Stop fighting light seals with tweezers, use a chopstick and a cotton swab

Felix Ward · 2026-09-15T03:00:05.009358+00:00

Spent two evenings trying to get the old goo out of the seal channel on a Canonet QL17 and kept stabbing myself with the tweezers. Then I remembered the wooden chopstick sitting in my kitchen drawer. I cut one end flat with a craft knife, wrapped a tiny bit of cotton from a swab around it, and dipped it in 91% isopropyl alcohol. That little wooden paddle scraped the rotten foam out in clean strips instead of smearing it everywhere like the metal tools did. Whole channel on that camera was bare in about ten minutes. Then I used the other end, still pointy, to push the new 2mm foam strip down into the groove without stretching it. Cost me nothing since the chopsticks came with takeout from the place on 5th. Works on the mirror bumper too if you shave the tip thinner. Anyone got a trick for the seal on the film door hinge? That little curve keeps kicking my butt and I keep tearing the foam there.

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Stop fighting light seals with tweezers, use a chopstick and a cotton swab | Analog Photo Fixing - HW Forums