Just hit 500 shutter replacements on a single model and it's changed my whole view

That's 500 Canon AE-1 shutter curtains I've swapped out over the last three years. I never thought I'd see that number, but it made me realize how much muscle memory you build. I can now do the whole job in under 25 minutes without even thinking. It's weird how a simple count can show you've gone from being careful to being fast. Anyone else get a shock from their own repair stats on a common fix?

3 comments

3 Comments

terry_shah171mo ago

It's funny how the numbers sneak up on you. I did something similar with cleaning old film advance levers, just a mountain of grimy parts that all needed the same three steps. After a while, your hands just do the work and your brain checks out, like folding laundry. You don't even feel like a repair person anymore, you're just part of the assembly line.

hall.ruby13d ago

Honestly sounds like you guys are overthinking it a bit. That's just how any repetitive job goes, right? Like what @cameron724 said about ordering supplies in bulk, that's just being smart, not some deep shift. It's just cleaning parts until they're clean. Calling it "becoming part of the machine" feels way too serious for just getting good at a simple task.

cameron7241mo ago

Hit 300 on Nikon FE mirror box foam replacements myself. You stop checking the service manual after the first hundred. The real shock was when I realized I could order the foam strips by the meter roll and the alcohol by the liter bottle. It stops being a repair and just becomes part of the machine.