PSA: hand tools vs ultrasonic for cleaning old shutters

I spent 6 months using only hand tools to clean sticky shutter blades on old Canon FD lenses. Took me forever and I still had spots I couldn't reach. Finally broke down and got a $80 ultrasonic cleaner from Harbor Freight. Ran a batch of 5 shutter assemblies through it with some lighter fluid and they came out perfect in 10 minutes. Anyone else find a big upgrade by switching cleaning methods?

2 comments

2 Comments

walker.andrew9d ago

Stick with lighter fluid in the ultrasonic and keep the cycles under five minutes to avoid damaging the blade coatings.

robertb309d ago

80 bucks for a Harbor Freight ultrasonic sounds like a decent deal but I wonder how many people are actually wrecking coatings with a five minute cycle. I've read a dozen threads where folks say they've run them for ten or fifteen with no issues. Might be more of a your mileage may vary thing than a hard rule.