Watched a shutter curtain disintegrate on a customer's Canon F-1 yesterday

I was testing a Canon F-1 I just got in for a CLA, fired the shutter at 1/1000, and the cloth curtain just ripped in half. Must've been dry rotted for years, but the owner had no idea. I had to call him and break the news that a full rebuild would run about $200. Now I'm stuck ordering new shutter curtains from a guy in Ohio who swears he has NOS ones from the 70s. Has anyone here had luck patching a torn curtain with liquid shutter tape, or is that just a bandaid on a bullet wound?

2 comments

2 Comments

ruby_bell478d ago

dry rotted for years" exactly, that's the thing with those old cloth curtains, you never really know till you fire it. But what I'm wondering is did you check the mirror bumper foam first? I've seen that stuff turn into black goo and then when it sticks to the curtain it can actually tear it on the next shot. Might be worth asking if the owner noticed any weird sounds before it went, that could tell you if it was the foam or just age. Also that Ohio guy better be legit, I've heard stories of NOS curtains crumbling the second you unroll them.

coleman.hannah8d ago

...and I had the exact same thing happen with a Nikon F a few years back. The owner swore it was working fine, but the second I tripped the shutter at 1/500 it sounded like tearing paper. I tried the liquid shutter tape on a small pinhole once, and it held for maybe a hundred shots before it started flaking off. Ended up just buying a whole parts camera off eBay for fifty bucks and swapping the curtain. That Ohio guy might be your best bet if he's got a good reputation, but I'd ask for photos of the actual curtains before you pay. Some of those NOS rolls are so brittle they'll crack if you look at them wrong.