Unpopular opinion: The surge in instant camera use has me adjusting my toolkit
I now keep a small ultrasonic cleaner handy for those sticky shutter mechanisms. It handles the grime from disposable cameras way better than old methods.
Found an old disposable camera in my dad's attic covered in thick dust. Tried to clean the shutter with a small screwdriver but the plastic cracked straight away. Brianfoster, you are right about just binning them, but I had to take it apart anyway. The grime inside was like glue and ruined any chance of fixing it. Now I have a broken camera and a messy workbench to deal with. This whole thing made me see why some stuff is better left alone.
Oh man, that's the universe telling you to stop. You fought the sticky attic glue and the glue won. At least you got a cool story and a bench that looks like a crime scene now. Some projects are just lessons wrapped in plastic dust.
Wait, you're actually cleaning disposable cameras? I thought the whole point was you use them once and throw the whole thing in the bin. Are people really opening those things up?