PSA: ultrasonic cleaner ate my shutter blades alive

I ran a beat up Konica FT-1 through the ultrasonic cleaner with the good solution last Tuesday, figured 5 minutes would be safe. Pulled it out and the shutter blades looked like someone had sanded them with 60 grit, the coating was just gone. Turns out that cleaner fluid is way too aggressive for the older aluminum blades once they get micro cracks, it seeps under the coating and lifts it right off. My buddy who does this 30 years said I should have stuck to the soft brush and lighter fluid method for anything pre-1980. Cost me a whole shutter assembly to replace, about $55 in parts plus the headache of finding one that matched. Has anyone else had the ultrasonic wreck a shutter mechanism, or is there a specific fluid that's safe for these old cameras?

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robert_smith3615d ago

I read somewhere that the issue is less about the fluid and more about the frequency vibrating the blades against each other, so even plain water can do damage if there's any grit stuck in there. Sounds like your buddy's got the right idea, stick to the manual stuff for anything that isn't a late-model camera.