Tried cleaning a sticky aperture with lighter fluid and it came back two days later worse

Troy Chen · 2026-09-15T17:25:04.477749+00:00

Had a customer's 50mm lens on my bench in Omaha last month with blades that would hang up around f8. I read somewhere that a drop of lighter fluid on the blades frees them up, so I tried it. It worked great for about a day, blades snapped open and closed like new. Then the oil that was hiding in there came back out and coated everything, and now the aperture was sluggish AND greasy. Ended up pulling the whole thing apart and doing it right with a proper solvent and a clean swab, which is what I should have done from the start. I think the lighter fluid just moves the old lube around instead of removing it, so the fix looks good until the fluid dries. What do you guys use when someone brings in a lens like this, do you pull the blades or try to flush it first?

Vivisector

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Tried cleaning a sticky aperture with lighter fluid and it came back two days later worse | Camera Repairers - Vivisector