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Shoutout to the old guy at the swap meet in Burbank who showed me his trick for unsticking a Minolta SRT's advance lever

He used a single drop of lighter fluid on the ratchet gear, let it sit for 10 minutes, and it worked perfectly, which saved me from a full disassembly I was about to attempt, lol.
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4 Comments
piper_garcia23
Honestly, lighter fluid on old camera gears sounds like a quick fix that could go wrong later. That stuff can dry out seals or leave a residue, making things worse. Maybe it worked this time, but calling it a lost art is a bit much. Sometimes the full disassembly is the better way to actually fix it for good.
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caseywalker
My buddy tried that on a Pentax K1000 and it totally seized up the film advance. Had to send it to a specialist who, like @cora813 said, did the full tear-down anyway. The fluid ate up some old grease and turned it into glue. Cost him way more in the end.
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williams.drew
That lighter fluid trick is the real old guy magic, lol.
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cora813
cora8131mo agoTop Commenter
Right, @williams.drew, that trick is a lost art for sure.
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