I finally found a way to fix sticky Canon shutter blades without a full teardown

Had a Canon AE-1 with shutter blades sticking at slow speeds for months. Tried the usual stuff like cleaning the surface with lighter fluid but it only helped for a day. Then I read somewhere about using a tiny drop of naphtha on the pivot points while cycling the shutter. Did that on a bench test last Thursday and it ran smooth through 50 test shots at 1/30. No more sticking at all so far. Anyone else tried this trick or got a better fix for blade drag?

2 comments

2 Comments

anthony_jackson14d ago

Wait, you put naphtha directly on the pivot points? That's bold. I would've been terrified that stuff would eat the lubricant or leave some weird residue on the blades themselves. Glad it worked out though, if it's been smooth for that many shots it might actually be a real fix.

miller.eva14d ago

Honestly that's basically playing with fire but hey, sometimes you gotta risk it to fix the biscuit. Had a similar situation with an old Pentax where I just dumped lighter fluid everywhere and prayed, worked for a few weeks before the sticky came back worse. Naphtha on the pivots might actually be the goldilocks zone if you're careful not to drown the thing.