Tried ultrasonic cleaning on a stuck shutter blade assembly

I have been avoiding ultrasonic cleaners for years because I figured they would shake something loose or mess up the alignment. Last week I finally caved and dropped a seized Copal shutter into a cheap Amazon ultrasonic tank I got for $60. Ran it for 5 minutes with a little dish soap and water, and the blades freed up completely. Now I am wondering how many hours I wasted manually cleaning stuff that could have been done in a few minutes. Has anyone else seen weird results with ultrasonic on older gear?

2 comments

2 Comments

veramiller24d ago

seanjohnson mentioned checking speeds after, but nobody talked about the blade alignment itself. I had a stuck Copal too, and after cleaning, one blade was slightly off its pin. Had to open it back up and nudge it back with a toothpick. That cheap ultrasonic might shake blades loose if they are already worn.

seanjohnson24d ago

Did you try taking the shutter apart first or did you drop the whole thing in still assembled? I always worry about the lubricants getting washed out of places they need to be, especially on old Compur or Compound shutters where the grease is basically holding the mechanism together. With Copal tho they seem to use less of that sticky stuff so maybe it's fine. I've seen people say you need to dry them out completely and then relube the slow speed escapement after ultrasonic cleaning or else the speeds get all wonky. Did you check your shutter speeds after or just verify the blades freed up?