fast, easy and cheap fix of a stiff focus ring

kuuan · Expire: 2014-12-26

Yesterday here in Bangkok, in a place with many shops offering used photo gear and some repair men, I asked if the stiff focus ring of a Tele Kominar can be fixed. The good man said 'yes, easy', took a can of lighter fluid and applied it to letting it run into the slight gap between the barrel and the focus ring, then gave the ring some full turns and wiped off the remaining lighter fluid!

Now the focus ring runs very smoothly! The time spent for repair was about 1 minute, and the cost 0 ( well I did give some tip, but on wanting to pay the repair man had said 'No, no, free' )

Of course my heart took some faster beats when I watched him, but I was confident that he knows what he is doing, he must have fixed the same problem with the same technique many times.

Now I am curious if it will stay this way..what is your take on that?
maybe not for the fainthearted, but I am very happy indeed: I had bought this lens for just one Euro out of a throw away bin in a shop in Osaka, it is a very good performer and now it works perfectly well.

cheers,
Andreas

Screamin Scott · Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 4:16 am Post subject:

That can be a temporary fix as long as the problem was dried up grease & you use it judiciously . A slightly out of round focus ring from a dropped lens is of course a different story....

sichko · Joined: 20 Jun 2008 Posts: 2475 Location: South West UK

LucisPictor · Expire: 2013-12-03

And what if the fluid creeps into the lens and onto the internal elements?

kuuan · Expire: 2014-12-26

alex · Joined: 18 Apr 2009 Posts: 561 Location: UK

Naptha (lighter fluid) is a fairly standard trick for freeing up sticky parts, such as shutters and focussing threads. If all that's needed is moving some light dirt out of the way, as with some old mechanical shutters, it's pretty reliable. Neither will it affect optics, as it evaporates without residue. But in my experience it's not a permanent fix for sticky focussing threads. If you're confident taking a lens apart, it's a good start to help free up a jammed focussing ring to get you inside, but if the problem is solidified grease, the solution is to remove the old grease and replace it with a modern and inert silicon grease.

visualopsins · Expire: 2025-04-11

Neat trick! Not too much lighter fluid work well to re-mix the helicoid grease and restore viscosity. Too much it can reach inner elements, carrying with it some grease to contaminate elements after naptha evaporate.

kds315* · Expire: 2021-03-09

Well, I guess one has to think a step further: Lighter Fluid of course makes the old grease move again, but ig used too much will take a bit of teh greas with it, trasport it somewhere esle and then deposits it then when it evaporates - that might well be the aperture blades.

Same might happen if using WD40 which also has that effect, but lubricates additionally.

If both is used very sparingly, it can well be helpful. I only ouse a few drops applied with the tip of a toothpick and sometimes the additional help of mild heat (fan / hair dryer).

I could rescue some expensive Zeiss lenses with stuck aperture blades also ...

kuuan · Expire: 2014-12-26

so this is a known remedy then.
thank you for your reports with your own experiences

after the 'treatment' it was almost too loose, but 2 days already it had become much harder again. Now after a week it has not hardenend more than it did within the first 2 days, but stayed only a bit softer than 'before', but just enough to be able to focus without turning the M42 lens of the camera mount.
( I may have it newly creased )

best regards
Andreas

Scoo · Joined: 16 Jun 2009 Posts: 62 Location: Finland

Naptha can be your best friend when dealing with stuck shutters/diaphragms.

Here's a generic description of a minimal (almost non-invasive) method of re-lubing most M42 lenses just enough so that they work again:

Remove the back mount of the lens, set the focus distance to the closest possible. Apply a bit of naphta to the focussing helicoid (which became partly unscrewed as you focussed away from infinity when it is most compacted) and rack the focus back and forth, it should now have become un-sticky Wink

You could stop here but as said before, this is only temporary and for just a little more work you can reach a permanent improvment.

Remove some of the old sticky grease if you like with a cotton swap (q-tips on the other side of the Atlantic), tooth pick or whatnot. Then apply a little bit of new grease (never silicone if possible, never WD-40/CRC 5-56 or equivalent), I prefer lithium grease (a tube that'll last a lifetime cost me a whopping 3€). Again, focus back and forth to distribute the new lubricant.

Pros: if you're not adept at disassembly (and more importantly, RE-assembly) there's no risk of botching the operation (say not be able to re-thread the helicoid at the correct point, have the aperture come apart in your hands or such).

Cons: possibly not as smooth result as if you had removed all old grease and applied a modern lubricant. But, a not-as-smooth-as-possible focus is better than a stuck focus ring than might even cause the lens to start dismounting from a screw mount camera/adapter.

I started doing this after I took apart a Helios-44M in a hurry and is now frustrated at the sight of it (can't get focus ring, focus helicoid and aperture to re-align correctly, a real bloody 3D puzzle) Sad

PS WD-40 and such should not be used as it will change in time and might become sticky. Better to use modern inert grease lubricants (that besides might work well in a wide temperature range).