apertures. It presumably has to do with the specific type of grease used in the lens, and perhaps whether the construction enables access from the helicoid to the aperture, and perhaps storage conditions and regular use or not.