Tried to fix a stuck shutter on a Yashica Mat last month and learned a hard lesson about old lube

I found this Yashica Mat 124G at a garage sale for $20. Shutter was completely stuck. I read online that naptha works great for dissolving old lubricant. Soaked the shutter assembly for a few hours, worked the blades free, everything seemed good. Then I put it back together and the focusing helicoid was bone dry. Now it's grinding worse than before. Should I have just left the old gummy lube in the helicoid alone?

3 comments

3 Comments

josepha321mo ago

That naptha trick is honestly a classic "fix one thing break another" situation (I've learned that the hard way on old cameras too). It's like cleaning only half a rusty bike chain then wondering why the other half seizes up.

fiona9851mo ago

Oh man, that naptha is like a gateway drug for camera repair. You fix one thing and suddenly you're elbow deep in a helicoid with no idea what you're doing. I once cleaned a shutter on a Rolleicord and then realized I'd just turned the focusing ring into a glorified fidget spinner. The grinding is probably worse because the old lube was the only thing holding it together, like duct tape on a broken chair. Now you get to learn the fun lesson of figuring out which grease is the right weight for these old cameras, which is basically a guessing game with a $80 price tag.

clairen851mo ago

Ugh, that's such a bummer. I've totally been there where you think you're being careful and then suddenly you've made everything worse. It's like that moment when you realize you've stripped a screw and it just sinks in that the fix is gonna be way harder than the original problem. The helicoid grease is its own whole beast, it's not just any old lube. I've got a beat up old folder that I just left sticky because I was too scared to make it grind. Sometimes the old gunk is just doing its job, you know?