0
I finally stopped using that old spring compressor trick
Had a talk with a retired Pentax repair guy at a meetup last month (he'd been doing it since the 70s). He pointed out that my go-to method for reassembling shutter curtains was actually putting uneven tension on the drum springs. I'd been using a bent paperclip as a temporary hold, which he said causes micro-stretching over repeated use. He showed me a simple plastic jig he machined (took him maybe 10 minutes) that locks everything perfectly centered. Now I'm kicking myself for not rethinking this sooner. Has anyone else found a common tool they use that's actually doing more harm than good?
2 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In2 Comments
william40721d agoMost Upvoted
Calling BS on that - paperclip trick works fine if you know what you're doing.
4
the_logan21d ago
William's got a point that the paperclip trick works for a lot of people, but the thing about micro-stretching is real if you're doing it day in and day out. The plastic jig sounds like a smarter way to go just because it keeps everything even from the start. Paperclips can work fine in a pinch but they're not really built to hold tension the same way every time. If you're only fixing one camera a year it probably doesn't matter, but a repair guy doing dozens of them would definitely see a difference over time.
0