Fought with a sticky film advance on a Pentax Spotmatic for almost a week

Got this Spotmatic in last Tuesday, looked clean, but the film advance lever was totally stuck. I figured it was just old grease, a quick clean, maybe an hour tops. Opened it up, cleaned the old gunk out of the gear train, re-lubed the spots the service manual said, put it back together... still stuck. Spent the next three days going deeper, checking the shutter timing gears, the mirror box, everything. Finally, on Friday afternoon, I found it. A tiny, almost invisible sliver of metal from a broken spring had wedged itself between two gears in the bottom plate, something you'd never see unless you were looking right at it under a bright light. That one little shaving cost me about 15 hours of work. So, what's your take? Do you always do a full, deep strip-down on every 'simple' sticky advance, or do you start with the basics and hope for the best? I'm curious how others handle these time-sink jobs.

3 comments

3 Comments

andrew_harris31mo ago

My buddy had a similar nightmare with an old Nikon. He spent a whole weekend on a "simple" shutter issue, just cleaning and re-lubing. Turned out a tiny piece of felt from the light seal had migrated into the works. He only found it after taking apart the entire shutter assembly. Now he just does a full strip on any camera that's been sitting for decades. It takes longer up front but saves those crazy hidden time sinks.

fisher.felix1mo ago

Ugh, I get the logic but a full strip on every single old camera seems like overkill. I mean, you can catch most of those hidden problems with a really careful check before you even start. Like, checking the seals and listening for weird sounds. Tearing down everything first might just create new issues if you're not super careful every time. Maybe it's just me, but I'd rather not fix what isn't broken yet.

david_price504d agoMost Upvoted

Know a guy who bought a "mint" Leica M3. Checked the curtains, fired the shutter, everything seemed smooth. Two rolls in, every frame had this weird, faint line. He spent WEEKS trying to spot it without opening it up. Finally gave in and did a full strip. Found a single, tiny hair from a past brush cleaning lodged deep in the film gate, scratching every piece of film that passed by. That thing was IMPOSSIBLE to see without taking it all apart. Sometimes the problem is just hiding where you can't look.