Safe Cleaning Sprays and Difficult Screws

jdk01

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Hi, I have a camera which is partly crusted on the inside. It looks similar to crusted salt? The answer may be to painstakingly take it apart and clean everything, but I would like at least to know if some of it can be sprayed cleaned or similar - at least as an initial step to reveal more about the condition of the camera.. I suspect the answer is no.. but it’s worth asking..

Some screws no longer turn even under duress. Heads and threads seem okay. Are there tricks to help loosen such screws?

Thank you for your help...
 

AgX

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"spray cleaned" ... How should that work? Just spraying the camera with some potion, and the problem is solved?
 
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jdk01

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I was hoping for some form of directional air spray of say 2-3mm width.. to be able to target specific areas.. spraying away from other areas of the camera... thank you ...
 

AgX

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Yes, I already got that. And then you expect the spray to interact somehow with the salt or incrustration and then all is good again. To me that would be miraculous.

(Well, some members now will say "He is negative again". But I really do not see how that would work.)
 
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jdk01

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Hi, I do not see your comments as negative... I am just trying see what is underneath the crust in harder to reach areas... in the same way you may use a blower to remove dust from specific areas... For me, it worth asking the question of this experienced assembly ... before going further with ‘invasive surgery’ .. thank you
 

AgX

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I mean, if there was a potion to dissolve what you got and which would not harm anything of the camera and would not spread itself or the dissolved material you still would need to clean up everything.
 

bdial

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I would avoid sprays unless you spray a cloth or other wiper then use that on the camera.
For stuck screws, a drop of a penetrating oil may help, or acetone. The acetone will be particularly effective if the screw has some sort of thread locker like fingernail lacquer or heaven forbid lock-tight. Heating the screw with a soldering iron might work too. Much depends on what is causing the screw to bind. If it's corrosion, then the oil should help, but heat or solvent may work best otherwise.
 
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jdk01

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Hi, thank you for your reply. Specifically, acetone did not work, but the penetrating oil has helped.
 

Tel

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The key word here is "crusted". Seems like a corrosion problem, hence the success with penetrating oil. If you want to get the camera working again, you will almost certainly need to strip it down and clean the parts; corrosion gets into everything! In the meantime, could you post a photo or two of the camera? (A picture is worth a thousand....)
 
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jdk01

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Thank you. I’ll take a closeup of the offending contamination...
 

AgX

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bdial said:
I would avoid sprays unless you spray a cloth or other wiper then use that on the camera.
Click to expand...

I even stopped using contacts spray in general electronic, unless ther is no other way to reach innards in switches. Instead I use various means to apply a single droplet. This caution should be applied even more on cameras.
 
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