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[Mareklew]

Germany related shopping tips for cleaning things:
- Coleman fuel/white gas is Waschbenzin. Silly enough, in DE you can buy anything sometimes very remotely resembling white spirit under this name, but the DM-Drogeriemarkt has a really clean one in

[Charlie]

I have read about the use of black yarn in several forums but always wondered if over a period of several fears the inside of the camera would accumulate a lot of small fibers in the shutter and on the rear lens element. Does anyone here have enough exper

[Mareklew]

It much depends on yarn used. From personal experience: pay attention and avoid anything with synthetic component in it. It may state pure wool/cotton/whatever on the front and 40% stretch/acrylic/plastic on the back. Natural fiber is indifferent to most

[Aphototaker]

I will confirm that wool yarn works wonderfully in the thin channels just above (and below) the film compartment. I have used this in two cameras and both are working wonderfully.
 
But note that it should be pure wool, not acrylic or a mixture of

[Rbeverag]

Make your own spanners from sheet brass available at hobby shops. I have also made small brass spanners and screwdrivers to use when there is doubt as to whether a screw has a left  hand thread.  If I guessed wrong, the brass tool will let go before the

[Denny]

Great Idea.  Our local Ace Hardware sells brass sheet stock in varying thicknesses as well.  I also found Pliobond and Liquid Electrical Tape (minor bellows repairs) there as well.

[Ron_g]

Great tip Denny,I am looking for something to use to connect the batteries when building battery packs for various things,flash units etc and that brass sheet would be great to cut strips out of if it be thin enough.Got to check them out.Thanks.Ron G

[Mareklew]

For batteries: a clip for hanging laundry with a piece of bare wire braid wrapped around each tip makes a great quick-contact for button batteries. Good either for measuring them or to provide electricity to eg. a half-disassembled light meter.
 
Wid

[Aphototaker]

Regarding using the vacuum cleaner, I was trying to put a tiny screw back in the camera body and when I touched the screwdriver to it, somehow it bounced off the camera, bit the table and bounced again to fall to the carpet on the floor, where it

[John_s]

Re dropping screws and small parts: always work over a large tray or similar. Many screws are non magnetic.
I've found cotton buds (Q tips) excellent for cleaning small lenses, just tease out the end slightly to make it a little larger and softer.

[Mareklew]

Re magnets: There are times, where you don't want your screws to get magnetized (anything close to an escapement in a watch or shutter), and many of them aren't magnetic anyway (brass...). However, I had, as a general rule, a piece of rare-e

[Aphototaker]

Mareklew: Interesting!
 
 
Here's another one:
 
Verifying the focus of a camera
-------------------------------
 
I have used a 50 mm lens of an SLR to verify if the focus was corresponding to a camera's distance scale.
 
I u

[Charlie]

To catch any loose parts I put a wash cloth in a pie pan and work over that so that falling parts won't roll too far or bounce. Not my idea, I read it here several years ago.

[David_nebenzahl]

Regarding the ever-present problem of having little parts go sproinggg! into the fifth dimension, never to be found again, I use the method favored by many repairers-of-things-with-little-teeny-parts: a simple piece of cloth laid over the workbench. (

[Denny]

There are a lot of great tips being shared here.  Thanks to all.
 
After spending too much time looking for a tiny set screw, I now use two 8X10 developing trays with a sheet of paper towel in them.  One for clean and one for to be cleaned.