Fixed a stuck shutter on a Canon AE-1 in 45 minutes with a toothpick

I was in my garage Tuesday night with a beat up Canon AE-1 that had been sitting on my shelf for months. The shutter curtain was stuck halfway open and nothing I did would free it up. I tried blowing compressed air through the gaps and hitting it with a drop of lighter fluid on the pivots but no luck. Then I remembered a trick from an old forum post about using a plain wooden toothpick to gently push the curtain track back into alignment. I wedged the toothpick against the edge of the curtain rail and gave it a tiny nudge. The curtain snapped back into place and the whole shutter fired normally after that. Has anyone else had success with weird tools like toothpicks or paperclips on stubborn shutter issues?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_faith17d ago

Broke a fingernail prying open a stuck lens cap once so your toothpick win is basically professional surgery to me.

joseph52917d ago

Four out of five dentists would recommend toothpicks over fingernails for lens caps.