Thornton Pickard shutter spring repair

[ColinRH]

I have a Thornton Pickard cloth roller blind which I have repaired. My concern is with the internal spring for the blind return. The fact that it is some 100years old I am worried that if I tighten it to get the original 1/90 sec. speed it may break. At present I am stuck with using only 1 speed - 1/15 - or open shutter and guesswork That is OK but I have trouble in bright light. IF the spring were to break is it a repairable job and if so how?

 

[Ian Grant]

Just clean the spring section, that means dis-assembly though and taking the curtain off the lower roller.

My experience is they are quite robust, I've yet to have one fail and I'm into 3 figure numbers restoring these shutters. I get the roller out flush with WD-40, wash with hot water and detergent, some times Vim or Cif, then use meths to clean followed by IPA (alcohol nit beer). I usually then use a slight trace of oil in alcohol to lubricate. All the TP shutters I've restored would tension well past 1/90th. This can be done without taking the roller spindle itself apart.

These shutters were made up until the early 1960's so your's might nit be that old

Ian

 

[ColinRH]

Thanks for your response, Ian; I guessed you would be 'the man'.
I've not stripped the shutter yet but if I remember, the spring roller is brass. So- I remove the outer wood sleeve and the blind and then clean - WD-40 etc. and wash the whole thing. After that, is the whole roller soaked in the meths and IPA and allowed to dry or somehow dripped in to the inside?
I also have a small shutter for front mounting. It has only a metal ring for pushing on the lens which seems a bit fraught. Should it have a rubber or velvet type lining?
Thanks again. Colin

 

[Ian Grant]

The shutter curtain is glued straight to the bottom brass roller and you might be able to carefully remove it however you may end up tearing it so it needs great care. New curtains are available The wooden sleeve is on the top roller, these often break but should just slide off.

If the shutter blind is OK usually it's just a build up of oxidation on the brass that slows the sprung roller because there's slight increase in friction the same can happen with the winding gear which has ato unwind on release. So the differance between a good smooth shutter and one that malfunctions is often just a clean and very light lubrication.

Whatever the roller's cleaned with must be fully removed I wash with hot water then use the meths/IPA to help drying after, I usually pop the roller in the oven at 50° C for 10 minutes to make sure all the moistures dried ot of it. They clean very easily.

There's normally a rubber liner in the front mouting versions, this was a sort of L shape so that the front of the lens barrel formed a light seal against the small bottom part of the L. TP sold these in different thicknesses to allow a shutter to fit slightly different diameter lenses. You'll have to improvise, I found a rubber washer that fits inside the mounting area of one of my shutters and have some neoprene or similar to make the circular band. I've also used velvet.

Hope that helps.

Ian

 

[ColinRH]

Thanks very much, Ian, all good information and help.

Colin