That time a Leica M3 walked in with a 40 year old lube failure

Guy brought in this M3 from an estate sale last Thursday, shutter was dragging at every speed above 1/125. Pulled the top plate and the old grease had turned into something closer to pine resin, had to soak the whole escapement in naptha for 20 minutes before anything moved. Anyone else run into vintage cameras where the lube basically petrified and you had to rethink your whole cleaning process?

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kai7796d ago

That "pine resin" line hit home hard. My buddy found a Rolleiflex in his dad's attic that was stuck the same way, the shutter release wouldn't budge no matter how much he pressed. He ended up leaving it in a warm oven at the lowest setting for like twenty minutes to soften the gunk before he could even get the lens off. Worked like a charm, but he smelled burnt oil in that kitchen for a week.