adhesive and solvent for viewfinder windows?

aizan

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what kind of adhesive are you supposed to use to glue viewfinder windows onto the top plate of rangefinder cameras? i'm guessing it's epoxy.
 
I'd advise against epoxy as you'll never get it out in future. I use Bison contact glue which is clear and goes slightly rubbery. you may know it as UHU.
To get the windows out I drip acetone onto the old glue. Patience is key as the plastic window is fragile. it also can get a bit disolved by the acetone so only drip around the edges. I've done loads like this in the course of my repainting and had no issues. good luck
 
I'll second the advice for contact cement... holds well, stays flexible, and you can remove it if you need to. It's available all over the world, they use it for stuff like floor tiles and countertop laminates, there are many different brand names. A well known name among camera repairers is Pliobond, but pretty much any hardware store will have some form of it. They all seem to work equally well in my experience. It's also good stuff to use for gluing leather onto the camera body.

For solvents, you can use acetone if there is no plastic around, but it will make very short work of an acrylic window or a polycarbonate camera top cover. Cigarette lighter fluid is safe with plastics, an excellent degreasing solvent ... it will probably be pretty slow going using it to remove contact cement, but it will get the job done safely. Xylene is another good, powerful solvent for adhesives and hardened grease, also not great around plastics but slower drying and a more effective solvent than acetone. If your top cover is metal and the window is glass, and there are no plastics or paint nearby, Xylene and acetone will be OK.
 
I usually use simple white glue, though I've also used wood glue that dries waterproof if I think there's a potential issue (or it's a camera I intend to use in wet conditions). Either way, non-reactive, cleans up with water, and stays put.
 
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