What to do with a Revere lens board reject?

[P3D <scooter@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi fellow 3d-er's

With all this talk about cleaning shutter mechanisms and wondering 
whether or not the chemicals will destroy lens coatings, maybe one of 
those Revere lens board rejects would make a good experimental 
subject.  My good Revere 33 camera has slow shutter speeds (running 
1/125 @ 1/200, 1/60 @ 1/100 etc.)  It is interesting to see a complete 
lens board off the camera to see where the parts are, and how they 
work.  Piper tells me that under no circumstances should a shutter be 
lubricated.  I kinda think that's maybe not the case originally.  I 
think certain parts in the clockwork mechanism (for lack of a better 
word) were factory lubricated, and after  40+ years that lubrication 
has become a bit gummy.  I'm thinking (correct me if I'm wrong here) 
that merely cleaning the shutter blades without cleaning the shutter 
clockwork will probably not completely solve the problem of having a 
slow shutter.  I am also thinking (and agreeing with others who know 
more than I) that putting minute traces of modern lubricants on pivot 
and certain friction points would aid in proper shutter operation. 

Am I on track here?  I'd like to eventually have my Revere serviced, 
but based on the results I've had in the past with my two Viewmaster 
Cameras, I'm leery of sending my camera out to anyone unless I know 
more about what they do, exactly how they do it, and how much they 
charge. I've spent a bundle on having VM Personals 'serviced', and I'm 
not a very happy camper. Anyone with recommendations on someone they 
have had good results with?  I think maybe it's time for us to send 
our repair experiences to one person to tabulate the findings and post 
the results.  Reel 3-d lists known repair persons, but state they do 
not endorse them.  I'd like a slightly more enthusiastic reference 
than that.

Also,  I know there are a lot of new guys out there shooting stereo 
for the first time with 40+ year old cameras.  Have you had the 
shutter speeds checked on your camera?  I'm wondering of the most 
common of the better cameras (Realist, Revere, Kodak etc.), what 
percentage of them are shooting with fairly accurate speeds?  
Viewmaster and Revere shutters on my cameras are slow.  What about the 
'average' Realist?  Are these still running fairly on target?

I know that after I've had my shutters tested and made allowances for 
the slowness, my slides have improved considerably.  Just a little 
advice for the newbies.  It's a heck of a lot easier than trying to 
figure out what's happening by shooting 5 rolls of film.



Steve Owsley


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